05-09-2011, 04:54 PM
In Latin class, they'll say there are some variations of vowel pronunciation. But in a general sense, considering that those calling drill are generally not Latin students, we usually say to pronounce the vowels as if they were Spanish or Italian, hoping to get something that is more standardized, for the sake of the troops' ears.
For some of the vowel variations, and accented syllables, we relied on Wheelock's Latin and other Latin language textbooks. We add that C is always like K, G is hard, not soft, V is generally like U, and there are dipthongs, such as ae, au and oe that don't follow the rules. We don't really bother with the suppositions that B and P may have been much closer in sound, and that G and C (as in Gnaius and Cnaius) might have sounded nearly identically. We are, frankly, more reciting a list of words than speaking the language. But then, that's the point, isn't it?
For some of the vowel variations, and accented syllables, we relied on Wheelock's Latin and other Latin language textbooks. We add that C is always like K, G is hard, not soft, V is generally like U, and there are dipthongs, such as ae, au and oe that don't follow the rules. We don't really bother with the suppositions that B and P may have been much closer in sound, and that G and C (as in Gnaius and Cnaius) might have sounded nearly identically. We are, frankly, more reciting a list of words than speaking the language. But then, that's the point, isn't it?
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
