Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/194

 188 LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE A A A /X A As A B B B B B B < C < C C C > D D D D

E E II E F F F F I 1 F I -* G G H H H H . 1 1 1 I K K K K U VL L AVM A/VM WM .M A/ A/ N N N

O r r P P P P 9 a a OL R FL P R R R S S T T T T V V V V X X X X CD Y
 * S
 * s

Z Ancient Latin Alphabets. two distinct systems are recognized, generally known as the English and the continental methods, using respectively the English and the Italian sounds of the vowels. Neither of these methods renders Latin as the Romans spoke it, the consonants being chiefly mispro- nounced in either ; and though it is now pretty well ascertained what the Roman pronuncia- tion was, yet a change in the common pro- nunciation of Latin has heen found too incon- venient. But it is expected that the difficulties will soon be overcome, and the correct pro- nunciation be generally adopted. Henry John Roby, in his " Grammar of the Latin Language from Plautus to Suetonius " (2d ed., London, 1872), has an admirable exposition of the sub- ject. "We give a summary statement of tho probable pronunciation of educated Romans in the period from Cicero to Quintilian, about 70 B. 0. to A. D. 90. The long and short sounds of a vowel, always different in English, were probably identical in quality in Latin : d as in father, d as in French chatte, not as in hat; 6 nearly as in dot; d nearer to English aw than the ordinary o in dote ; u like French ou in poule, nearly as in pull, not as in lull ; u like oo in pool ; e nearly as in pet; e the same sound lengthened ; I as in machine ; I the same sound shortened ; y like German u, but in- clining to i, somewhat as in Midler. The rule for diphthongs is to pronounce the constituent vowels as rapidly as possible in their proper order ; thus, au as in German Haus, and broad- er than ow in cow ; eu as in Italian Europa ; <z as a in bat lengthened; 02 as a diphthong; ei nearly as in feint ; ui like French oui. The diphthongs ou and oi are found only in early Latin. Of consonants, c is always hard, like Te ; g always hard as in give ; nc and ng like ngc and ngg, as in anchor and anger ; j like y in year ; v like w in wine; r always trilled; al- ways sharp as in hiss ; is like ps ; x like Tcs ; ti always like tea ; ph, ch, th not like the English /, German ch, and English th, but like p'h, Wh, tfh, the sounds being separately enunciated, or the p, c, and t aspirated, as often heard from Irishmen ; and m was sometimes not sounded, or perhaps gave only a nasal sound to the vowel. The Romans distinguished between an acute and a circumflex accent. The latter rested only on monosyllables which have long vowels, and in words of more than one syllable on the penultimate, if that contained a long vowel and the final syllable a sharp vowel. Monosylla- bles always have the accent ; dissyllables have the accent on the penultimate, unless they are enclitic ; words of more than two syllables have the accent on the antepenult if the penult is short, and on the penult if it is long. Be- sides accent, the quantity of syllables was dis- tinguished. If the voice dwells upon a syllable, that syllable is called long ; if the voice passes rapidly over it, it is called short. Two short syllables are considered to occupy the same time as a long one. A syllable is long or short, either because it contains a vowel naturally long or short, or on account of the position of its vowel. (See W. Corssen, Ueler Aussprache, Vofcalismus und Betonung der lateinischen Sprache, 2d improved ed., 2 vols., Leipsic, 1868-'70). In Latin, nouns, pronouns, ad- jectives, verbs, and some numerals, are in- flected; other words are not. The inflexions of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are in the main the same ; those of verbs are quite dis- tinct. The difference between substantives and adjectives is now held to be almost entire- ly syntactical, and even as such not very great. Inflections of nouns are always additions to or alterations in the ending of the stem or root of the word. The inflections for tense, mood, person, number, and voice in verbs are at-