Syllable stress of botanical Latin
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Syllable stress of botanical names varies with the language spoken by the person using the botanical name. In English-speaking countries, the Botanical Latin places syllable stress for botanical names derived from ancient Greek and Latin broadly according to two systems, either the Reformed academic pronunciation, or the pronunciation developed initially in some large part by British gardeners, horticulturists, naturalists, and botanists of the 19th century. The two systems of pronunciation are sometimes referred to as the "classical method" and the "ecclesiastical method". The two systems differ significantly in pronunciation,α but little in syllable stress.
What follow are the rules of stress of reformed academic pronunciation of Latin (intended to approximate the stress rules of ancient spoken Latin). Words of Greek origin are generally pronounced according to the same rules; native ancient Greek rules of stress are not used.
Generally in Latin each vowel or diphthong belongs to a single syllable. Classical Latin diphthongs are ae, au, and oe. Diphthongs from Greek can include oi, eu, ei, and ou, and ui also occasionally occurs in botanical Latin. Syllables end in vowels, unless there are multiple consonants, in which case the consonants are divided between the two syllables, with certain consonants being treated as pairs.
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