Laws: It's not 'Fonganui'

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is on a mission to educate New Zealanders on what he says is the correct pronunciation of the city's name.

Mr Laws said the city and region may have two official spellings - Wanganui and Whanganui - but "it is most definitely not Fonganui".

The council yesterday reached a unanimous decision to work with local Maori leaders to draw up pronunciation guidelines for national media organisations.

Many organisations had been incorrectly pronouncing the 'Wh' as an 'F' since Land and Information Minister Maurice Williamson said last year that the city could be spelt as either Wanganui or Whanganui, Mr Laws said

"The 'h' has always been silent or, at best, aspirated -- as in 'what', 'where' and 'why'.

"It is the reason the first Europeans transcribed the name as they did."

Mr Laws said the 'F' sound did not exist in the local dialect.

- NZPA