Auckland / Oakland

Milton   Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:16 pm GMT
The way people from Auckland (NZ) pronounce the name of their city is similar (almost identical!) to the way people from Oakland (California) pronounce the name of their city. Why is that? Does anyone know?

(BTW, Auckland is pronounced like Ockland ['Akl@nd] in Oakland (CA)).
siam   Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:37 pm GMT
Coincidental phonological evolution

[Okl@nd] vs [o(U)kl@nd] (although some, but not many, Californians have a more fronted vowel.
ex Berkeleyan   Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:20 am GMT
Back when my grandmother lived there, "Oakland" (CA) used to be pronounced as you'd expect: Oak + Land. This was a few years back, from about 1960-1981, and also earlier, from 1940-1954 (which I don't remember well at all).
Lazar   Sat Jun 20, 2009 4:11 am GMT
@siam: New Zealanders would use a closer vowel, in Auckland, more like [o:].