quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[Dennis R. Preston]

Yeah,

Lots of students ask after about the second class why I didn't call their
names. I figure people should be called what they like, but I never knopw
which it will be (although I'm gettign better at the English versions of
Polish names).

dInIs

 >And to complicate the situation, students with Polish names will often
>express offense when the name is pronounced as it might be in downtown
>Warsaw.  More than once I have been corrected, with a student telling me
>that their name (e.g., Nowakowski) is Polish, and should be pronounced
>as No-wah-cow-ski.  When I ask how a grandparent pronounces the name, I
>am given the 'cow' version.  Most of the students presume that some sort
>of insult was intended on my part.
>
>Usually, the system has already done its part.  Females of Polish
>descent are -ski, instead of -ska.  Spanish and Asian students are
>frequently listed with names that have but a faint relationship to their
>real name.  While I have been told (on a couple of campuses) that it
>doesn't matter, more than one student has expressed their appreciation
>that their name (on a handout) is shown as it is used in their family.
>To them, it seems to matter.
>
>George S. Cole   gscole at ark.ship.edu
>Shippensburg University

Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736