The goal of this page is collect some names of linguists whose pronunciations are non-obvious.
My name
The audio files and transcriptions for my name are here. Please do not call me Masha. Relatedly, did you know that Michael Becker and Misha Becker are not the same person?
Everyone else’s names: notes
People who are linked without comment have included IPA transcriptions of their name pronunciations on their websites. NB: If people pronounce your name differently from how you’d like it to be pronounced, or if you’ve ever been asked how to pronounce your name, that’s a hint that you should put that information on your website. It is more likely to reach the target audience if it’s on your site than on mine. Roman Jakobson–you’re off the hook on this one.
Transcription notes:
- the bias is towards anglicized pronunciations here, with some sloppiness in whether vowels are reduced. The focus is on stress placement and non-obvious consonant and vowel qualities, or vowels you might think are silent that aren’t.
- I offer neither explanation nor apology for my inconsistent use of [r] vs. [ɹ] vs. [ɚ].
- I mark stresses before the stressed vowels because life is too short to try to figure out the syllabification in some of these names.
- In a few names, there is a dorsal fricative. I decided to leave that as [x] in the transcriptions, as many American linguists seem comfortable with approximating it. If you are not one of them, my prescriptive suggestion would be to substitute [h]; to my ears it sounds like the next best thing. Maybe a [k] if Ident[place]>>Ident[continuant] for you.
If you have a request or a correction, send me an email!
A
John Alderete: [ɑldərˈɛɾi] not [ɑldərɛt]
Scott AnderBois: [ˈændɚbwɑ]
Amalia Arvaniti: [amalˈia arvanˈiti]
B
William Badecker: [b’eɪɾəkɚ]
Alicia Beckford Wassink: [əlˈisiə] not [əlˈiʃə].
Gašper Beguš: [gˈaʃpɚ bˈɛɡuʃ]
Stefan Benus (Štefan Beňuš)
Christina Bethin: [bətˈin] not [bˈɛθən]
Claire Bowern: [bˈoʊɚn]
David Bowie: [bˈu.i], like the town in Maryland not like the singer
Adrian Brasoveanu: [braʃovˈanu]
Canaan Breiss: [kˈeɪnən braɪs]
Marisa Brook: [mərˈisə]
Mary Bucholtz: [bˈʌkəlts]
C
Pavel Caha: [tsˈɑhə] or [sˈɑhə], not [kɑhə] or [tʃahə]
Dustin Chacón: [tʃakˈon] not [ʃ…]
Ioana Chitoran: [ioˈɑnə kitsorˈɑn]
Catherine Chvany: [tʃvˈɑni]; Hypocoristic: [kˈatʲə].
Uriel Cohen Priva: [ˈuriəl kˈoʊən prˈivə] not [juriəl]!
Patricia Cukor-Avila: [sˈukɚ ˈævɪlə]
D
Derek Denis: [dˈɛnɪs]
Katherine Demuth: [dˈiməθ]
Ray Dougherty: [dˈɑgɚti]. Like other Irish surnames, the Anglicization of this one is variable
Anthony Dubach Green: [dˈubax] — need verification here, this is just an educated guess
E
Ben Eischens: [‘aɪʃənz]
F
Donka Farkas: [fˈɑrkɑʃ]
Matthew Faytak: [fˈeɪtˌæk]
Paul Foulkes: [faʊks]
Kathryn (Katie) Franich: [frˈænək]
Joseph Fruehwald: [dʒˈoʊsɨf frˈuːwɔld]
G
Adamantios Gafos: [adamˈɑntios gˈɑfəs] (or [ɣˈafos]). Hypocoristic: Diamandis [dˌiəməndˈis]
Anna Grabovac: [grˈɑbovak]
Vera Gribanova: [vˈɛrə ɡribˈɑnəvə]
John Gumperz: [ˈɡʌmpəɹz] [source]
H
Liliane Haegeman: [hˈɑxəmən] not [heɪɡə…]
Boris Harizanov: [bˈoris harizˈanov]
Stephanie Harves: [hˈɑrvəs] not [hˈɑrvz]
J
Roman Jakobson: [jəkabsˈon] or [jˈɑkəbsən], not [dʒeɪkəbsən]
Peter Jurgec: [jˈurgəts]
K
René Kager: [kˈɑxɚ] not [keɪdʒɚ]!
