Anglo mis-stressing

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Kim Braithwaite wrote:

> Several of Mr Gallagher's in-depth linguistic points are well taken.
> I do think calling natural speechways "ignorance" is going too far. I
> don't buy the notion that speakers of English ought to reproduce
> every phonological nicety of foreign names when speaking English.

Well, it may not have been perfectly clear given the context, but I was 
using "ignorance" in the neutral sense, to mean "lack of knowledge." Как 
известно, we are all ignorant of other cultures to some extent, and that 
doesn't imply any fault on our part. I happen to be largely ignorant of 
Kalenjin (a language of Kenya), so if you ask me to pronounce a Kalenjin 
name I will have no rules to follow but the ones I've picked up as a 
speaker of English. I do realize that many people use "ignorant" in a 
pejorative sense, as a near synonym for "stupid," but that wasn't my intent.

Now, where we draw the line between reasonable and unreasonable 
expectations for familiarity with other cultures is open to debate, and 
honest men and women will differ. I happen to think it reasonable for a 
person making the acquaintance of a person from another culture to make 
some reasonable effort to get their name reasonably correct. And I think 
it reasonable for a journalist covering a subject to make more than a 
reasonable effort to get the names as close to correct as possible, just 
as they are expected to make their best efforts to get the facts straight.

Suppose for a moment that were is no long-standing convention on the 
pronunciation and we encountered the city of Paris for the first time. 
Should we say /'pærɪs/ according to English spelling conventions, with 
utter disregard for the native sound, or should we make the slightest 
effort and say /pæ'ri/, which is eminently pronounceable? I would say 
that /pæ'ri/ is quite reasonable, but in this case of course I'm 
overruled by convention.

> While interacting with Russians and Georgians in Tbilisi, I found it
> perfectly natural and acceptable that they pronounced my surname
> with a "tapped r" instead of the correct retroflex r, or a plain or
> aspirated t instead of the correct interdental th, or a v instead of
> the correct w. They were, after all, speaking Russian and Georgian.

Here we're dealing with sounds that are "unpronounceable" or "illegal" 
in the target language, and that's a different matter.

> (I did point out during one interview - with wry intent - that the
> correct pronunciation of Texas is TEK-suss rather than teh-KHASS.
> They got the joke).

Hm. I didn't...

> Russian names aside, consider Chinese. Does anyone think that English
> speakers (whether journalists or layfolk) should be obliged to 
> master the intricacies of the tones? A wrong tone on a Chinese name 
> or ordinary word, as everyone knows, may not only sound strange but 
> could cause serious misunderstanding and even offense -- when
> speaking Chinese. When speaking English, I say live with it.

It depends on your purpose. If you're speaking to other monolinguals, 
you're right, though as a linguist I do try harder. But if you're a 
journalist who can't speak the language even passably, you're at a 
severe disadvantage and you're doing your readers a disservice by not 
getting the real story. And I find it very difficult to say Крусчевъ in 
the presence of Russian speakers or Lemioux in the presence of French 
speakers. I expect them to wince just as I do when a Frenchman calls me 
"Pole" instead of "Paul," and I think a person who knows better but 
still engages in such butchery is disrespectful to the listener.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------