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Paleontological Pronunciations


Top Trilo

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I was wondering how to pronounce a few words, by a few I mean a lot. I believe I know how to pronounce most of these but just want to make sure before I screw one up. I'd be curious to see if other English speakers around the world pronounce these words differently.  Oh and the traditional ways they write how to pronounce things are occasionally confusing with upside down letters and capitalization so I would appreciate it if you wrote it something like this. Fossil - Fo rhymes with Law and ssil like soul. Like look at this you could barely tell what word this is supposed to be /ˌpālēənˈtäləjē/

 

1. Ichytosaur

2. gomphotherium

3. epoch

4. oreodont

5. maastrichtian

6. chicxulub

7. Boessenecker (I know not a fossil but was wondering how to pronounce it)

8. Crinoid

9. Opabiniidae

10. Myoscolex

11. Dinocaridida

12. Kerygmachela

13. belemnite

14. Flexicalymene

15. Eurypterus

16. Hibbertopterus

17. Meganeuropsis 

18. Shonisaurus

19. Longisquama

20. Ankylosaurus

21. Parapuzosia

22. Paraceratherium

23. nanuqsaurus

24. Aepyornithidae

25. Invertebrate

26. Coprolite 

27. Megaloceros

28.  Lagerstätte 

29. archaeopteryx

30.  Solnhofen

31. Otodus

32. Obliquus

33. Chubutensis

34. Angustidens

35. Auriculatus

36. Aksuaticus

37. Walliserops

38. Arctinurus

39. Asaphus

40. Proetida

41. Corynexochida

42. Agnostida

43. Ptychopariida

44. Diplomystus

45. knightia

46. Cockerellites 

47. Priscacara

48. Heliobatis 

49. Carcharodon 

50. carcharias

51. Isurus

52. northgrippian

53. Meghalayan

54. Ypresian

 

And probably a million more I can't remember. Thanks for any help

“If fossils are not "boggling" your mind then you are simply not doing it right” -Ken (digit)

"No fossil is garbage, it´s just not completely preserved” -Franz (FranzBernhard)

"With hammer in hand, the open horizon of time, and dear friends by my side, what can we not accomplish together?" -Kane (Kane)

"We are in a way conquering time, reuniting members of a long lost family" -Quincy (Opabinia Blues)

"I loved reading the trip reports, I loved the sharing, I loved the educational aspect, I loved the humor. It felt like home. It still does" -Mike (Pagurus)

“The best deal I ever got was getting accepted as a member on The Fossil Forum. Not only got an invaluable pool of knowledge, but gained a loving family as well.” -Doren (caldigger)

"it really is nice, to visit the oasis that is TFF" -Tim (fossildude19)

"Life's Good! -Adam (Tidgy's Dad)

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It can help to know Latin, but if you're just reading Latin without the pronunciation, you're left in the same position you started in. :D 

 

You have two options. You can Wiki these and they sometimes come with a pronunciation key (Gompotherium = /ˌɡɒmfəˈθɪəriəm/), which would then commit you to learn some of those symbols.

 

Or, you can use sites such as these. By typing the term and then adding "pronunciation" can be helpful. 

 

https://www.howtopronounce.com/gomphotherium

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1 minute ago, Kane said:

You have two options. You can Wiki these and they sometimes come with a pronunciation key (Gompotherium = /ˌɡɒmfəˈθɪəriəm/), which would then commit you to learn some of those symbols.

 

Why not try both :)

“If fossils are not "boggling" your mind then you are simply not doing it right” -Ken (digit)

"No fossil is garbage, it´s just not completely preserved” -Franz (FranzBernhard)

"With hammer in hand, the open horizon of time, and dear friends by my side, what can we not accomplish together?" -Kane (Kane)

"We are in a way conquering time, reuniting members of a long lost family" -Quincy (Opabinia Blues)

"I loved reading the trip reports, I loved the sharing, I loved the educational aspect, I loved the humor. It felt like home. It still does" -Mike (Pagurus)

“The best deal I ever got was getting accepted as a member on The Fossil Forum. Not only got an invaluable pool of knowledge, but gained a loving family as well.” -Doren (caldigger)

"it really is nice, to visit the oasis that is TFF" -Tim (fossildude19)

"Life's Good! -Adam (Tidgy's Dad)

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Well, #1 is spelled wrong to begin with...

 

As for pronunciation, that is going to change by country and region.   To begin, I dont say "faw-soul", I say it "Faw-sill"  As for #1 on the list, "ICK-THEE-a-sore"

Edited by hadrosauridae
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"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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2 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

Well, #1 is spelled wrong to begin with...

