Suggestion: Tag or Sub- tag for Scientific names
Tex Texin
tex at i18nguy.com
Sun Feb 2 19:42:20 CET 2003
John Clews wrote: "A general mechanism for 'Tag as "do not translate"' might
be more effective..."
That was my thought too. However we don't need a language tag for that, markup
will do.
tex
John Clews wrote:
>
> As such, I would oppose a tag for scientific Latin: what's here in
> the examples is loan words, which occur in every language.
>
> What specific user need is served by the use of any tag for
> "scientific Latin" that is not served by existing language tags?
>
> Not to mention all the denotation issues as to "when is it
> scientific, and when is it ordinary Latin, and when is it just
> loan words?"
>
> A general mechanism for 'Tag as "do not translate"' might be more
> effective than this specific request for a new tag, in the examples
> below. Overall, a tag for scientific Latin is a sledgehammer to crack
> a nut, and possibly seeking to use the wrong tool for this particular
> problem anyway.
>
> I'd be interested in any further justification.
>
> John Clews
>
> In message <DfDdMd+WS+O+EwRK at pigsonthewing.org.uk>
> ietf-languages at pigsonthewing.org.uk writes:
>
> > LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM
> >
> > Name of requester : Andy Mabbett
> >
> > E-mail address of requester: andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
> >
> > Tag to be registered : SC (or possibly "LA-sci")
> >
> > English name of language :
> >
> > Scientific names (aka "Latin names") of living things
> > ("Scientific Latin")
> >
> > Native name of language (transcribed into ASCII): n/a
> >
> > Reference to published description of the language (book or article):
> >
> > There is no single published description of this "pseudo
> > language". However, the following small sample of the available
> > literature may be of use:
> >
> > The Christian Science Monitor "What's in a scientific
> > name? Maybe your own."
> >
> > <http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2001/01/04/fp15s1-csm.shtml>
> >
> >
> > Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
> >
> > <http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy.html>
> >
> > A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.
> > Kastner, J.
> > Oxford University Press. 1986.
> >
> > The Dictionary of American Bird Names.
> > Choate, Ernest A. Revised by R. A. Paynter, Jr.
> > Harvard Common Press. 1985
> >
> > CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names,
> > Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology
> > Umberto Quattrocchi
> > CRC Press November 1999
> >
> > Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Names in Latin,
> > English, French, German and Italian
> > M Wrobel and G Creber
> > Elsevier 1996
> >
> > The Scientific Names of the British Lepidoptera - Their
> > History and Meaning
> > A. Maitland
> > Harley Books 1991
> >
> > Plus the many websites listed at:
> >
> > <http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy.html>
> >
> > and titles listed at:
> >
> > <http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dbooks%26field-subject%3DScientific%20nomenclature%20%20cl
> > assification/202-3492600-6446218>
> >
> >
> > Any other relevant information:
> >
> > There is currently no language tag to denote the use of
> > the scientific names (often erroneously called "Latin
> > names") of living things, such as plants and animals
> > (e.g. Homo sapiens). While such names are often composed
> > of, or derived from, Latin terms, they can also be
> > created from "Latinised" words taken from other
> > languages, including Greek, English & other Western
> > languages, languages local to the habitat of the plant
> > or creature described, place names, word- play, family
> > names and even words invented for fiction (e.g.
> > characters in Tolkien or Star Trek).
> >
> > For example:
> >
> > Brachypelma albopilosum
> > (Brachypelma, from the Greek)
> >
> > Ekgmowechashala philotae
> > (the North American Lakota language)
> >
> > Uluops uluops
> > (from "ulu", an Eskimo knife)
> >
> > Linnaea borealis
> > (in honour of Linneaus)
> >
> > Ardeola grayii
> > (in honour of John Edward Gray, a
> > biologist)
> >
> > Nepenthes sumatrana
> > (from the place name "Sumatra")
> >
> > Phyllidia polkadotsa
> > ("polka-dotted")
> >
> > Draculoides bramstokeri
> > (in honour of the character Dracula and
> > its author, Bram Stoker)
> >
> > Calponea harrisonfordi
> > (in honour of Harrison Ford, the actor)
> >
> > Ba humbugi
> > (a quote from Dickens' 'A Christmas
> > Carol')
> >
> > Ytu brutus
> > (a quote from Shakespeare, "Et U,
> > Brutus?)
