ANALYSIS: Though Democrats — and Harris herself — have said it differently over the years, Republicans are the ones who mispronounce it maliciously, according to scholars
Former President Donald Trump recently coined a new nickname for his political opponent in the 2024 race for the Oval Office, something he does with all his political rivals. He’s calling Vice President Kamala Harris “Kamabla.”
While it’s likely a reference to the fact that Harris has difficulty articulating her thoughts in a clear and precise manner, scholars argue it shows he’s racist or “othering” her.
But over the years, even Harris herself has pronounced her name differently — and she has also switched accents depending on what audience she is addressing, according to various videos posted on social media.
Even Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and former President Bill Clinton have apparently pronounced her name wrong over the years.
The topic of how to pronounce her name has become something of an obsession with some scholars in recent months after she became the Democratic nominee for president.
From university news articles, to columns, to TikTok videos, several scholars recently used this topic to suggest that mispronouncing her name can be an illustration of the country’s arrogance, ignorance, or racism, for example.
Depending on who you ask, however, even scholars have slightly different takes as well.
In a 2020 op-ed for Ms. Magazine titled “Getting it Right: Why It’s Important To Pronounce Kamala Harris’s and My Name Correctly,” San Jose State University Professor Saili Kulkarni said it’s “Comma-la.”
But Archana Venkatesan, a professor at UC Davis, in a piece published last month titled “The Conversation: What is the Meaning of Kamala,” argued the presidential candidate’s name is pronounced “Come-a-laa” (Kamalā), with the final long “a.”
For Kulkarni, she wrote there are usually three reasons why someone mispronounces a name.
For one, they’re “usually a white, male authority figure” who is “too busy to care,” she wrote. Another reason might be they’re a “nervous talker,” she wrote, adding again it’s usually “a white, male authority figure” who falls into this category. Finally, she added, even people of color can get it wrong, but it’s mostly on accident.
Venkatesan, in her piece, lauded Harris’ first name as “divine symbolism,” likening VP Harris to an Indian goddess named Sri-Lakshmi.
One scholar who has actually made a name for herself as something of an expert on Kamala Harris’ name is UC Berkeley linguist Nicole Holliday, whose TikTok videos on the topic have reached hundreds of thousands of views.
She calls herself a “sociolinguist” and “maybe the world’s leading expert on Kamala Harris’s language.”
In one video, she argued that those who mispronounce her name are being vindictive: “They’re doing something by choosing one pronunciation over the other. They’re telling you that they care or don’t care about how she says her name, and they do or don’t respect her and where she comes from.”
She also argued in a recent TikTok video that Trump’s new “Kamabla” nickname is him “doubling down” on a “pattern of linguistic and racial disrespect.” She also said that the nickname is an attempt to make his opponent’s name sound “extra foreign.”
Meanwhile, Micheal Eric Dyson, a professor at Vanderbilt, recently accused a GOP congresswoman of being “racist” for mispronouncing Harris’ first name. He said she was continuing the “legacy of white disregard for the humanity of Black people,” in a CNN panel on Aug. 15.
And a study published in 2023 found that Republicans are more likely to mispronounce her name.
“Democrats are more likely to use the correct pronunciation of Kamala, as well as know what the correct pronunciation is,” according to the study out of Brigham Young University.
It also found that “if a person knows the correct pronunciation of Kamala, they will likely use it; however, this association is stronger among Democrats than Republicans.”
However, when Trump ran for president in 2016, liberal comedian John Oliver, on his talk show, lampooned Trump over the original surname of his German ancestors: “Drumpf.” In contrast, this nickname has since been used in a derogatory manner by leftists toward Trump.
MORE: Academia: Diversity is great but don’t call Kamala Harris a DEI hire
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