JACINTO CITY, Tex. - FORGET the Alamo. It is the letter "J" that is under siege in Texas, at least to Mike Jackson, the mayor of this town near the old shipyards and oil refineries of Houston. Nearly everyday, Mr. Jackson told The Houston Chronicle, he corrects people who he thinks are mispronouncing the word "Jacinto."

To Mr. Jackson, who grew up here, it is "Juh-SIN-tuh." To others, including many newcomers who are part of the city's Hispanic population, which now constitutes nearly 80 percent of the total, it is "Ha-SEEN-to." Jacinto, after all, was originally a Spanish word, so why not pronounce it properly in the language of Cervantes?

The pronunciation of place names is one of those quiet conflicts that are played out everyday throughout the Southwest as the numbers of Hispanics in areas originally colonized by Spain and Mexico continue to grow -- and in some cases nudge Anglos into the minority.

Texas is full of place names whose pronunciations confound Hispanics but sound natural to others. Palacios is pronounced "Puh-LAY-shus" instead of "Pa-LA-see-os." Manchaca is "MAN-shack" instead of "Man-CHA-ka." Pedernales is "PER-dan-al-is" instead of "Peh-der-NA-les" and so on. Even Texas should be "TEH-jas," according to some traditionalists.