DEC: Lesson - Lingua Latina - Alphabet and Pronunciation
Lingua Latina - Alphabet and Pronunciation
It's time for the last test for Decimus from the recruiter: can he speak classical Latin correctly?
Decimus will need to demonstrate his knowledge of the Latin language. Your challenge is to learn the pronunciation rules of classical Latin. Decimus's upbringing would have included instruction in both Latin and Greek. Practice listening and reciting the sounds you hear below.
At its greatest extent the Roman Empire covered most of Europe, Asia Minor and northern Africa. When the Romans conquered a country, they insisted that the people should learn and speak Latin. Of course, those people already had a native language. The Romance languages are the result of the blending of Latin, the language of Rome, with these other languages. Latin is the root language of the Romance languages: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, and Romanian.
Latin alphabet
The classical Latin alphabet is not very different from the modern English alphabet. Most of the letters are the same. The classical Latin alphabet consisted of twenty-three letters.
Latin and English Alphabets
| LANGUAGE | ALPHABET |
|---|---|
| LATIN | A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z |
| ENGLISH | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
As you can see above the letters J, U, W are missing from the Latin alphabet. The Romans used the letter i as both a vowel (I) and a consonant (this later becomes the letter J), and they originally used V as a vowel (U) and a consonant (V/W). Our course will follow the later tradition of using the letter U to represent the vowel sound. The letter K was rarely used, except in loanwords borrowed from Greeks. The letters Y and Z were added after the Romans conquered the Greeks toward the end of the Roman Republic.
Pronunciation - Vowels
In Latin, vowels have two lengths, long and short. Because of slight changes in sound when holding a vowel longer or shorter, we hear this difference as a slight change in the sound of the vowel. In reality, though, a long A and a short A should sound the same, just with the long A being held longer than the short one. In practice, however, you will likely hear a slight difference between the two in Latin being read out loud.
When we pronounce a long vowel, we hold it twice as long as a short vowel. In some textbooks long vowels are shown by a long line called a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū) placed over the vowel, but our course does not use macrons. There are no silent vowels in Latin, so all vowels must make a sound when pronouncing Latin. Use the following interactive object to hear the various vowel sounds in Latin.
Pronunciation - Diphthongs
Latin has six diphthongs. A diphthong is when two vowels come together to form a single sound. Diphthongs are pronounced as a single syllable. Use the following interactive object to hear the sounds of diphthongs in Latin.
Pronunciation - Consonants and Double Consonants
Most Latin consonants are pronounced exactly as they are pronounced in English. There are a few exceptions, which are shown below. Click on the audio player below each example to hear it. Additionally, certain consonants can be combined to make particular sounds - we call these double consonants.
Decimus Pronunciation Practice
Click below to check your understanding of the sounds of the Latin alphabet.