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<p>I always hoped that someone would take the initiative to do
something like this, after Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm started
requiring IPA for authors' names for "Linguistic Typology". </p>
<p>There's a lot that could be said about pronunciation norms, or
the potential primacy of written (or perhaps even signed?)
versions of names – but it's a fact that we often pronounce names,
and that we have expectations about pronunciations. </p>
<p>I think that by making pronounciations public, we make our field
more inclusive: People who haven't attended many conferences (and
haven't heard names pronounced often) will have a way of quickly
getting relevant information, and people whose names may present
pronunciation difficulties will feel more included if their names
are pronounced correctly (or pronounced at all, rather than
avoided).</p>
<p>Maybe someone would like to do something similar for language
names? I feel that the invisibility of small languages is
exacerbated if we don't know how to pronounce their names (I wrote
about this quite a while ago: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://dlc.hypotheses.org/993">https://dlc.hypotheses.org/993</a>).</p>
<p>Martin</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 06.09.26 07:25, Yuri Koryakov via
Lingtyp wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:a6b733e7-6ebf-4ad3-a90d-df286e7a6c69@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p>Dear Jocelyn, <br>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">thank you for
your detailed letter. Below are the points.</span></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 05.09.2026 23:25, Jocelyn Aznar
via Lingtyp wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu">Dear
all, <br>
<br>
I think the initiative is interesting but, here are some
comments and reservations: <br>
<br>
- Having a list like this without the agreement of the people
concerned is not the nicest move, especially on Google doc. Yes,
some of those information are public, but some of the people in
the list could have some reservations/concerns about the purpose
of the document or might not even adhere to its purpose. <br>
</blockquote>
On the one hand, all information not added by people themselves is
taken from public online sources; people add further information
voluntarily. On the other hand, this table does not contain any
sensitive personal information – no emails, place of residence,
place of work, position, etc.
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu">-
There isn't only one valid pronunciation of my name.</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"
style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The IPA column allows you to
specify multiple pronunciation variants, both equivalent and
language-specific.</span></p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu"> <br>
- I'm ok with people having difficulties pronouncing my name (at
the end of the day, no one can master the pronunciation of the
many phonologies we work with in our profession). <br>
- Pushing people to pronounce your name following your
expectations can cause situations in which they feel really ill
at ease because they cannot pronounce your name. <br>
</blockquote>
Well, we don't force people to pronounce the names exactly this
way, but we do give them a reference point. For example, when I
just see the name Jocelyn, I don't even know what the first sound
might be – [ʤ / ʒ / x / j] or something else.
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu">-
I'm also ok with people adapting my name if it is too hard to
pronounce, that's usually what happens in practice. <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu">-
From a more technical angle,it would make more sense if the IPA
transcription follows the same order of the first name + other
name. <br>
</blockquote>
Okay, maybe. But this way one can show the order in which a person
prefers to pronounce their name. (By the way, the most common
order in this column is: first name + other name.)
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu"><br>
Except the first point, all of my reservations are, I think,
addressable with some more columns to the spreadsheet. <br>
<br>
That being written, I also understand that when you come from an
oppressed background, like systematic oppression of your culture
or identity by the State or the people around you, having your
named acknowledged properly is an important topic. But the
points I raised are not in contradiction with this issue in the
end, just nuances. <br>
<br>
Best, <br>
aka Jocelyn, Joce, Jos, Jo, Jojo, George, Josiu, Joselinas, <br>
</blockquote>
Yours,<br>
Yuri
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:83be3316-c18e-4221-9bfe-0c3ee9091d38@jocelynaznar.eu"><br>
Le 05/09/2026 à 19:35, Hartmut Haberland via Lingtyp a écrit : <br>
<blockquote type="cite">This is a great initiative. Some of my
publications have been translated into Japanese, and I have
given lectures in Japan where my name was given on posters and
websites in /katakana/, with a number of variations, in part
based on spelling rather than pronunciation. I would go for
ハートムート・ハーバーランド, since it is closest to the way I pronounce my
name (Northern German, grown up in Hanover) and not least
because ハーバーランドis also the name of a shopping mall in Kobe
(Harborland, of course) 😊. (ハートムット・ハバーランドis OK, too, of
course, and one could indeed discuss if ムットis not more
adequate by focussing on the unstressed vowel indeed being
short while its tenseness is better expressed by ムート;
ハーバーランドis definitely the better solution.) <br>
<br>
*Hartmut Haberland* <br>
<br>
[haɐ̯tmu:t hɑ:bεɐ̯lant] <br>
Professor (mso) emeritus <br>
<br>
KORAL_GRAA_300KORAL_GRAA_300 <br>
*Roskilde Universitet* <br>
Institut for Kommunikation og Humanistisk Videnskab <br>
<br>
Universitetsvej 1 <br>
DK-4000 Roskilde <br>
Telefon: +45 46742841 <br>
<br>
*Fra:*Lingtyp <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org"
moz-do-not-send="true"><lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org></a>
*På vegne af *Yuri Koryakov via Lingtyp <br>
*Sendt:* 5. september 2026 17:58 <br>
*Til:* <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>
<br>
*Emne:* [Lingtyp] IPA for linguists' names <br>
<br>
Dear colleagues, <br>
<br>
Many of us have encountered a situation where we need to
pronounce the name of a linguist, but we don’t know how. Or we
need to write down someone’s name in another script (Cyrillic,
Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, etc.), and this again requires
correct pronunciation. <br>
<br>
As a result, you have to look for pronunciation instructions
on personal webpages, listen to recordings on YouTube, ask
friends, and so on, but it is much more convenient when such
information is collected in one place. <br>
<br>
To do this, I created the editable list of names and their
transcriptions here: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/</a>
d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=0#gid=0 <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=0#gid=0"
moz-do-not-send="true"><https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/
d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=0#gid=0></a>
<br>
<br>
The *General Guide* “How to add your name to the list” is
available in the Info tab ( <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/</a>
d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?
gid=863783271#gid=863783271 <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=863783271#gid=863783271"
moz-do-not-send="true"><https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/
d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?
gid=863783271#gid=863783271></a> ). <br>
<br>
Additional difficulties that this project allows to solve: <br>
<br>
a) distinguishing the surname from other names (necessary for
the correct compilation of bibliographies and especially
relevant for languages with a different order of components in
the name or for names consisting of more than two words) <br>
<br>
b) indicating gender pronouns – he / she / they – useful in
many languages when you need to, for example, refer to the
author. <br>
<br>
If you are in doubt whether you should indicate yourself, you
can use the following criterion as a working one: if you have
published at least one article or had one presentation at a
conference, you can safely provide your name. Also 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 provide that information.
<br>
<br>
If you can’t/don’t want to add your data to the sheet
yourself, you can send it to me by email . Also write if you
have any questions/comments/ suggestions etc. <br>
<br>
Yours, <br>
Yuri Koryakov </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/staff/martin-haspelmath/">https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/staff/martin-haspelmath/</a></pre>
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