Interpretation of Surface Features of Mars as a Function of Its Verbal—Toponymic—and Visual Representation - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 106

are heard first (at a lecture). In either case, letters appear as sounds when reading
silently. “Oral folk have no sense of a name as a tag, for they have no idea of a name
as something that can be seen. Written or printed representations of words can be
labels, real, spoken words cannot be” ( Ong 1982 [2002:33]). Thus, after
pronouncing the name, its sound reminds us to the object itself, it brings the picture
of the object to our minds—it is not just a representation, a label of it any more, as it
is in its written form. Knowing a proper pronunciation is therefore just as important
as the ability to read the names.

9.2.2 Ways Towards Standardized Planetary Place-Names

Latin names of the planetary nomenclature follow mediaeval geographers' and
seventeenth to nineteenth century astronomers' now extinct naming conventions
which were revitalized by twentieth century astronomers. For scientific purposes,
the use of this official, standardized nomenclature is unquestionable.
The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)
defines international geographical names standardization as “an activity aimed at
reaching maximum practical uniformity in the rendering of all geographical

names on Earth.” (UN 2006 ) The same principle can be applied for planetary
surface features names as well, for international communication: it is also the
only reasonable choice—it is universally searchable on the internet, which is
important for finding data or picture galleries published in any languages.
However, for studying the surfaces by children, students, or the general public—
especially in classroom situations—the translated variant of the generic parts
(descriptor terms) and transcribed/transliterated variant of the specific parts may
be more suitable, the latter especially in countries where they use a writing system
other than the Roman alphabet. This conception is also confirmed by the recently
growing number of the use of exonyms and phonetically transcribed place-names in
school atlases (Jordan 2011 ) which trend has positive reception by the educators; a
domestic trend in contrast to the international standardization efforts by UNGEGN
(and IAU).
The WGPSN of IAU does not provide guidelines and does not encourage the
creation of localized versions of the Gazetteer. One of IAU's naming rules state that
“in general individual names chosen for each body should be expressed in the
language of origin. Transliteration and pronunciation for various alphabets should
be given but there will be no translation from one language to another” (IAU 1970 ).
Despite this rule, there is no any transliterated forms given by the Gazetteer and it is
not clear if this rule refers to planetary body names, surface feature names, specifics
or descriptor terms. In the 2011 version, reference to “pronunciation” is left out of
the rule (USGS 2011 ), and now IAU's standpoint is that “there are many variations
on the pronunciation of names, and the IAU does not endorse any particular one”
(personal communication with an undisclosed WGPSN member, 2010.10.06).
Knowing a preferred pronunciation (in the language of origin) would help users

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