PROPOSAL: -acea; -aceae; -aceous

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
     As I stated before, I try to examine all possible pronunciations, and
follow a middle course.  I therefore propose that the "-ce" in the botanical
family ending be pronounced "she" as in:
    Cetacea (suh-TAY-she-a)
    Cretaceous (cre-TAY-she-us)
    herbaceous (er-BAY-she-us).
What do you think?
          -----  Cheers,  Ken

P.S.     But even if this standard pronunciation (for the penultimate
syllable) was found to be agreeable, there is still no consensus on the
pronunciation of the final -ae.  Family Poaceae could be:
  Po-AY-she-AY
  Po-AY-she-EE
  Po-AY-she-EYE
or my preference Po-AY-she-AYEE.
     I still think a literal pronunciation of the diphthong -AYEE would be
best, because (1) it is close to the other three alternatives, and (2) it
would obviously be easy to teach and learn, since one would literally be
saying the letters (at least in English).

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