Why you’re pronouncing Victorian town names wrong

FROM Ballan, to Bairnsdale to Old Tallangatta — experts reckon we’re saying it wrong. But they’re not the only Victorian towns we can’t wrap our tongues around.

FOR years the good folk of Ballan have quietly humoured the rest of us for never quite pronouncing the name of their beloved little town correctly.

Not even Premier Daniel Andrews could master it.

“Ninety per cent of the people who call up get it all wrong,’’ Commercial Hotel owner Joc O’Connor said. “It’s Bal-Ann ... not Ballan.’’

Located off the Western Freeway, halfway to Ballarat, the regional centre tops the list of Victorian place names we just can’t wrap out tongues around.

From Bairnsdale to Old Tallangatta — experts reckon we’re saying it wrong.

University of Melbourne Professor of Language John Hajek said pronunciation was the easiest way to tell the difference between a local and an out-of-towner.

“When we are not sure about place names we look for patterns and spelling,’’ Prof. Hajek said.

“So locals say Bairnsdale, as in bans; but an outsider might see it as Bairns, as in Cairns.’’

He said it was typical of any language that names are shortened and reduced with the frequency of use.

“Ninety per cent of the people who call up get it all wrong,'' says Commercial Hotel Ballan owner Joc O'Connor. Picture: David Caird

“If you say the word over and over then people tend to shorten it.’’

Bonegilla, the former refugee camp near Albury, was a good example of how names were often tangled in translation.

Locals have always said “Bone-gilla” (three syllables) but a visitor to the region more often refers to it as “Bonner Giller” (four syllables).

Monash University linguist professor Kate Burridge said Victoria was in the midst of a “sound shift’’.

Among younger generations there is now less difference between the sound of names like “Ellen’’ and “Allan’’ or the words “celery” and “salary’’.

“It can take hundreds of years for accents to develop,’’ Prof Burridge said.

“It’s hard to know what drives these changes but it is starting to happen right across Australia.’’

She said the letter L was also in danger of disappearing in speech especially when positioned before a consonant or at the end of a word.

@aaronlangmaid

Say what? How to pronounce these places

BALLAN (‘Ba-lan’ not ‘Ballan’)

BONEGILLA (‘Bone-gilla’ not ‘Bona-giller’)

RESERVOIR (‘Resa-vore’ not ‘Resa-var’)

LALOR (‘Lay-la’ not ‘Lay-law’)

COHUNA (Locals say ‘Khuna’ not ‘Cahoona’)

TALLANGATTA (‘Tallangatta’ — four rolling syllables — ‘not Tallan-gatta’)

PRAHRAN (‘Per-ran’ not ‘Par-ran’)

BAIRNSDALE (‘Bans-dale’ not ‘Barns-dale’)