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Latin Alphabet
and Pronunciation
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| The Consonants |
| The Latin consonants sounded like English ones
for the most part, but of course there were several exceptions;
however, the exceptions are consistant as far as the pronunciation
goes. |
| B |
b |
bike, bob, board |
| C |
c |
car, coy, curb (never soft) |
| D |
d |
doodle, did, ditto |
| F |
f |
fortune, first, finite |
| G |
g |
good, guild, guest (never soft) |
| H |
h |
softly pronounced like in English high,
height, hew |
| I |
i |
before vowels, Latin pronounces
"i" like a consonantal "y" as in yard,
yet, yield |
| K |
k |
kind, kid, kettle |
| L |
l |
label, laptop, link |
| M |
m |
mud, middle, manifesto |
| N |
n |
network, nature, null |
| P |
p |
patch, put, pedal |
| Q |
q |
always with a "u" like quick,
quiet, questions |
| R |
r |
rolled as in most Mediterranean
tongues |
| S |
s |
sauce,
sold, sick (no "z" sound) |
| T |
t |
tired, tower, tell (never as in "tion") |
| V |
v |
like "w" as in window,
wallet, word |
| X |
x |
like "ks" as in axle, |
| Z |
z |
like "dz" or maybe "z"–zoo is
perhaps the best choice though it is rare. |
| redi |
| Double
Consonants |
| bs |
like "ps" in burp,
slurp |
| ch |
like "ckh" as in chord |
| ph |
like in up hill |
| th |
like in hot house |
| ll, rr, etc. |
double consonants should be pronounced
so that one could distinguish the two consonants |
| redi |
| The Vowels |
| The length of the vowels
is generally thought to differentiate mainly in length of
pronunciation, not so
much in actual long and short vowel sounds like in English--such
as the diffence between play and plack. So in other words,
when you are trying to pronounce a long vowel in Latin, slow
it down and give it a little more time. |
| Ā |
ā |
father, solder, plot |
| A |
a |
idea, applaud |
| Ē |
ē |
like English ā,
rate, stay |
| E |
e |
met, kept, prep |
| Ī |
ī |
machine, relief |
| I |
i |
little, kin, swim |
| Ō |
ō |
go, boat, flow |
| O |
o |
melody, obey, orb |
| Ū |
ū |
boot, rude, sue |
| U |
u |
foot, put |
| Y |
y |
All the grammars say "like
French -u or
German -ü," but do you know either
of these languages, students? Perhaps, but just in case,
you should pronounce the "y" like "ooh...," but
don't hold it
that long. |
| redi |
| The Diphthongs |
| ae |
like "ai" in aisle |
| au |
like "ow" in how, brown, cow |
| ei |
like "ay" in say, slay, pay |
| eu |
like a quick "eh-oo" |
| oe |
like "oy" in boy, toy, destroy |
| ui |
like "wee" |
| redi |
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