I have heard Las Vegas being pronounced as Los Vegas and Las Vegas. What is the correct way to pronounce Las Vegas ?
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"Lost Wages" is the accurate way.– Hot LicksCommented Oct 5, 2018 at 1:16
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3Who is pronouncing it? It's the cot-caught merger, which most Las Vegans have, which is confusing you.– Peter ShorCommented Oct 5, 2018 at 1:27
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@PeterShor Where is the [ɔ] in Las Vegas that could ever be subject to the cot–caught merger? You may be thinking of Los Angeles.– tchrist ♦Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 1:45
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1@tchrist: It's the [ɑ] in Las Vegas that's merged with [ɔ] in the cot-caught merger. And while people with this merger generally pronounce the merged vowel with [ɑ], it can drift towards [ɒ], which might be heard as Los Vegas.– Peter ShorCommented Oct 5, 2018 at 1:48
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1Frankly, most folks in the US could not tell you accurately whether they say "Las" or "Los". The syllable goes by so fast that it's hard to pin down.– Hot LicksCommented Oct 5, 2018 at 11:39
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1 Answer
The correct way, as you could have checked by looking in Wikipedia, is to pronounce it with the vowel of father.
There are many people who pronounce all three words father, pot, fraud with the same vowel; this is the predominant pronunciation in the Western U.S., including in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. People with this vowel merger pronounce the first word in Los Angeles and Las Vegas the same way, and they may pronounce Las Vegas so that it sounds to some of us like Loss Vegas. This might be why you are confused.
answered Oct 5, 2018 at 12:14