> >
> > Polemistus chewbacca
> > (a character from the film 'Star Wars')
> >
> > Crex crex
> > (onomatopoeia)
> >
> > Phthiria relativitae
> > (a play on "The Theory of Relativity")
> >
> > Abra cadabra
> > (a magical pun)
> >
> > Orizabus subaziro
> > (a palindrome)
> >
> > Agra vation
> > (a play on "aggravation")
> >
> > Bombylius aureocookae
> > (a play on "oreo cookie")
> >
> > Heerz lukenatcha
> > (a play on "here's looking at you")
> >
> > Cyclocephala nodanotherwon
> > (a play on "not another one")
> >
> > Zyzzyx chilensis
> > (???!!!)
> >
> >
> > The use of the tag "LA" for Latin, while it may act as a
> > useful guide for pronunciation in some cases, is clearly
> > inappropriate for many such names, which will not occur
> > in regular Latin dictionaries.
> >
> > I propose a tag for such names (which commonly occur in
> > the midst of prose written in another language), or,
> > alternatively, a sub- tag of the "LA" tag.
> >
> > The tag will allow clients to be aware that they should
> > NOT translate Scientific names when translating the text
> > of a document in which they are included; Homo sapiens
> > is Homo sapiens in French, German, English or Serbo-
> > Croat.
> >
> > There is convention to abbreviate second occurrences of
> > such names:
> >
> > <http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000047.htm>
> >
> > thus:
> >
> > "Homo sapiens has a bigger brain that H.
> > erectus"
> >
> > and that the proposed tag (or sub-tag) will potentially
> > allow the second such occurrence to be pronounced in
> > full by speech synthesis software, as it would be in
> > normal speech:
> >
> > "Homo sapiens has a bigger brain that Homo
> > erectus"
> >
> > Scientific names are conventionally rendered, on paper
> > or screen, in italics (or sometimes underlined) <ibid.>;
> > a unique tag will potentially allow rendering to be
> > facilitated automatically by clients (or via style
> > sheets in HTML and other mark- up schema).
> >
> >
> > I am grateful to Harald Tveit Alvestrand for his
> > response to my initial suggestion.
> >
> > I have been advised that an "asbestos proof" suit might
> > be needed; as a newcomer to this system, I trust that
> > this will not be the case; I will gladly submit a
> > revised proposal, in the light of guidance from friends
> > more learned and familiar with the procedure than I.
> > Comments from zoologists, botanists or taxonomists would
> > also be welcome.
> > --
> > Andy Mabbett
> >
> > Birmingham, UK
> > andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
> >
> > --
> > Andy Mabbett
> >
> > Birmingham, UK
> > andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ietf-languages mailing list
> > Ietf-languages at alvestrand.no
> > http://www.alvestrand.no/mailman/listinfo/ietf-languages
>
> Best regards
>
> John Clews
>
> --
> John Clews,
> Keytempo Limited (Information Management),
> 8 Avenue Rd, Harrogate, HG2 7PG
> Tel: 01423 888 432
> mobile: 07766 711 395
> Email: Scripts at sesame.demon.co.uk
> Web: http://www.keytempo.com
>
> Committee Member of ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC22/WG20: Internationalization;
> Committee Member of ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1: Language Codes
> _______________________________________________
> Ietf-languages mailing list
> Ietf-languages at alvestrand.no
> http://www.alvestrand.no/mailman/listinfo/ietf-languages
--
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