How to Pronounce Names

[DonleyBVW]

I found this neat little thing while trying to figure out if I was pronouncing Deleuze correctly.

http://www.emporia.edu/english/holcomb/eg710names.html

Prof. Gary Holcomb

EG710: Contemporary Critical Theory

Theorists' Names

Pronouncing the Names of the Theorists:
A Map to the Academy’s Superstars


One way to show that you are really cool while talking about critical theory is to pronounce the names of theorists accurately, or at least convincingly and with arrogant confidence. So, in the spirit of advancing esoteric erudition (that is, shamelessly showing off knowledge available only to insiders, a pastime common among those who engage in critical theory), I’ve provided a pronunciation blueprint for some of the names appearing in the new Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Think of this guide to pronouncing the names of major theorists as a map to the superstars of the Academy. Outfitted with this équipage of pronunciations, you’ll be ready to intimidate anyone at the departmental wine and cheese.

If I have deemed a name needs attention, whether first, last, or both, I have underlined it, then laid it out in syllables, with the stressed syllable in italics. I won’t insult your intelligence by providing pronunciations of names like Pierre and Jacques! Incidentally, my pronunciation key is rather idiosyncratic. Hence, here’s what I mean to suggest in my somewhat maverick approach to rendering sounds in transliteration:


1. uh: Say the "a" in "mocha," as in, "Give me an extra tall triple mocha java. I’ve got to read this book on Gadamer’s hermeneutics!"

2. hua: It’s more of a dipthong than a two-syllable sound. Actually, it’s somewhere between the two. Think of the sound one utters in, "What the hell are D&G talking about?"

3. eh: For this you need to recall all those French movies you’ve watched: "Eh! Voilá!"

4. jj: I want to indicate the French "j," which is softer than the English "j." This /jj/ lingers a bit longer than the English version.

5. (or): The pronunciation of certain names is in dispute, I’ve noticed, overheard while riding on elevators at conferences. Or maybe this indicates postmodern indeterminacy. I’ve indicated alternative versions if I have encountered differing pronunciations. My own preference in this play of différence is the first version given.

6. djuh: Let your jaw go slack and say, "juh"; yet you must somehow insert the /d/ sound. You’ll need a few glasses of a decent French wine.

7. sigh: It’s the same sound as that of the word describing the noise you make when you have read enough postmodern theory and turn on the TV for relief, where your postmodern experience will be intensified.

8. ss: The "ss" indicates that the sound is sibilated. I suggest that you continue saying the /s/ sound until you are no longer able to.

9. dthoo: The /dth/ sound in Spanish is often an occasion for debate among those who study and speak the Spanish tongue. Some believe that the use of the Spanish "th" is confined to Spain, used among Castillians, Catalans, Andalusians, and other assorted Iberians. This is talked of as it occurs with the /c/ sound. Thus one is expected to go around saying things like "day-cone-strook-thee-own" (deconstrucción: that is, deconstruction). However, while most Latin Americans don’t give the "th" to the /c/ sound when speaking their variously inflected regional dialects of Spanish, the /d/ sound is almost universally given the "th" pronunciation in many words among Spanish speakers in the Americas. See what studying dtheory can do for you?



Names of French theorists:


Pierre Bourdieu: bor-djuh (or) bor-djyoo

Louis Althusser: loo-ee al-too-sayre (I know that the sirname is German, but he was French, or, like Derrida, Franco-Algerian.)

Jacques Lacan: law-cawn (Some have played on the word lack in the name, in so far as Lacan’s theories focus on the notion of the psychoanalytic "lack.")

Gilles Deleuze: jjeel duh-luhz (or) duh-looz (Whatever decision you make on the second syllable, the /z/ sound in French is soft, somewhere between the English /z/ and /s/.)

Félix Guattari: fay-leex hua-tar-ree (The sirname is Italian, but he is a major French theorist.)

Deleuze and Guattari: Collaborators, comrades, co-authors, they are referred to by their devotees as simply "D&G."

Frantz Fanon: fah-known (But the "n" at the end is nearly silent.)

Ferdinand Saussure: sew-zser (I guess it’s similar to "so sure.")

Claude Lévi-Strauss: clode lay-vee-stroess (Being able to pronounce this name correctly will gain you instant admittance to the Cornel Theory Program.)

Roland Barthes: (h)roe-lawnd(uh) bawrt(uh) (The /h/ sound at the beginning of "Roland" is more of a breath than a heard voicing, and the /uh/ sounds at the end of each name are not only near silent but also paradoxically almost musical, a sound that sort of floats in the air after aspirating. You may have to watch a Pink Panther movie to get this one.)

