Debkowski family history.

I'm looking for the family history of my father Walter J. Debkowski

Born: When ?

Place of Birth: Where ?

Is he still alive ?

We need more than a name to help you.

Correct spelling is DĘBKOWSKI (pronounced: demp-KO-ski),
derived from dąb~dęb (oak tree), probably from a locality such as Dębki, Dębie, Dębia, etc.

Pronounced demp-kov-ski actually

Indeed, but perhaps the closest we can come without using phonetic markings would be demp-KOf-ski (the lower case "f"" indicating that the "f" sound is barely sounded and not heard at all in rapid speech).

U r right to say that the stressed part is KO but wrong to say that it's an f sound, it lies somewhere between an f and a v but is not a pure f. In fact, it's more v if anything. No offence, but many Poles don't feel a V and F difference as I do. I teach it and see that there isn't as clear a distinction in their diction as there is in mine. This rings true for many other consonant pairs.

Doesn't the v sound devoice before an s?

It's still a V, say it to urself many times and u will hear that it's a V

Demp-KOf-ski sounds a bit off. Vvvvvvv is different from ffffffff. V has a vibrato resonance, f is lighter

Devoiced isn't completely unvoiced then?

It just means that u can't feel the vibration from ur larynx. F is almost a whispered letter

You guys are trashing this thread.

None of your posts help JarGee trace his father's family history.

He has the internet, he has the biggest resource out there to help him

Walter Joseph Debkowski was born in Clinton, Massachusetts on July 30, 1908

As a very young child...maybe two or three his family moved back to Poland.
He returned to this country around the age of 20 or 21