[Taxacom] Asterales

[Francisco Welter-Schultes]

I would prefer Caribbean English, because it sounds much better.
Indian English would also be an option for Wikipedia, from the viewpoint
of the numbers of speakers. They would certainly have the majority.

Just because Latin was spoken in Italy, Italian does not come closer to
Latin pronounciation than Spanish, German or Finnish.
In the case of Asterales however, the answer is invariably clear in all
four languages: the word is pronounced As-te-ra-les.

I think there is no modern reference language that allows to pronounce
scientific Latin consistently. A mixture of several languages must be
used.

More problematic for the international community to pronounce Latin words
in a uniform mode are the ce and ci (I prefer the European Spanish mode,
equivalent to the English voiceless th, Italian would give tsh, German has
no proposal), the y (the Danish/Swedish mode is a good option for the
standalone pronounciation, in German this would be ü = u umlaut, and
Spanish for combinations like ya), the h (the German/English mode might be
the best option), the z (French/Portuguese is probably best, ts in German
and Italian, s in South American Spanish, in European Spanish equivalent
to the English voiceless th and not a good option), the j (I prefer the
Portuguese/French mode, the Serbocroatian/German mode to pronounce ja
would not differ from ya, the kh in Spanish is no option), v and w, and
combinatons like ch (pronounced k in Italian, not a good choice, in
Spanish tsh and in German kh). The pronounciation of names like
szechuanensis or czarnohorica is again another level.

Francisco

> Well, I believed that the very point of using Latin ("scientific") names
> instead of vernacular (i.e. English) names in scientific communication was
> that we, irrespective of mother tounge, should be able to understand!??
>
> With this in mind I am rather astonished by finding out that some
> apparently considers it recommendable to pronounce these scientific/Latin
> names in a way that is congruent with local traditions/languages but which
> is apparently known to be very difficult to interpret by colleagues from
> other such local traditions.
>
> For sure, we cannot expect everybody to have a perfect classical Latin
> pronounciation, but I had really hoped that it was the goal towards which
> we all strived. If Americans insist on deliberately pronouncing scientific
> organismal names according to the rules of American English, I will from
> now on only use the Swedish vernacular names most familiar to me in all
> communication with Americans...
>
> :( Torbjörn
>
>
>
>
>
> 13 mar 2012 kl. 07.22 skrev Jim Croft:
>
>>> This is a small price we all pay to live in a multilingual,
>>> multicultural world with a complex history.
>>
>> And it's nice to have that small reminder that we live in a
>> multilingual, multicultural world with a complex history. :)
>>
>> jim
>>
>> _________________
>> Jim Croft ~ jim.croft at gmail.com ~ +61-2-62509499 ~ http://about.me/jrc
>> 'A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point
>> of doubtful sanity.'
>>  - Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)
>>
>> Please send URLs, not attachments:
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
>>
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>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Torbjörn Tyler, Ph.D,
>>
>> – Curator at herbarium LD.
>> – Editor in Chief of Nordic Journal of Botany.
>> – Deputy secretary of Lund Botanical Society, with special
>> responsibility for Projekt Skånes Mossor.
>> – Responsible for the project The Hieracia of Sweden.
>>
>>
>> Botanical Museum
>> Ö. Vallgatan 18
>> SE-223 61 Lund
>>
>> tel. +(0)46-222 89 65
>>
>>
>> e-mail: torbjorn.tyler at botmus.lu.se<mailto:torbjorn.tyler at botmus.lu.se>
>>
>> Private address: Enningervägen 12, SE-243 31 Höör (=Hoeoer), tel.
>> +(0)413-23123.
>> ___________________________________________________________________
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Francisco Welter-Schultes
Zoologisches Institut, Berliner Str. 28, D-37073 Goettingen
Phone +49 551 395536
http://www.animalbase.org