Talk:Mildenhall, Wiltshire

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[edit] Pronounciation

The village has two names which are used interchangeably:

• 'Mildenhall', its official name - which is pronounced exactly as it appears, in the same way as Mildenhall, Suffolk (/'mɪldənhɔːl/)
• 'Minal', the name more often used by local residents - which is pronounced /ˈmаɪnəl/.

Please provide references which verify any claim to the contrary. Ostrich (talk) 09:18, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't follow your logic here. Surely the "correct" name is that used by the local people, not by the ignorant or those who choose to use another. See the Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation by Lena Olausson and Catherine Sangster, ISBN-13: 9780192807106 Oxford University Press Publication 2006.

Would you say that Marlborough is properly pronounced Marrlborrow as only the locals and a some other people in the UK know that it is pronounced Mallbruh? How about Worcester or Gloucester, I know that millions of people have no idea that they are pronounced Wooster and Gloster by the ignorant locals. On a personal note, my surname is usually mispronounced by people who have never had me explain how I choose to pronounce it. Are they correct and am I wrong? Dabbler (talk) 11:39, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. I'm not saying that there is one single correct name. In this case there are in fact two equally correct and acceptable pronunciations, but that each derive separately from one of two names, which are themselves both correct and acceptable depending on the context:

• 'Mildenhall' - the official name of the village in all government census records, maps and road signs (hence the title of this Wikipedia article)
• 'Minal' - the historical name of the church parish and the name which is used by most locals for the village.

When read aloud, of these two only the latter is pronounced /ˈmаɪnəl/. (In other words, you would not pronounce 'Mildenhall' as /ˈmаɪnəl/, any more than you would pronounce 'Minal' as /'mɪldənhɔːl/.) The analogy with 'Marlborough' is false because in that case there is only one correct name, which has a specific proper pronunciation - /ˈmɔːlbrə/ ('Maulbruh'). Ostrich (talk) 13:30, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I know personal experience is "Original Research" and therefore not permitted in Wikipedia, but I have only ever heard Mildenhall pronunced as "Minal" by people who knew the place and I never saw the spelling "Minal" until I read this article and then later found a few sources. British spelling and pronunciation often diverge and just because it is "officially" written Mildenhall it does not follow that that is a correct pronunciation.

I am not saying that people don't pronounce it Mildenhall like the place in Suffolk just as I have heard people pronounce Marlborough as Marrlborrow, but that is through ignorance not because there is an "official pronunciation guide that says that it is a correct pronunciation. I think that you should produce an independent reference like the BBC Pronunciation Guide (which specifies Mildenhall, Wiltshire as Minal), to demonstrate that it should be pronounced as spelled. Dabbler (talk) 14:02, 27 May 2008 (UTC)