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McNeill, J.: Latin, the Renaissance lingua franca, and English, the 20th century language of science: their role in biotaxonomy. - Taxon 46: 751-757. 1997. - ISSN 0040-0262.
In response to the plea by Filgueiras that Latin diagnoses remain mandatory for the establishment of names of new taxa, and to his protest against the use of English as an alternative to Latin, foreseen in the Draft BioCode, the role of these two languages in biotaxonomic descriptions is discussed. It is pointed out that the origin of the existing requirement for Latin diagnoses of new taxa under the botanical Code is based not on Latin being a neutral language, or a simple language, but on the fact that it was the language of scholarship in the 18th century, at the point of origin of modern biological nomenclature. Likewise the suggestion that a BioCode should permit English diagnoses is not a matter of linguistic chauvinism but a simple reflection of the reality that English is the dominant language of science as we enter the 21st century.
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Effective publication date: 13 November 1997