Re: Sinornithosaurus and Latin accent rules

["Charles C. Fuller" <wuckus@ecol.net>]

bh480@scn.org wrote:

[medium sized snip]

> LATIN ACCENT RULES
> In principle all generic names are Latin words and should
> be pronounced according to Latin rules. In actual
> practice, this ideal approach is hard to follow, and
> modern English speakers generally apply the sounds used in
> English for Latin letters.

My impression is that if you insist on pronouncing Latin
expressions commonly used in English with Latin
pronunciations, you are identifying yourself as a knob of
the first water. For example, if you said "et ket-a-ra, or
if you called the Chicago suburb "Kee-ke-ro".

[bigger snip]

> There are MANY more complications about determining when a
> Latin syllable is long or short. More importantly, modern
> English speakers follow a number of conventions in
> pronouncing Latin and Greek word roots and endings used in
> New Latin generic names. If anybody is interested, I could
> work up a posting explaining some of these.

I, for one, would be very interested in this, either on-list
or off. If Ben or anyone else could help me out, I would
really appreciate it. My knowledge of Latin and Greek is the
random hodge-podge that one gets by osmosis in two decades
of school, but I have never had any formal or systematic
training in either language.

If someone could suggest good basic Latin and Greek texts,
either general purpose, or for scientific purposes, I would
be in your debt. Again, either on-list or off.