Re: OT: phonetic pronunciation

Now that the horse has died several times over and I have stated that it doesnt matter how something is pronounced, let me see if I can get the horse back on its feet. Of course no matter what we say, it does matter how we pronounce things. When people listen to our pronunciation they make value judgements about our education and our backgrounds. Even if officially you can say a botanical word practically any way you want there are still conventions and rules generally accepted by society. Some attempt to utilize a knowledge of language is appreciated. For example for years I unthinkingly pronounced the genus Lychnis as LITCH  NIS when if I had given it some thought I would have remembered that in botanical Latin a ch is usually a k sound and LIK NIS is a better pronounciation. When dispensation is given for indigenous verbalizations I doubt that it is meant to have a total disregard for at least some attempt to utilize our knowledge of Latin and Greek pronunciations. Amoena for
 example is I believe a Greek word and the oe in the middle would have a  long eee sound. Although tastes change, I suspect that someone saying the word with a long eee would be given a little more respect than someone inserting a dipthong. I was taught in the dark ages, that when a plant was named after a person, usually by simply adding one or two Is at the end, that you should try to pronounce the name as that person would have done. For example Iris korolkowii  would be said with the W becoming a V.  then again, regelias are named after Regel yet I would use a soft g for the first and a hard g for the person. We can never make life too simple.

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