PART I
THE PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN
THE ALPHABET
«1.» The Latin alphabet contains the same letters as the English except that it has no w and no j .
«2.» The vowels, as in English, are a, e, i, o, u, y . The other letters are consonants.
«3.» I is used both as a vowel and as a consonant. Before a vowel in the same syllable it has the value of a consonant and is called I consonant .
Thus in Iu-li-us the first i is a consonant, the second a vowel.
SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS[1]
[Footnote 1: N.B. The sounds of the letters are best learned by hearing them correctly pronounced. The matter in this section is, therefore, intended for reference rather than for assignment as a lesson. As a first step it is suggested that the teacher pronounce the examples in class, the pupils following.]
«4.» Latin was not pronounced like English. The Romans at the beginning of the Christian era pronounced their language substantially as described below.
«5.» The vowels have the following sounds:
VOWELS[2] LATIN EXAMPLES
a as in father hac, stas
a like the first a in aha´ ,
never as in hat a´-mat, ca-nas
e as in they te´-la, me´-ta
e as in met te´-net, mer´-ces
i as in machine ser´-ti, pra´-ti
i as in bit si´-tis, bi´-bi
o as in holy Ro´-ma, o´-ris
o as in wholly , never as in
hot mo´-do, bo´-nos
u as in rude , or as oo in
boot u´-mor, tu´-ber
u as in full , or as oo in
foot ut, tu´-tus
NOTE. It is to be observed that there is a decided difference in sound, except in the case of a , between the long and the short vowels. It is not merely a matter of quantity but also of quality .
[Footnote 2: Long vowels are marked ¯, short ones ?.]
«6.» In «diphthongs» (two-vowel sounds) both vowels are heard in a single syllable.
DIPHTHONGS LATIN EXAMPLES
«ae» as ai in aisle tae´-dae
«au» as ou in out gau´-det
«ei» as ei in eight dein´-de
«eu» as e´o?o (a short e
followed by a short u in
one syllable) seu
«oe» like oi in toil foe´-dus
«ui» like o?o´i (a short u
followed by a short i in one
syllable. Cf. English we ) cui, huic
NOTE. Give all the vowels and diphthongs their proper sounds and do not slur over them in unaccented syllables, as is done in English.
«7.» «Consonants» are pronounced as in English, except that
CONSONANTS LATIN EXAMPLES
«c» is always like c in cat , never as in cent ca´-do, ci´-bus, ce´-na «g» is always like g in get , never as in gem ge´-mo, gig´-no «i consonant» is always like y in yes iam, io´-cus «n» before c, qu , or g is like ng in ...
