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Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 15:38:49 +0100
From: Mieczyslaw Wolsan <wolsan@twarda.pan.pl>
To: PhyloCode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu
Subject: Re: languages in PhyloCode
Personally I am for leaving English alone. So no Latin, no French, no Swahili, etc. The meaning of a defined name depends on the wording used. The more languages allowed in definitions the more ambiguities involved resulting from misunderstanding of the language used. English has widely been recognized as an international tool of communication in (at least) biology and it works perfectly in phylogenetic definitions. I think that an unambiguous wording (in English) for each kind of phylogenetic definition, just one for each kind, should be proposed in the Code to be followed by workers when defining clade name. Mieczyslaw Wolsan Professor and Chair Department of Vertebrate Paleontology Institute of Paleobiology Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda 51/55 00-818 Warszawa, Poland Phone: +48-22-697-8793 Fax: +48-22-620-6225 E-mail: wolsan@twarda.pan.pl At 08:19 16-11-2001 -0500, you wrote: >I wrote: > >> > but we have provided an alternative for those few >> > who, for whatever reason, prefer that English not be the only choice. > > >David Marjanovic wrote: > >>Just Latin, which zoologists can't read anymore, is not enough, I think. > > >I can't speak for anyone else on the advisory committee, but I would >have no problem with adding French as a third alternative. Including >French would be consistent with the fact that the ICZN is written in >English and French. Retaining Latin as a third choice would be >consistent with the botanical code, which mandates Latin for the >descriptions associated with new taxon names of non-fossil plants. > >Phil > > > >Philip D. Cantino >Professor and Chair >Department of Environmental and Plant Biology >Ohio University >Athens, OH 45701-2979 >U.S.A. > >Phone: (740) 593-1128; 593-1126 >Fax: (740) 593-1130 >e-mail: cantino@ohio.edu