Do you pronounce the last 's' in the word Arkansas?

The name Arkansas came from a word that the Algonquians used for the Quapaw tribe, akansa. Arkansas was part of the land colonized by the French, and the French adopted this word as a name for the region and the people who lived there, adding an s to pluralize it, which is silent in French. read more

Normally Arkansas is pronounced like Arkansaw; that is, the final -s is silent but affects the pronunciation of the vowel. Of course, many Americans pronounce aw and ah the same. In Kansas all the letters are pronounced. read more

We can thank the French. Arkansas was named for the French plural of a Native American tribe, while Kansas is the English spelling of a similar one. read more