Transliterating Graeco-Latin

The following sound correspondences were used by JCB in Loglan 1 (Brown, J.C. 1989. Loglan 1. 4th ed. Gainsville (FL.): The Loglan Institute.) pp. 438-439, to map Linnaean names to Loglan; I think they are sound for Lojban, but am interested in opinions.

Note that these rules concern Linnaean names, which include words from far and wide; they are not restricted to Graeco-Latin.

Note that I rewrote these rules already in The Book, section 4.8. (JWC)

Aaaargh. I retract everything and anything then. The Book rules are binding, as far as I'm concerned. — mi'e nitcion.

aa
a. aardvark => ardvark
ae
ai-or-ae => e. aegyptopithecus => egiptopithekus
c
c before C/a/o/u => k; c followed by e/i/y, or matched in the symbol of an element word, unchanged. canid => kanid; but violoncello => violoncelo and californium => californium
cc
cc followed by e/i/y => kc; otherwise cc => k. succinta => sukcinta, but Echinococcus => ekinokokus.
  • How about cc followed by e/i/y => tc? --mi'e tsali
CC
Any double instance of a C not c is replaced by a single instance of that C. Bettongia => betongia
ch
k. Escherichia => eskerikia
  • Here, I think there is a case for Lojban 'x' instead.
  • If this is German, which is what it looks like, it should be, it should be ecerixia. Similarly Eschscholtzia -=> ecoltsia (California poppy; the name is Äschholz transliterated into Russian and back). — phma
  • In the interest of common sense, I'm prepared to go along with this: if the name is not Latin, native pronunciation should be emulated --- mi'e nitcion.
ee
i. sakeen => sakin
eigh
ei. leightoni => leitoni
ew
u. Andrewsarchus => andrusarkus
h
h in VhC => VCh to make it pronounceable. ahli => alhi
  • In Lojban, I'd just drop it.
ie
i; non final ie unchanged. calorie => calori
  • Error for kalori, of course
igh
ai. lightfooti => laitfuti
ii
i; non final ie unchanged. livingstonii => livinstoni
lh
lh- => elh; non-initial lhC => lC; non-initial lhV unchanged. lhoesti => elhoesti
  • I'd just drop the h in Lojban.
ng
ngC => nC; ngV unchanged. livingstonii => livinstoni, but Bettongia => betongia. [Loglan-specific word breaking apart rules omitted.]
oo
u; except in 'zoo-' and other disyllables in which oo remains unchanged. lightfooti => laitfuti, but Zoothera => zoothera
  • The diphthongal oo is of course Greek, not Latin (omega + omicron)
ou
u when within a natural form: youngi => iungi; when split between two forms, unchanged: thiourea = thio + urea => tiourea
ow
ao: owstoni => aostoni
  • In Lojban, this becomes au.
ph
f; ph- => eph in very short words; non-initial ph unchanged when it will give an otherwise breaking word. phenyl => fenil, but phyla => ephila; and ophiocomina => ophiokomina
  • None of this need detain us; blanket ph => f is fine.
pt
ept; non initial pt remains unchanged. Pterocera => epterocera.
  • I see no reason for this in Lojban.
pn
n; non-initial pn remains unchanged. pneumonia => neumonia.
  • I see no reason for this either.
q
k. antiquitas => antikuitas.
qu
in Spanish source words quV => kV; but in a Linnaean, quV => kuV. braquiopodo => brakiopodo; but Madoqua => madokua
  • Spanish was JCB's preferred source language.
rh
r; rhC => rC; non-initial rhV unchanged. rhodopsin => rodopsin
sc
sk. sclerosis => sklerosis.
th
when not followed by a stressed V, th => t; when followed by V', h is retained. Also, if the th-containing word is related to one in which h preceded V', keep the h. Thus ethylene ethileni [et-hee-LEH-nee] is related to ethyl ethili [et-HEE-lee] and so keeps its h.
  • Lojban can just reduce it to t in all cases.
y
i. Amphyosemian => amfiosemian
yn
un whenever the n is the last C in the word. butenyne => butenune, but dynamo => dinamo
  • I have no idea where this is coming from.
x
x- => z unless matched in the symbol of an element word, when unchanged; when non-initial, => ks. xenyl => zenil, but Atilax => atilaks; xenon unchanged.
w
u unless matched in the symbol of an element word, e.g., lawrencium
  • Untenable in Lojban
j
Not rewritten; it is retained and pronounced as Loglan [zh].


Created by admin. Last Modification: Monday 22 of September, 2003 19:52:37 GMT by admin.