Post on 14-Jan-2016
PRONUNCIATION RULES
FOR LATIN
THE ROMAN ALPHABET
• Our alphabet is the Roman alphabet with three additional letters
• The Romans took this alphabet from the Phoenicians
Compare:
• In ENGLISH:
• ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
• ABCDEFGHI*KLMNOPQRST*V*XYZ
• The Latin alphabet omits: J, U, W
• However, we will see the U utilized
PRONUNCIATION
•Nearly every sound in Latin has an equivalent sound in English.
•The pronunciation rules are rather constant.
•Everything is pronounced (no silent letters).
VOWELSLONG
VOWELSENGLISH LATIN
A par Mars
E pay pes
I peal hic
O pole pono
U pool cur
VOWELSSHORT
VOWELSENGLISH LATIN
a idea pater
e pet pedes
i pit piger
o pot populus
u put puto
DIPTHONGSENGLISH LATIN
ae pine paene
oe poise poena
au pout causa
eu feud Europa
ei weight hei
ui squeak huic
Long and Short Vowels
• How can you tell if a vowel is long or short?
• Answer: – if it is marked with a macron– or before: -nf, -ns, -nx, -nct, -gn, -sco– THEN IT IS LONG
•It will be short if:
•it is not marked with a macron
•it is before another vowel
•it is before an “h”
•it is before: -nd, -nt, -ss
•it is before the following if they are the last letter in a word: -m, -r, -t.
SEMIVOWELS
• The letter “I” is used as both a vowel and a consonant.
• As a consonant it is pronounced like a “y” in English.– E.g.: ius, iam
• “V” was also used as a “U” and a “V”. However, we will use both letters.
CONSONANTSLETTER LATIN
b Before s or t hasthe sound of p
Urbs,obtineo
c Always has thesound of k
Cado,Cicero
g Always has thesound of g in gum
Germania,ignis
n Before c, g, x hasthe sound of –ng
in hang
Iungo,vinco
r Is rolled at the tipof the tongue
Res, eripio
LETTER LATIN
s Always has ahissing sound as
in sin
Salve,insignis
t Always has thesound of t in tin Teneo,
initiumv Always has the
sound of w an inwine
Vinum,invidia
x Always has thesound of ks Lex, dixi
LETTER LATIN
z Always has thesound of dz as in
ads
zona
qu Before a vowelhas the sound of
qu as in quilt
Quis,relinquo
gu Before a vowelhas the sound ofgu as in language
lingua
ch Always has thesound of k as in
chorus
pulcher