Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
escalator (n.)
and related words are frequently mispronounced ES-kyuh-LAI-tuhr, rather than the Standard ES-kuh-LAI-tuhr; the intrusion of the -yuh- is variously explained, but it probably is a false analogy with words like granular and singular. Such pronunciations are Substandard and may well be considered shibboleths. Compare NUCLEAR.