 

As for pronunciation, that is going to change by country and region. 

Wow I really spelled that wrong :DOH: good thing is the more correct pronunciations there are, the less of a chance of me pronouncing it wrong

Edited by Top Trilo

“If fossils are not "boggling" your mind then you are simply not doing it right” -Ken (digit)

"No fossil is garbage, it´s just not completely preserved” -Franz (FranzBernhard)

"With hammer in hand, the open horizon of time, and dear friends by my side, what can we not accomplish together?" -Kane (Kane)

"We are in a way conquering time, reuniting members of a long lost family" -Quincy (Opabinia Blues)

"I loved reading the trip reports, I loved the sharing, I loved the educational aspect, I loved the humor. It felt like home. It still does" -Mike (Pagurus)

“The best deal I ever got was getting accepted as a member on The Fossil Forum. Not only got an invaluable pool of knowledge, but gained a loving family as well.” -Doren (caldigger)

"it really is nice, to visit the oasis that is TFF" -Tim (fossildude19)

"Life's Good! -Adam (Tidgy's Dad)

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44 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

Why not try both :)

Absolutely. Not everyone is keen on phono-lexicology as I was for a time. :P 

 

Dialect differences happen, of course. In most cases, like in the OED, there is a kind of generic standardization for pronunciation that applies to everyone and no one at all. Accents differ regionally. For instance, I could never say "y'all" as that would absolutely hurt my sense of propriety. :D :P You can take words like "schedule" and see the difference between UK speakers softening that to "shed-jyou-wull" and non-UK speakers saying "sked-jyou-wull." 

 

And then you have the borrow words from other languages. Take for example Asaphus kowalewskii. How would you think to pronounce that? What if I were to say the species name is pronounced "ko-va-leff-ski" (with the v more like a German 'v' that borders on 'f')?

 

And then you have to factor ensuring the right em-phah-sis on the syl-labbul. :D 

 

When we anglicize Latin words in speech, it can be a challenge. I know people who still say "crinoid" as "crih-noid" as opposed to "cry-noid" or "trilobite" as "trill-o-bite" rather than "try-lo-bite." 

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One that hurts my ears is to hear Parasaurolophus said as "para-sara-low-fus" instead of "para-sore-ala-fus"

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"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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If your library has a subscription to the OED, you’ll find all of those words there. Failing that, Wikipedia is good, but you’ll have to familiarize yourself with the phonetic alphabet.

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4 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

One that hurts my ears is to hear Parasaurolophus said as "para-sara-low-fus" instead of "para-sore-ala-fus"

Is this just a difference in which syllable you stress? For these compound words I see no problem with giving each component of meaning its own stress, as in para (near), sauro (lizard), lophus (crested)... rather than skewing it by stressing an unimportant syllable like the first -o-.  Wikipedia gives both versions, so if you go by that source, both are OK.

Already by your phonetic spellings I can see some differences in how you pronounce vowels compared to how they are typically pronounced outside of the US (in Canada or Britain). Just dialectical differences there. For instance, when you write 'sara', I see 'serra', not 'sahr-uh' as I guess you intended. When you say ABBA, does it sound like 'abba' or 'obba'?

 

Not picking on you, just pointing out the difficulties with conveying pronunciations via text!

 

It hurts my ears when I hear someone say EE-pock, when I would say 'EP-uck'.... ;) I'm not sure but things like that might come down to the British/American differences - the Brits tend to 'clip' things or pronounce vowels 'short' rather than 'long' ("eh" vs "ee"), whenever there is any ambiguity, while Americans tend to do the opposite. Here in Canada we mostly speak like Americans but with more British tendencies.

Edited by Wrangellian
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I completely understand the desire to emphasize the root word parts.  I'm not saying that one is wrong or right.  Its one of those things where the first pronunciation I learn on names is the one I expect to hear as well.  So when someone pronounces it differently, it really strikes a nerve.  

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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I'm afraid there's no substitute for learning the phonetic alphabet used in dictionaries.  The example for "paleontology" will actually help a lot:

 

pālēənˈtäləjē - broken down you have "pa" with a flat line mark over the "a" and that tells you it's a long vowel sound so it's the "a" in "pay" instead of the short "a" in "past."  The flat line mark over the "e" makes that the long "e" as in "Lee" rather than the short "e" as in "let."  The upside-down "e" is the very short vowel sound ("uh") as in the first syllable in "ago" - much like a short "u."  The apostrophe-like symbol marks the main accented syllable in the world.  You say pay-lee-un-TALL-uh-jee.  The two dots over the "a" makes that the "ah"-sound and with the "l" it's "all."  The upside-down "e" is the short vowel sound again, "uh" and then the "j" with the long "e" sound is "gee."

