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