Roni Katzir: [rˈɔni kətsˈir]
Abigail Kaun: [kɑn]
Jaklin Kornfilt: [ʒaklˈin kˈɔrnfɪlt]
Jelena Krivokapić: [j’ɛlɛnə krivok’apitʃ]
L
William Labov: [ləbˈoʊv] (since people immediately started arguing with me on this, I’m including a citation to an authoritative source; 2006, Journal of English Linguistics 34:4)
Terry Langendoen: [lˈæŋɡəndən]
Beth Levin: [ləvˈin] (note stress location and vowel quality)
Erez Levon: [ˈɛɹɛz ˈlɛvɑn] not [əˈɹɛz ləˈvon]
Mark Liberman: [lˈɪbɚmən] not [lˈibɚmən]
Anna (Ania) Łubowicz: [wubˈovitʃ]
M
Sally McConnell-Ginet: [ʒɪˈne]
K.P. Mohanan: [mˈoʊhanan] not [moʊhˈænən]!
N
Naomi Nagy: [nˈeɪɡi]
Luiza Newlin-Łukowicz: [luˈiza nˈɛvlin wukˈovitʃ]
Máire Ní Chiosáin: [mˈɑrə nˈi xisˈɑn] — or [x’isɑn], depending on dialect, or even [mˠˈɑːrʲə nʲiː xʲˈisˠɑːnʲ] depending on your preferred level of pedanticism (I have also been given [kis’ɑn] but that has been challenged so I will leave all of these here and let you decide)
O
Elinor Ochs: [oʊks]
David Odden: [oʊdən]
Cemil Orhan Orgun: [dʒemˈil orhˈan orɡˈun]
P
Joe Pater: [peɪɾɚ] not [pɑ…]
Charles Peirce: [pɚs]
Katya Pertsova: [pertsˈovə] not [pˈertsəvə]
Janet Pierrehumbert: [pieɹhˈʌmbɚt]
Glyne Piggott: [glɪn] not [ɡlaɪn]
Omer Preminger: [ˈoʊmɚ prˈɛməndʒɚ]; [ŋɡ] in German or Hebrew
R
Yulia Rodina: [jˈuliə rˈodinə]
Jerzy Rubach: [jˈeʒi rˈubax] not “Jersey”. You can try a retroflex ʐ, [jɛʐɨ]
S
Elizabeth Sagey: [sˈeɪdʒi] not [seɪɡi]
Gillian Sankoff: [gˈɪliən sˈæŋkˌɑf] not [dʒɪliən]
Philippe Schlenker: [filˈip ʃlɛnkˈɛr] (note, final stresses in both)
James Scobbie: [skˈɑbi] not [skoʊbi]
Márton Sóskuthy: [ʃˈoʃkuti]
Michal Starke: [mˈixal ʃtˈarkə]
Robert Staubs: [stɑbz]
William Stokoe: [stoʊki]
Patrycja Strycharczuk: [patrˈitsjə strixˈartʃək] or [stri{h|k}ˈartʃək] (Polish: [patrˈɨtsja strɨxˈarʈʂuk])
Anna Szabolcsi: [ˈænə sˈɑboltʃi] (note, not [ɑnə])
T
Sali Tagliamonte: [tˌæɡliəmˈɑnti]
Meredith Tamminga: [tˈæmɪŋɡə] not [təmˈɪŋɡə]
Anne-Michelle Tessier: [tˈɛsiˌeɪ] not [tɛsiɚ]
One Tlale Boyer: [ˈone tˈɑle bˈojɚ]
Peter Trudgill: [tɹˈʌdɡˌɪl] not [tɹʌdʒɪl]
V
Ljuba Veselinova: [liˈubə veselˈinəvə]
W
Gert Webelhuth: [vˈe:bəlhˌut]
Y
Charles Yang: [jɑŋ], not [jæŋ]/[jeŋ]
Z
Draga Zec: [drˈɑɡə zˈɛts]
Elizabeth Zsiga: [zˈigə]
Kie Zuraw: [kˈaɪ zˈurˌɑ] not [zurˈaʊ]
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Laurel MacKenzie, who supplied many transcriptions and suggestions. Thanks also (in no particular order and without links, sorry) to Tricia Irwin, Wayles Browne, Steven Franks, Michael Becker, Ryan Bennett, Ailís Cournane, Greg Guy, Lisa Davidson, Anna Szabolcsi, and Emily Gasser for suggestions and transcription verification.