No, it is not illegal to mispronounce Arkansas in Arkansas. State law does declare an official pronunciation of the name, but the statute carries no fine, no criminal charge, and no enforcement mechanism of any kind. Say it however you like. The worst you’ll get is a correction from a local.
What the Statute Actually Does
Arkansas Code 1-4-105 sets out an official pronunciation of the state’s name and nothing more.1Justia. Arkansas Code 1-4-105 – Pronunciation of State Name It tells you the name should be spoken in three syllables, with the final “s” silent, each “a” given a broad Italian vowel sound, and the stress on the first and last syllables. That produces “ARK-an-SAW.”
The resolution then addresses the competing pronunciation, the one that rhymes with “Kansas” and sounds the final “s,” calling it an “innovation to be discouraged.”1Justia. Arkansas Code 1-4-105 – Pronunciation of State Name “Discouraged” is the operative word. The legislature asked people not to say it that way. It didn’t forbid them.
Why There Is No Penalty
A criminal statute has to do specific things. It has to define a prohibited act, place it in a category of offense, and set a penalty. This one does none of those. It doesn’t classify any pronunciation as a crime, misdemeanor, or civil infraction. It doesn’t authorize any agency to fine anyone. It doesn’t mention consequences at all.1Justia. Arkansas Code 1-4-105 – Pronunciation of State Name
The text reads as a formal position statement from the General Assembly, not a rule that anyone could break. It’s often listed online alongside “wacky state laws” where you can supposedly be arrested for something absurd. There is nothing here to arrest anyone for.
Why the Law Exists
By the 1880s, people were arguing about whether the state’s name rhymed with “Kansas” or ended in “saw.” The General Assembly settled the question in 1881 through Concurrent Resolution No. 4, noting that “confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state” and that it was “important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings.”1Justia. Arkansas Code 1-4-105 – Pronunciation of State Name
The Historical Society of the State of Arkansas and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock both looked into the question and agreed the correct pronunciation came from how French explorers rendered a Native American tribal name. The French had encountered the Quapaw, whom neighboring Algonquin-speaking tribes called something close to “Akansa,” and wrote it down using French conventions, including the silent final consonant.1Justia. Arkansas Code 1-4-105 – Pronunciation of State Name
The resolution was the legislature’s way of endorsing that history as the “only true pronunciation” for official use. It was never written to be enforced against private speech, and it isn’t.