A few months ago I was talking to my family about differences in pronunciation between Pennsylvania and Utah. This post is not intended to be insulting to either side - I can't say for sure who's "right" but here are a few interesting observations.
Many Utahns pronounce the word "real" as "rill", while most Pennsylvanians sound the same word "reel". This applies to words of similar spelling, such as deal and steal (dill and still).
Another word that causes some confusion is "horrible". It is frequently pronounced "whore-i-ble" by many people here in Utah. The justification I hear is "that's how it's spelled". Back in PA it is usually pronounced "har-i-ble", ("har" as in hard, not harry).
Now this leads me to an interesting point. Which came first, the written or the spoken word? The answer is clearly the spoken word. So how can spelling wag the pronunciation dog? If words were spoken first, the way a word sounds would dictate its spelling, not the other way around. Of course, English is such a goofy language that sounds don't always flow onto the page in a natural order. Who knows? As long as I can understand someone's meaning, I have to say the purpose of oral communication has been fulfilled.
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