Jacques Derrida: deh-ree-dah (or) deh-ree-dah (Said with disgust by empty-headed twits and right-wing twerps, this name is pronounced almost without stress on any syllable, according to the French insistence that, like Japanese, the Gaulic language is stress free. Reading Derrida may not be stress free.)

Michel Foucault: mee-shell foo-co (or) foo-co (By "co" I mean to suggest the sound in English words like "co-op" and "Shop-Co." Moreover, if you choose the pronunciation typically preferred by American French professors, which means accenting the first syllable—that is, foo-co—then you must sort of sing the first syllable a little, a bit like the French pronunciation one hears Julia Child use.)

Jean-François Lyotard: jjawn fran-swaz lee-o-tard(eh) (The "eh" is almost more of a thought than a sound, an indication of something heard but not necessarily actually voiced, which sounds vaguely like a feature of Lyotard’s theory on the postmodern condition.)

Jean Baudrillard: bow-dree-lard (What the hell, you may want to add to the last syllable ["lard"] that "eh" at the end of "Lyotard": bow-dree-lard-eh.)

Hélène Cixous: (h)ey-layn seek-sue (The "h" is nearly silent, though Cixous could never be silenced, you know.)

Monique Wittig: moan-eek whit-teeg (I love saying this name.)



Everyone not French:


György (sometimes "Georg") Lukács: jeeorj loo-kash (The last name rhymes with "goulash." He was Hungarian.)

Antonio Gramsci: grawm-shee (He was Italian.)

Walter Benjamin: val-tare ben-ya-min (He was German. However, it has become acceptable among certain circles to Anglicize the pronunciation of the names. But I think that such trends take all the fun out of talking about theory.)

Tzvetan Todorov: tzvay-tawn toe-dar-uv (or) toe-door-off (The /tz/ is the sound one hears in the Russian word "tzar" and the invented name of the Romanian dadaist "Tristan Tzara." He was born in Bulgaria and is a French theorist. The first pronunciation I’ve offered is the French one; the second is the Bulgarian one. It’s a Continental Thing.)

Edward W. Said: sigh-yeed (Palestinian-Egyptian-American)

Homi K. Bhabha: ho-mee baw-baw (East Indian, or Parsi)

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: guy-aw-tree chok-rah-vor-tee spee-vak (East Indian, or Bengali; "Spivak" is a Jewish sirname, however, evidently traceable to countries like Belarus.)

Chinua Achebe: chin-wa ah-chay-bay (or) uh-cheh-bee (Nigerian)

Mikhail Bakhtin: mick-hale bok-teen (Russian)

Jürgen Habermas: yer-ghen haw-bear-mawss (or) haw-bear-mawz (German)

Julia Kristeva: kris-teh-vuh (She’s Bulgarian, so I didn’t include her in the French list, though, like Todorov, she’s among the most important French theorists.)

Gloria Anzaldúa: on-sole-dthoo-uh (or) on-sole-doo-uh (U.S. Latina, Chicana)

Ngugi wã Thiong’o: n-goo-ghee wah tee-ong-oh (The "n" at the beginning of "Ngugi" isn’t pronounced "en"; it is the /n/ sound itself. Place your tongue against the back of your front teeth and start to say "no." But instead of adding the "o," replace it instead with "goo-ghee." A Kenyan writer, Ngugi recovered his Kikuyu tribal past. He was formerly James Ngugi.)

[Gary Busey]

is nietzche (yes, i know, it's spelled wrong) on there?

[DonleyBVW]

From http://www.allbiographies.com/biogra...che-22946.html

neechuh

That's about how I pronounce it and how one of my native German speaking professors pronounced it.

[TheScuSpeaks]

'Louis Althusser: loo-ee al-too-sayre' is compeletely wrong to my knowledge.

loo-ee is right. The next name is al-thew-say.

Originally Posted by TheScuSpeaks

'Louis Althusser: loo-ee al-too-sayre' is compeletely wrong to my knowledge.

loo-ee is right. The next name is al-thew-say.

i believe you're incorrect on this one

[justink]

http://cross-x.com/vb/showthread.php...ight=pronounce

[Nelly]

Originally Posted by TheScuSpeaks

The next name is al-thew-say.

No, the 'th' is pronounced more as a 't' in French - I've been taking the language for 12 years now. It's not a totally hard 't;' maybe that accounts for your confusion.