Proposal (269) to South American
Classification Committee
Change spelling of
"Cloudforest" to "Cloud-forest" (Megascops
marshalli)
In
the description of M. marshalli, the name "Cloud-forest
Screech-Owl" was suggested (Weske & Terborgh 1981). The compound name
seems to have arisen later and is used in some other publications (e.g. Marks
et al. 1999). Although "Rainforest" is a frequently used compound
word, "Cloudforest" is not so commonly
seen. The hyphenated form "Cloud-forest" is used for one other
species on SACC (Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium nubicola), which
coincidentally is in the same family. The hyphenated version was also suggested
in the description G. nubicola (Robbins & Stiles 1999).
"Cloud-forest Brush-Finch" was proposed for Atlapetes
latinuchus (Clements & Shany 2001), but this was not accepted by
SACC (see SACC proposal 84). Changing this spelling would promote
internal consistency of the SACC list, would (in my view) be a more accurate
spelling and would reflect the suggestion of the authors of the species. I
would suggest a "Yes" vote.
Anonymous, May 2007
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments
from Stiles:
"YES. (If such world-renowned linguistic authorities as Robbins
& Stiles used a hyphen, it MUST be right ...) Seriously, it does seem to be
the most appropriate spelling."
Comments
from Remsen:
"NO. The way English words evolve is that when newly associated words
become more frequently used, the progression starts with two words (e.g.,
"rain forest"), progresses to a hyphenated form
("rain-forest"), and then they melt together to produce a new word
("rainforest"). By the way, my 1983 Webster's Unabridged does not
list "rainforest" as a word, yet this is now widely used in technical
literature. Another pertinent example is “wild life”, which soon became
“wild-life”, and is now “wildlife”, codified for example in J. Wildlife
Management. Thus, those preeminent
linguistic authorities Robbins and Stiles were predictably at the cutting edge
way back in '95 with the hyphenated "Cloud-forest" and now have the
special opportunity to catapult forward into the future with "Cloudforest." [By the way, whichever way the vote
goes, we need to make this consistent with Otus marshalli, so
consider this a vote on both names.]"
Additional
comments from Anonymous: "The main point of this proposal is for internal
consistency - ensuring that Glaucidium nubicola and Megascops
marshalli use the same spelling on their vernacular names. However,
with reference to Van Remsen's comments on the other two spelling proposals, if
every small change bears a cost, then it is worth noting that hyphenated
"Cloud-forest" is the established usage for each of these recently described
owls."
Additional
comments from Stiles:
"As for the cloudy "Cloud-forest" vs. "Cloudforest"
thread, I am not convinced that "rainforest" is all that frequent or
that the "cutting edge" is to cut out the hyphen - or space - between
the words ... my distinct impression is that the hyphenated form is the more
frequent, certainly for cloud-forest. I agree with Thomas that the main
point is internal consistency, hence I feel that we should leave the linguistic
cutting edge to the linguists and lexicographers and go with the more widely
used form (hopefully there are no birds in our area with vernacular names
including "rain-forest" or "rainforest" to complicate
things further!)."
Comments
from Robbins:
"YES. Gary was correct in referring to us as authorities, but he
inadvertently used the wrong category, the correct one is: "I know nothing and I can prove it". I agree with fellow
linguist Stiles, and vote to change M. marshalli to Cloud-forest
Screech-Owl, solely on the grounds of consistency in our list."
Comments
from Nores:
"YES. Aunque yo no puedo opinar en relación
al idioma, si considero que hay que ser consistente con la lista de
base. Si ya existe Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl,
también tiene que ser Cloud-forest
Screech-Owl."
Comments
from Jaramillo:
"YES - The history of this name has not been all that long, and Cloudforest nearly looks German, so I lean to the addition
of the hyphen. It is in these conversations of hyphenation and word
amalgamations that the Spanish speakers shake their heads, maybe even let out
an Ay-Caramba!"