Dueling dialects

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Do you care about pronouncing Hungarian and Xhosa names the way
>Hungarians and Xhosas do?
>
>>If anyone cares about it, of course, the proper solution is "Well, how did
>>*he* pronounce it?"
>
>Larry & dInIs are dubious :
>
>   >>>
>
>I'd have a hard time convincing neutralizers to pronounce my name as [laeri]
>just because *I* pronounce it that way.
>
>Of course it won't work. Imagine trying to get tin-eared northerners to make
>wh/w or long-o/open o (before /r/) distinctions, weather they're in your
>name or not.
>
>   <<<
>
>Gentlemen, gentlemen! I *said*, "If anyone cares about it". Obviously such
>people won't.
>
>It works for me because I am a five-way splitter --
>
>    merry : marry : Mary : Murray : furry ::  E : ae : e : ^ : @
>
>  -- who cares about pronouncing people's names the way they do.
>
>-- Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian,
>    Orthoepist, & Philological Busybody
>    a.k.a. Mark A. Mandel


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736