At Steve (Photopro)'s request, here is a primer on the pronunciation of the genus names for the Araceae. I speak classical (Roman) Latin, so this is according to that, not Church or Academic. The pronunciation is classical in IPA phonetic symbols - I'm not going whole hog with their stress marks, though, because they're confusing. Instead, the point of stress is underlined. I've italicised the most common genera. I've also done a plain phonetic translation, this is the second one. A quick guide to the vowels: a is always pronounced as in father - the symbol used is ɑː e is always pronounced as in where - the symbol used is eɪ i and y are always pronounced as in beer - the symbol used is iː o is always hard, pronounced as in boar - the symbol used is oʊ u is always pronounced as in boor - the symbol used is uː Subfamily Aroideae Agalodorum - ɑːg-ɑːl-oʊ-doʊ-ruːm / a-gal-o-DOE-room Aglaeonema - ɑːg-leɪ-oʊ-neɪ-mɑː / ag-lay-o-NAY-ma Alocasia - ɑːl-oʊ-keɪ-siː-ɑː / al-o-KAY-see-a Amorphophallus - ɑː-moʊr-foʊ-fɑː-luːs / a-more-foe-FA-loos Ambrosina - ɑːm-broʊ-siː-nɑː / am-bro-SEE-na Anchomanes - ɑːn-koʊ-mɑːn-iːs / an-KO-man-ees(this one's Greek; ch is pronounced k) Anubias - ɑːn-uː-biː-ɑːs / an-OO-bee-as Aridarum - ɑː-riːd-ɑː-ruːm / a-reed-A-room Ariopsis - ɑː-riː-oʊp-siːs / a-ree-OPE-sees Arisaema - ɑː-riːs-ɑː-eɪ-mɑː / a-rees-a-EI-ma Arisarum - ɑː-riːs-ɑː-ruːm / a-rees-A-room Arophyton - ɑː-roʊ-fiː-toʊn / a-row-FAI-tone Arum - ɑː-ruːm / A-room Asterostigma - ɑː-steɪ-roʊ-stiːg-mɑː / a-stair-o-STEEG-ma Biarum - biː-ɑː-ruːm / BEE-air-oom Bognera - boʊg-neɪr-ɑː / bog-NAIR-a (this one was Latinicised) Bucephalandra - buː-keɪf-ɑː-lɑːnd-rɑː / boo-kafe-a-LAND-ra Caladium - kɑː-lɑː-diː-uːm / ka-LA-dee-oom Callopsis - kɑːl-oʊp-siːs / kal-OPE-sees Carlephyton - kɑːrl-eɪ-fiː-toʊn / kar-lay-FEE-tone Cercestis - keɪr-keɪs-tiːs / kare-KES-tees Chlorospatha - kloʊ-roʊ-spɑː-thɑː / klo-ro-SPA-tha Colletogyne - koʊl-eɪ-toʊ-jiːn-eɪ / kole-ET-o-jeen-e Colocasia - koʊl-oʊ-kɑː-siː-ɑː / kole-o-KA-see-a Cryptocoryne - kriːp-toʊ-koʊ-riːn-eɪ / kreep-toe-KO-reen-e Culcasia - kuːl-kɑː-siː-ɑː / kool-KA-see-a Dieffenbachia- diː-ǝf-ǝn-bɑː-kiː-ɑː / dee-eff-en-BA-kee-ah (keeps some of its German pronunciation) Dracunculus - drɑː-kuːn-kuːl-uːs / dra-KOON-koo-loos Eminium - eɪ-miː-niː-uːm / e-MEE-nee-oom Filarium - fiː-lɑː-riː-uːm / fee-LA-ree-oom Furtadoa - fuːr-tɑː-doʊ-ɑː / foor-ta-DOE-a Gearum - geɪ-ɑː-ruːm / GAY-a-room Gorgonidium - goʊr-goʊ-niː-diː-uːm / gore-go-NEE-dee-oom Hapaline - hɑː-pɑː-liː-neɪ / ha-PA-lee-nay Helicodiceros - heɪ-liː-koʊ-diː-keɪ-roʊs / hay-lee-ko-dee-KAY-roos (another Greek one) Heteroaridarum - heɪ-teɪ-roʊ-ɑː-riːd-ɑː-ruːm / hey-tay-roo-a-reed-A-room Homalomena - hoʊ-mɑː-loʊ-meɪ-nɑː / hoe-ma-LOW-may-na Hotterum - hoʊ-teɪ-ruːm / hoe-TAY-room Jasarum - iːɑː-sɑː-ruːm / ee-A-sa-room Lagenandra - lɑː-geɪ-nɑːn-drɑː / la-gay-NAN-dra Mangonia - mɑːn-goʊ-niː-ɑː / man-GO-nee-a Montrichardia - mʌnt-rɪtʃ-ɑːr-diː-ɑː / mont-rich-AR-dee-a (not subject to Latin pronunciation; this is somebody's name.) Nephthytis - neɪf-θiː-tiːs / naif-THEE-tees Peltandra - peɪl-tɑːn-drɑː / pell-TAN-dra Philodendron - fiː-loʊ-deɪn-droʊn / fee-low-DAIN-drone Phymatarum - fiː-mɑːt-ɑː-ruːm / fee-mat-A-room Pinellia - piː-neɪ-liː-ɑː / pee-NAY-lee-a I'll continue as I've got time - this is a rather large family and I'm only partway through the subfamily Aroideae....
Good work, but they're weird - trying to pronounce all those heavily aspirated -h endings to the syllables would give me a dreadful sore throat, and sound like the worst of wheezing asthma sufferers ahreesahEHmah NO THANKS!! Try stripping out all those 'h's, that'd make it more realistic!
Michael, my problem is that to write the sound "dough" without all of those letters, "doh" works better since "do" is traditionally pronounced "doo" - I'm also struggling with the ǝ sound and how to express it properly.
For the sound of the word "dough", I'd use the pronunciation guide 'doe' (the words for bread mix and a female deer are pronounced the same, at least in British English). As a pronunciation guide 'doh' sounds completely different to the word "doh", like do- as in dog, plus a sharp 'h' exhalation at the end. I guess the important thing is to distinguish between words and pronunciation guides, with pronunciation guide usage treating each letter "as is". If the lettering 'dough' was used in a pronunciation guide, one would read out out as something like 'dow-ugg-hu". A letter 'h' should only be used in a pronunciation guide to indicate a 'h' sound, i.e., aspiration. Yes, a lot better if IPA fonts can be used! At least they work in this forum (they don't in many others), and if not easily typed, can always be copied and pasted in from wikipedia or elsewhere.
