paleonet Re: Latin (written/pronounced)

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On Fri, 26 Jul 2002, Frank Holterhoff wrote:

> Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:55:42 -0500
> From: Frank Holterhoff <frank@matricus.com>
> Reply-To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
> To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: paleonet Dinosaur Genera List update #187
>
>
> Is there a universally accepted source for pronunciation of scientific
> Latin names?  I know how I learned it (public high school >30 years

Dear Frank,

the point "universally accepted" makes an answer quite difficult.

As a, at least as far as I think, justified approach to your question
I suggest to pronounce Latin words (including the Leptaena example
given by you)

as German or
as Russian or
as Spanish/Italian.
I think also that considering Latin words as "transcribed Japanese"
or "Polynesian" could also be of some help (if you crossed the path
of such languages, maybe by reading something to prepare a
holiday).

Maybe, as you come from the United States, you could also
ask whether the Indian Languages (written versus pronounced) could
also be somehow a guideline (on these languages I have no idea, I
read only some fragments about them).

That is: If you ever had a course in one of these languages (including
the prononciation): Just assume that the word under consideration is
not Latin but from one of the above languages and pronounce it as such.

This includes also the "r" and the (where applicable) "th".

The english prononciation of Latin appears to me quite far away
from Latin.

For those who never touched one of the above languages this suggestion
is of course not applicable.

Best regards, Peter
>

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Dr. Peter P. Smolka
University Muenster
Geological Institute
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