DE DICENDO LINGUAM LATINAM

 Consonants: as in English except that:

 BS and BT

  were pronounced as PS and PT.

 C

  is always hard as in Cat.

 CH

  represents the Greek letter chi, and should be pronounced as an aspirated K (k-h), as in breaK-Hand.

 G

  is always hard as in God.

 H

  is a breathing mark, and is only slightly pronounced at the beginning of a word, virtually silent in an internal position.

 I

  can be a consonant (as well as a vowel) pronounced as Yam; J was created in the middle ages to represent the consonantal I.

 PH

  represents the Greek letter phi, and should be pronounced as an aspirated P (p-h), as in sleeP-Hard.

 Q

  is always found with V (English U), as in Quick.

R 

  is trilled (rolled), as in the Italian and Spanish languages.

S 

  is always voiceless as in Sit, not as in Rose.

 T

   is always pronounced as in tank, never pronounced sh as in potion or ch as in sentient.

 TH

  represents the Greek letter theta, and should be pronounced as an aspirated T (t-h), as in poT-Head.

 V

 when preceding a vowel (consonant usage) is pronounced like the English W; U and W were created in the middle ages to represent vowel and alternate consonant uses of V.

 Z

  represents the Greek letter zeta, and should be pronounced ZD.

NOTA BENE:

  • when there are double consonants, pronounce them both: e.g. (exempli gratia; for the sake of example) ille is pronounced il-le.

 Vowels: (can be short or long in Quantity, often marked by a macron)
 A short  as in Father  Arabia
 A long  as in Father but held slightly longer  Africa
 E short  as in Pet  Est
 E long  as in Aim (say the letter A)  Femina
 I short  as in Dip  Imago
 I long  as in Deep  Insula
 O short  as in Dog or Pot  Oppidum
 O long  as in Omega (say the letter O)  Roma
 U short  as in Rude  Sunt
 U long  same as short but held slightly longer  Iulius
 Y short  as in the French "tu "  Zephyrus Y is the Greek letter upsilon
 Y long  same as short but held slightly longer  Peristylum

 

 Diphthongs: (two vowels that make one sound)
 AE  as in High (say the letter I)  Caesar
 AV  as in How or Ouch  Augustus
 EI  as in Eight  Eius
 EV  not a full diphthong, sound both letters without pausing E-V  Europa
 OE  as in Boy  Oedipus
 VI  not a full diphthong, sound both letters without pausing V-I  Cui

 WORD ACCENT: accent [word stress] falls on a particular syllable following these rules:

1. Words of one syllable receive a stress.

2. Words of two syllables are accented on the first syllable. e.g. pú-er, not pu-ér.

3. Words of more than two syllables are accented on the 2nd to last syllable (penultima) if it is long, but the third to last (antepenultima) if the penultima is short.

  • a. Syllables are long if they contain a long vowel or a diphthong (long by nature);
  • b. or if they contain a vowel followed by two consonants or a double consonant (x or z); (long by position); mute consonents (p, b, t, d, c, g) followed by liquids (l, r) count as 1 consonant in PROSE. By contrast, such syllables can be counted as long or short dependant on the demamds of the meter in POETRY.

4. When an enclitic particle [-que, -ve, -ne] is appended to a word with accent normally on the antepenultima, that word recieves an additional stress on the syllable before the enclitic: sic [óppida + -que = óppidáque].

Liber Grammaticus Latinus /\\||\\/ Classis Latina MIII Pagina Villae