The principles of Latin grammar; comprising the ... - Essan.org

—PEONUNCIATIOISr. § 2§ 2. PRONUNCIATION *15.—The pronunciation of the Latin language prevalentamong the nations of continental Europe, is greatly preferableto the English, both because it harmonizes better with thequantity of the language, as settled by the rules of Prosody,and because, by giving one simple sound to each vowel, distinguishingthe short and the long only by the duration ofsounds, it is much more simple. The sound of the vowels, aspronounced alone or at the end of a syllable, is exhibited inthe following16.—TABLE OF VOWEL AND DIPHTHONGAL SOUNDS.Short a sounds like a in Jehovah, as amat.Long a like a in father, as fama.Short e like e in met, as petere.Long e like e 7in they, as docere.Short i like i in uniform, as umtas.Long I like i in machine, as pinus.Short 6 like in polite, as indoles.Long 6 like in g°> as pono.Short ii like u in popular, as popiilus.Long u like u in rule, or pure, as tuba, usu.ae or sdlikeoe or e oe7in they, as j Peean.j-(Phoebusau like ou in our, as aurum.eu like eu in feud, as eurus.ei like i in ice, as hei.17.—OBSERVATIONS.1. The sound of the vowels a and e remains unchanged inall situations.2. The sound of i, o, and u, is slightly modified when fol-* The ancient pronunciation of the Latin language, cannot now be certainlyascertained. The variety of pronunciation in different nations, arises from atendency in all to assimilate it in some measure to their own. But of allvarieties, that of the English—certainly the farthest of any from the original—is, in our opinion, decidedly the worst ; not only from its intricacy andwant of simplicity, but especially from its conflicting constantly with the settledquantity of the language, in English, every accented syllable is long,and every unaccented one is short. When, therefore, according to the rulesof English accentuation, the accent falls on a short syllable in a Latin word,or does not fall on a long one, in either case, its tendency is, to lead to falsequantity.—For the English orthoepy of the Latin language, see p. 341.