 

A flat line over the vowel is always a mark for a long vowel: ay, ee, eye, oh, you.  

 

I learned the phonetic alphabet in the dictionary and then I had to learn the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) in school and then I had to learn one company's version of the IPA at work.  Fun. 

 

With that said, here are a few

 

Carcharodon:  car-CAR-oh-don

carcharias: car-Car-ee-us

oreodont: OR-ee-oh-dont

Boessenecker:  I'm reasonably certain it's BO-sen-eck-er

Ypresian (named after "Ypres" a place in Belgium): i-Press-ee-un

 

Jess

Edited by siteseer
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9 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

I completely understand the desire to emphasize the root word parts.  I'm not saying that one is wrong or right.  Its one of those things where the first pronunciation I learn on names is the one I expect to hear as well.  So when someone pronounces it differently, it really strikes a nerve.  

I know what you mean. If someone pronounces an unusual name differently than I'm expecting it to sound, esp. when it involves emphasis on a different syllable (such as your rendering of Parasaurolophus), it throws me, and it might take me a few secs to process what I just heard!

3 hours ago, siteseer said:

Boessenecker:  I'm reasonably certain it's BO-sen-eck-er

I'm not sure, but being a Germanic name, that one's probably close to "bissenecker". Unless we're anglicizing it of course!

Someone will probably correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Edited by Wrangellian
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:heartylaugh: Born in the USA ... lived in London for 10 years ... returned to the USA ... and sometimes I don't know if I'm speaking American or British English ... my goodness two countries separated by a common language ... and I laughed my fossiliferous gluteus maximus off reading this thread!  

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32 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

 

Canajun, eh?....'Murricum, huh?

I've now lived about (aboot) half my life in Canada and half in the USA.  People here think I talk a little "foreign", and family in Canada think I talk "funny".  

 

Don

 

 

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3 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

I've now lived about (aboot) half my life in Canada and half in the USA.  People here think I talk a little "foreign", and family in Canada think I talk "funny".  

 

Don

 

 

 

You should hear my family in Canada making fun of my German accent. Good thing we're not Newfies (no offense guys)

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

 

You should hear my family in Canada making fun of my German accent. Good thing we're not Newfies (no offense guys)

I’s a bys that builds the boat, and I”s the bys that sails her! I’s the bys who catches the fish, and takes them home to Lizer!
now there’s a great campfire guitar song. :D 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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9 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

I've now lived about (aboot) half my life in Canada and half in the USA.  People here think I talk a little "foreign", and family in Canada think I talk "funny".  

Don

My mother was born in BC but lived in Washington state from the age of 7-14, and a kid at school down there finally said to her one day "Are you from Canada?" "How did you know?" "You said aboot!" "No I didn't!"   And the differences in the pronunciation of that word between BC and Wash. are barely noticeable - much less than between the Eastern portions of the two countries.

Edited by Wrangellian
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all I know is that Boessenecker is pronounced nothing like it's spelled and that this is something he does "on purpose"

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7 minutes ago, jdp said:

all I know is that Boessenecker is pronounced nothing like it's spelled and that this is something he does "on purpose"

Like father, like son? See 3:26 on video for attorney and historian John Boessenecker.

 

https://scvtv.com/2010/11/07/the-life-and-times-of-outlaw-tiburcio-vasquez-with-author-john-boessenecker/

 

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Purposeful mispronunciation can shut down uninvited conversation...haha!

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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hahahahaha I can't believe my last name ended up on this list. I *can* believe that it's the ONLY last name on there, though! We (here in the USA) pronounce it "Boe-zuh-neck-er" with boe rhyming with 'toe'; the double ss is an anglicized version of the eszet.

 

Some other insights:

 

angustidens: this one varies locally, with collectors in South Carolina (which, let's be honest, probably produces more than half of all the world's teeth of this species) pronounce it as "eye-denz" with the emphasis on the I. Everyone else I know outside this region pronounces it angust-ihhh-dens (i as in "is"), with the emphasis on the 'gust'. Many collectors here erroneously drop the s on the end when they speak and spell it (angustIden) which I find baffling.

 

A local collector dialect issue is Parotodus benedeni: everyone just calls it by the species name, but pronounces it ben-ee-deen-ee and often capitalize the species name (!!). The Belgian pronunciation should be more like Ben-ay-den-eye.

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