Pronounciation

[Hassles]

Hopefully, he says with his fingers crossed, we'll start an interesting discussion.

Q: how the hell does one pronounce the names of the various Apistogramma ?

eg...

..A. cacatuoides pron. kaka-toy-deez

..A. borelli pron. bore-raleigh

...A. macmasteri is pretty simply

and the others such as ?

A. nijsseni etc etc etc

 

[Mike Wise]

This has been discussed here many times. Do a search under "pronounce" and see what you find. IMHO, I doubt anyone pronounces every name correctly. As long as we understand each other, that fine with me.:biggrin:

 

[Ruki]

..A. borelli pron. bore-raleigh

Sooo hard to say.

 

[Greg PL]

it seems a "good manner" in the scientists' world to use Latin pronounciation. which is a bit tricky, since we don't have records of the language, only written texts and the family names from different nations used make it even more confusing.
I try to spell the name as per the persons involved language. I'd say "Bor-ell-e".
written properly is good enough. having one name for one species would be nice, too. with borelliis I have seen "yellow dwarf cichlid", "umbrella" "Reitzig's" to name the most popular.

 

[tjudy]

Disclaimer... I am not a taxonomist, and I am sure that this is not 100% correct, but the basics are accurate. Plus... there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rules.

If the name is derived from a person, place or thing, then the name is pronounced as the word should normally be pronounced. 'i' (pronounces as a long 'eye' sound) at the end is masculine and tells you that the person the fish is named after is a man. 'ae' is feminine (pronounced 'ay' as in 'hay' or 'say'). 'ensis' refers to a geographic place or feature. 'es', 'us', 'a', 'e', 'is' and other suffixes are associated with descriptive terms and the specific suffix is determined by the latin rules for masculinity or femininity of the root word... which I know nothing about. Some names, like pulcher, have no suffix.

So...

Masculine names derived from a person:
borelli
aggassizii
barlowi

Feminine names derived from a person:
elizibethae
victoriae
melanieae

Names derived from places
xinguensis
brasiliensis
managuensis
victoriaensis

Names based upon physical features or characteristics
sexlineata
sexlineatus
taeniatus
trifasciata
diplotaeniata
sacramontis
humilis

Interestingly, really old names tend to venerate places. Moderately old names are mostly derived from physical features. Modern names are mostly after people. Just goes to show that even taxonomists change their preferences.

 

[Mike Wise]

Technically, if we pronounced the Latinized words as would ancient Romans, the masculine genetive (possessive) suffix 'i' would be pronounced as a long 'e': regani --> rā'-gĕn-ē (ray'-gen-ee) If a man's name already ends in an 'i', then adding the the masculine genetive (possessive) suffix 'i' produces 'ii' and is pronounced 'ē-ī' : borellii --> bō-rāl'-lé-ī (bow rayl' ley eye'). Me? I say bow-rell'-ee-eye'. The feminine genetive (possessive) suffix "-ae" is also pronounced as a long 'e': elizabethae --> ē'-lĭz-ě-bĕth'-ē (ee'-liz-uh-beth'-ee). Think like algae: one plant alga; 2 or more algae.

By the way, I see "nijsseni" mis(?)pronounced all of the time. Are there any Dutch speakers out there who can tell us how Dr. Nijssen pronounces his name. Most American say "Nee-sen" (nee-sen-eye). I thought it was pronounce "nye-szen" (nye-szen-ee). I would like to know for sure.

 

[Lenny Llambi]

I went to a Latin prep school, so I'm pretty decent at pronunciation. However, after getting involved in my local aquarium society, I learned pretty quickly that it's best to just adapt to how other people say the fish's name. Afterall, the point of communication is to have the other person understand you.
I still hold onto old habits though. In Latin ch=kh, so I say pulcher as (pool-kher).
In other cases I moderate the Latinization.
sabinae would technically be (sah-bee-neye). Most people say (sah-bin-ay). I say (sah-bin-eye).
Then there is duboisi and cacatuoides. Technically, it's (doo-boh-ee-see), and (cah-cah-too-oh-ee-dehs). Most people would just look at you funny if you pronounced them that way, so I just go with (doo-bwah-zeye), and (cah-cah-twoi-deez).

 

[viejo]

I think that the one that makes me craziest is= LIVINGSTONI obviously a patronym honoring the good doctor but is often pronounced to sound like an animate rock :wink: .. Another is RAMIREZI often butchered as 'rammer-easy' :biggrin: ...

 

[Mike Wise]

Don't forget "marlieri", for the French ichthyologist Marlier (Mar-lee-ay). Has anyone ever heard it pronounced "mar-lee-ay-ee", like it should? The pronunciation I don't understand is "mal-er-eye". How do you get that for "marlieri"??

 

[tjudy]

Because in English the 'ier' end to the name is phonetically 'ee-er'. As in 'earlier' or 'tastier'.

I like to mispronounce the names because it ticks off PL. :wink: Though it does not get the rise out of him as much as it used to!