Taxacom: demystifying gender agreement ( was Re: Removals ofoffending scientific names)

Tue Jun 27 02:44:59 CDT 2023

 I have followed the discussion with some dismay since the majority of the arguments against gender agreement (or, sometimes, more generally against Latin) are too whimsical to be accepted.
To sum up, I see three rethorical/whimsical (and quite unpresentable in my opinion) arguments and one pratical.
The rethorical arguments are:
1) Latin gender agreement rules are complicated and there are a few exceptions in the rules which furtherly complicate things. My answer is: in taxonomy there are a lot of complicate things, some strictly necessary some others less necessary, but every taxonomists diligently accepts them. So, why not gender agreement? The intellectual effort needed for becoming familiar with the idea of gender agreement is minimal and the Latin rules about it required fin zooloigcal nomenclature are minimal. Furthermore, do we have evidence that people coming from cultures which had nothing to do with Latin (and/or with gender agreement), such as China and Japan, is totally unable to use Latin (and/or gender agreement)? As far as I can see they deal with Latin in an excellent way. And for those who do not like adjectives there is always the option to choose a noun or a genitive (..or, are also Latin genitive suffixes such as -i, -ae, another unaccetable thing for you?).
2) "My native language does not know gender agreement therefore the whole world must adapt to this". This is a very unpresentable argument (and very immodest) and, as far as I can see, the most widespread. Then I suppose that the day some of you decide to learn Italian, French, Spanish, German or any other language having gender agreement rules, then you will ask their governments to abolish such an outdated habit because you feel not at ease with it....
3) Latin is a dead language, outdated and old fashioned. De facto  Latin is however the language with which the majority of the 2 millions (?) existing scientific names have been crafted, being Latin or latinized. So, a basic knowledge of Latin (and some Ancient Greek) remains a necessary tool for a taxonomist in order to deal with what has been done up to now and to understand the past of taxonomy. The existing names are also likely to represent the most common and widespread living organims on this planet and therefore these existing names are likely the ones destined to be used more often. Of course it is possible to discuss anything about the future of zoological nomenclature, even to abandon Latin and to switch to vernacular names or to English, but I don't see any particular advantage in doing this.
The practical argument is:
4) names are labels, and, above all, are treated as such by databases and computers, therefore any change in a name will complicate things for a computer or anybody managing a database. Change is, however, a trademark of taxonomy. Names and binomina continuously change because of some taxonomic facts (e.g., new combinations, splitting and lumping of taxa), nomenclatural rules (discovery of homonimies, gender agreement, corrections of spellings)  and nomenclatural-taxonomic events (i.e., taxonomic decisions which need to follow a nomenclatural rule, i.e., the principle of prioriry, as in the case of synonymizations). A guy who 40 years ago had learnt about the existence of a snake called Elaphe longissima will be somewhat confused with the current name Zamenis longissimus and leaving it as Zamenis longissima would not represent a big help to him for reconciling the two binomina. So, anybody dealing with taxonomy needs to have some knowledge of the rules of taxonomy and nomenclature, gender agreement is one of them. And, if, currently, computers are unable to deal with it, let's change computers and, please, do not adapt our mind to the limits of a machine.
To sum up: Being not afraid of Latin is a requisite for becoming a taxonomist, like being not afraid of blood is a must if you want to become a doctor! If you have a thing against Latin, then why are you a taxonomist? There are other branches of natural history, such as ecology or ethology you could consider and where you will become a simple user of scientific names (and in some case you could even use only vernacular names!) without the need to understand them and the rules behind them.
Best regards,
Alberto

    Il martedì 27 giugno 2023 alle ore 05:11:58 CEST, Frank T. Krell via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> ha scritto:  

 We (ICZN) are talking about how to organize straw votes on major issues, such as gender agreement, involving as much of the global interested zoological community as possible. I think that consulting the community is crucial with such contentions issues as gender agreement or mandatory registration. My term with the ICZN ends next year, but I will try to push this as long as I can.
Cheers

Frank

Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell

Senior Curator of Entomology, Editor-in-Chief
Commissioner and Councillor, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
Department of Zoology
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
2001 Colorado Blvd
Denver, Colorado 80205-5798, U.S.A.
Frank.krell at dmns.org
Phone 303.370.8244
Fax 303.331.6492
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Bugs: They're bigger, they're better, they're buggier than ever! It's all about precision flight, swarm intelligence and mind control in the world of "Bugs," the exhibition. Marvel at their adaptive genius and see if you can match their brilliance.   

Bugs: Son más grandes, mejores y más increíbles que nunca. En la exhibición "Bugs" todo gira en torno al vuelo de precisión, la inteligencia en grupo y el control mental. ¡Descubre lo genios que son!

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of George Beccaloni via Taxacom
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 11:10 AM
To: Douglas Yanega <dyanega at gmail.com>
Cc: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
Subject: Re: Taxacom: demystifying gender agreement ( was Re: Removals ofoffending scientific names)

Hopefully the ICZN isn't a dictatorship... If not, perhaps it should consult taxonomists worldwide and give them a vote about continuing or abandoning gender agreement.

George

****************************************************************************
*Dr George Beccaloni FLS*
*Director, Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project*

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On Mon, 26 Jun 2023 at 18:02, Douglas Yanega via Taxacom < taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> On 6/26/23 2:53 AM, Geoff Read via Taxacom wrote:
> > As a database editor I can have great difficulty in ascertaining the
> gender of a genus, because it isn't stated, and the derivation of the 
> name is obscure and unresolvable.
> > Sometimes the view of the gender assignment oscillates between 
> > masculine
> and feminine with successive authors over the decades. Who is right?
> > The other unnecessary problem is that authors don't think it 
> > necessary
> to explain themselves when they suddenly change the gender endings 
> within a genus. It's beneath them to help out in that way.
> > So, lacking the explanation, we try to find the evidence for ourselves.
> This is a terrific waste of my time.
>
> I agree, it IS a waste of your time.
>
> If there was a single list to consult that told you *instantly and
> definitively* what gender any given genus is, and another list that 
> told you whether or not an epithet is subject to changes in spelling 
> (and what those changes are), do you think that this would resolve 
> this particular issue?
>
> Don't give in to the Dark Side.
>
> Peace,
>
> --
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology      Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314    skype: dyanega
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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