"ese" suffix insulting/racist?

[Peter A. McGraw]

On the contrary, I hear "Chineece" and "Japaneece" a lot!  It always
strikes me as an affectation of some sort--spelling pronunciation, maybe??
I don't remember hearing "Portugueece."  And I'm sure I've never heard
"journaleece" or "bureaucrateece."

Peter Mc.

--On Tuesday, April 8, 2003 10:54 AM -0400 Laurence Horn
<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> Larry, who's been wondering if anyone else would bring up the fact
> that the suffix in "Portuguese" differs from the others (Chinese,
> Japanese, motherese, journalese) in being optionally voiceless
> (rhyming with "geese" rather than "please").



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu