INTRODUCTORY LESSON THE ALPHABET I. The Latin alphabet is the same as the English, except that the Latin has no w. a. The letter j was not introduced until long after the time of the great Roman writers. Its sound was represented by i, which was used both as a vowel and as a consonant. But since j was used in the spelling of Latin words during the period in which the greater number of the English derivatives from Latin were brought into the English language, and since its use is helpful to beginners in learning the pronunciation of new words, it is retained in this book. The sounds of u and v were also represented originally by one letter. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS II. The vowels, as in English, are a, e, i, o, u, and y.1 The other letters are consonants. THE ROMAN METHOD OF PRONUNCIATION SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS III. The vowels in Latin are either long or short. In this book long vowels are indicated by a mark placed above them. A vowel which is unmarked is short. The vowel sounds are indicated in the following table: ă = a in father ē=a in fade i=i in machine ō=o in holy ū=u in rude a = a in comma2 e = e in net i=i in this 0=o in domain u = u in full ly is seldom used. Its sound is the same as that of u in the French language or i in German. 2 Like ǎ, but pronounced more quickly. xvii IV. The consonants have in general the same sounds as in English. The following exceptions are to be noted: c and ch have the sound of k. g has only one sound, that heard in go. j is equivalent to y in yes. s has only the sound heard in say. t always has the sound heard in top. It does not com bine with i to give the sound of sh as in nation. v has the sound of w. x has only the sound of ks, as in exercise. DIPHTHONGS V. A diphthong is a combination of two vowels in one syllable. The diphthongs are ae, au, ei, eu, oe, and ui. Their sounds are as follows: VI. A syllable is either a group of letters the sounds of which are taken together in pronunciation, or a vowel or diphthong which is taken by itself in pronunciation. The following words are divided into syllables by hyphens: ac-ci-dent, re-li-a-ble. A syllable must always have a vowel or a diphthong. The rules for the division of Latin words into syllables are as follows: (1) A consonant between two vowels is taken with the vowel which follows it: pō-nō, ha-be-ō. (2) Two consonants between two vowels are divided, one going with the vowel which precedes and one with the vowel which follows. But if the second of two consonants is 1 or r, 1 The u is shorter than in the English word, and the vowels are more closely blended. |