Its Intriguing History Gives “Pecan” Those Different Pronunciations.

Hey there, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Mackenzie. I am calling from Evansville, Indiana.

Well, welcome to the show, Mackenzie. What can we do for you?

So I have always had this question that I’ve gotten into silly arguments with friends before, and it is the word pecan or pecan, however it’s pronounced. That has always been our kind of little goofy argument is I’ve heard some people they’re like, oh, it’s, you know, pecan, but maybe when they’re referring to a pod, they say pecan or, you know, vice versa, things like that. I always thought maybe because I live right on the border with Kentucky and I have some friends that have, you know, more of a Southern type of accent, maybe that influenced it.

Being right there in Evansville, you’re absolutely right. You’re on the border of a couple different dialect regions in the United States. And it’s one of the things we love about getting calls from Indiana is that two or three, depending where you are in the state dialect regions, intersect and overlap. So you get these kinds of conversations among coworkers and family members and friends. So this is like right down our alley, Martha.

Oh, it sure is.

And the other thing that’s happening here is I think you’ve laid it out really well, Mackenzie. That is it pecan or pecan? And why? Why should they be different? And you also brought in something I think is really important. There is a forced insistence by some speakers that the pronunciation of the word P-E-C-A-N is different when it’s the nut versus when it’s the pie.

So I’m going to tarot through this really fast and see if we can address all these issues because there’s a lot to go here. But the main thing to understand is this word was borrowed into English multiple times, and that’s part of the problem. So it comes from numerous Native American languages. And in those languages, it generally meant hard-shelled nut, the word that gave us pecan or pecan.

And there’s a variety of different spellings depending on who is doing the chronicling, you know, whether they spoke French or Spanish or English. And those three languages lead us to the other part of this issue. So not only was the word a little different in all of these Native American languages, it was borrowed multiple times into the various majority languages on this continent over the last 300 years.

So you get the French borrowing from one or more Native American groups, and you get the Spanish borrowing it from one or more Native American groups, and you get the Spanish borrowing it from the French, and the English borrowing it from the French in Louisiana through this kind of filter, this francophone filter on this word.

And so generally what we can say is that the southern pronunciation of the word pecan, it’s not always that, but generally that’s the preferred pronunciation in the south. Would you agree with that one?

I would definitely agree with that. I think I tend to hear that more often. You know, occasionally I hear the pecan from some people who have quite a thick accent. But yeah, I would definitely agree with pecan.

Yeah, but so generally pecan is more common in the South because it is filtered through all of these historical lenses of these different Native American languages, French and Spanish, through Louisiana, which is this wonderful Creole mixture of cultures, and then spread to the rest of the South through there.

But you will hear in other parts of the country’s pecan and pecan a little different. It’s where we put the stress and what those vowels sound like. So generally, this is why we have these approximate regional pronunciations of this word. And the reason I say approximate, because like I said earlier, some people have decided, arbitrarily, mind you, that it’s different when it’s the pie versus when it’s the nut.

And there’s no etymological or linguistic basis for that at all. It’s just completely arbitrary. Mackenzie, do you say pecan for both of those, the nut and the pie?

I can kind of use them interchangeably. Like I typically would refer to like pecan if it was the nut and may say like pecan pie. You know, I just kind of whatever I’m feeling at the moment, honestly.

Yeah. You know, and the thing is pecan pie, pecan pie, where you stress the first syllable of pecan, has a nice rhythm to it. And that’s part of the reason why it works so well and why it’s very common to have pecan be the pronunciation when you’re talking about the pie. It’s not 100 percent. And I know people are going to complain about this.

But I encourage you, Mackenzie, and everyone else, start taking notes. See if you can find a way to write down who’s saying what and where they’re from or what dialect region you think they’re from. Because I think you will find some surprising consistencies, but also surprising inconsistencies.

That is so interesting. I had never realized how many cultures and, you know, different, honestly, how it’s changed throughout hundreds of years. So I really appreciate all your input on that. And I think I finally have a way to officially solve my arguments with my friends. I appreciate it.

Sure, Mackenzie. Thanks for calling.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

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