[Lingtyp] IPA for linguists' names

[Jocelyn Aznar]

Dear all,

I think the initiative is interesting but, here are some comments and 
reservations:

- 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.
- There isn't only one valid pronunciation of my name.
- 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).
- 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.
- I'm also ok with people adapting my name if it is too hard to 
pronounce, that's usually what happens in practice.
- From a more technical angle,it would make more sense if the IPA 
transcription follows the same order of the first name + other name.

Except the first point, all of my reservations are, I think, addressable 
with some more columns to the spreadsheet.

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.

Best,
aka Jocelyn, Joce, Jos, Jo, Jojo, George, Josiu, Joselinas,

Le 05/09/2026 à 19:35, Hartmut Haberland via Lingtyp a écrit :
> 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.)
> 
> *Hartmut Haberland*
> 
> [haɐ̯tmu:t hɑ:bεɐ̯lant]
> Professor (mso) emeritus
> 
> KORAL_GRAA_300KORAL_GRAA_300
> *Roskilde Universitet*
> Institut for Kommunikation og Humanistisk Videnskab
> 
> Universitetsvej 1
> DK-4000 Roskilde
> Telefon: +45 46742841
> 
> *Fra:*Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> *På vegne af 
> *Yuri Koryakov via Lingtyp
> *Sendt:* 5. september 2026 17:58
> *Til:* lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> *Emne:* [Lingtyp] IPA for linguists' names
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> To do this, I created the editable list of names and their 
> transcriptions here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ 
> d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=0#gid=0 
> <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ 
> d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit?gid=0#gid=0>
> 
> The *General Guide* “How to add your name to the list” is available in 
> the Info tab ( https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ 
> d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit? 
> gid=863783271#gid=863783271 <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ 
> d/1zFKZp2e6dvfw_JQqX7904xY1GnqOwaopD2gnb3ytilA/edit? 
> gid=863783271#gid=863783271>  ).
> 
> Additional difficulties that this project allows to solve:
> 
> 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)
> 
> b) indicating gender pronouns – he / she / they – useful in many 
> languages when you need to, for example, refer to the author.
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Yours,
> Yuri Koryakov
> 
> 
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