A diplodocus discussion in chat reminded me of something I always wanted to ask.
How does the pronunciation of (neo-) Latin and Greek words in English work?
Of course I picked up the pronunciations of many specific words but the big picture eludes me.
A few random impressions I've got so far:
- Usually there seems to be a clear consensus which pronunciation is preferred.[/*:m:2rfj5r68]
- It's not unusual for native speakers to get it wrong if they aren't familiar with that particular word.[/*:m:2rfj5r68]
- It's not immediately obvious from ordinary English orthography. (Then again, what is? :wink: )[/*:m:2rfj5r68]
- Classical pronunciation has little to do with it.[/*:m:2rfj5r68]
- Source-language morphology is also largely ignored. [/*:m:2rfj5r68]
Does it follow general rules? Are the pronunciations just conventions on a case-by-case basis?