|
The U.S. state name Illinois can be pronounced in two ways: with a silent final s /ìllə nóy, / or with a sounded s /ìllə nóyz, /. The silent -s pronunciation is generally the more common. The name derives from a name that late-17th-century French explorers had used for a Native American people then living in the region of the Illinois River. The name the French picked up is of the Algonquian family of languages, and it was pronounced /ill ə nṓ ay, /. The French then added a final s to create a plural for the people regarded as a group of individuals.
|
