RULES OF PRONUNCIATION.

I. ACCORDING TO THE "ENGLISH METHOD."

N. B.-The long or short vowel-sound indicated in these rules is wholly independent of the quantity of the vowels by the rules of Latin Prosody.

1. In Monosyllables, the vowel has —

a. The long sound, if it ends the syllable: as, si, me, spe.

b. The short sound, if followed by a consonant: as, ab, cum, hōc, hās; except post, monosyllables in es, and (in plural cases) os, where it has the long sound: as, rēs, hōs, ĕs.

2. An accented Penult has

a. The long vowel-sound before a single consonant (or a mute with or r), or, before a vowel or diphthong: as, pă'ter, lib-er-ā'lis, dě'us, sa'cra, pa'tris.

b. The short vowel-sound before two consonants (except a mute followed by l or r), or x: as, reg'num, rex'i.

3. An accented Antepenult has

a. The long vowel-sound before a vowel: as, 'adem, hi'e-mis, fù'e-rat.

b. The short vowel-sound before a consonant: as, in'su-la, i-tin'e-ris. EXCEPTIONS. (a.) u before a single consonant (or a mute with 7 or r) has the long sound : jù've-nis, lū'ri-dus, pu'tri-dus; but before bl, the short sound as in res-pub'li-ca.

(b.) a, e, o, before a single consonant (or a mute with 7 or r) followed by two vowels, the first of which is e, i, or y, have the long sound: as impe'ri-um, do'ce-o, a'cri-a.

4. In all unaccented syllables the vowel-sound is

a. Long, if followed by a single consonant (or a mute with 7 or r): as, do-lo'ris; but final syllables ending in a consonant are short, in a vowel, long as, con-sul (except es, and in plur. cases os at the end of the word). b. Short, before 2, or any two consonants: as, bel-lo'rum, rex-is'set

EXCEPTION.

- Final a is sounded as in the last syllable of America: as, men'sa; and the vowel sounds in tibi and sibi are as in the English

lily.

NOTE - Compounds generally follow the same rules; but if the first part ends in a consonant, the vowel-sound is short: as, ob'it, red'it, abe-rat, præ-ter'e-a, trans'i-tur (except post, and final syllables in as and os of plural cases: as, post-quam, post'e-ri, hos'ce).

5. Diphthongs follow the same rules as the vowels which represent them in English: thus

(a.) a and a have the sound of e: that is, long in cœlum, a-mœ'nus ; short in hæs'i-to, a-mæn'i-tas.

(b.) In poetry ei may be regarded as a diphthong, as in dein'de, having the sound of i in mind: eu, au, oi, have, when diphthongs, the same sound as in feud, author, coin: as Orpheus, Oileus, aurum; ui is a diphthong, having the long sound of i in huic, cui, hui; u in connection with other vowels or diphthongs sometimes has the sound of w after g or s: as, qui, lin'gua, sua'deo, quæ'ro.

6. Consonants have generally the same power as in English: —

(a.) Thus, before e, i, y, and the diphthongs æ, eu, a, c has the sound of s, and g of j; ch has always the sound of k as in chemist; c, s, t often have the sound of sh before i followed by a vowel, and before eu when preceded by an accented syllable, and x of ksh: as, socius, censui, ratio, caduceus, anxius.

NOTE. It is to be understood that in these examples the rule is only permissive, and that usage varies considerably among the best authorities. In general, when the word, or the combination of letters is distinctly foreign to us, it may be better to retain the pure consonant scund: as in men-ti-e'tur, Min'cius, ca-du'ce-us, Ly'si-as, Masi-a, ax-i-o'ma, noc'ti-um.

It is very common, in English pronunciation, to slur or suppress the more difficult consonant sounds, particularly in such cases as cn, gn, ps, pt, tm, or x, at the beginning of a word; as in Cnidus, gnotus, pseudo-, pteris, Tmolus, xylon. But, in an accurate pronunciation of these, as Latin or Greek words, the full consonant sound will be retained.

Finally, there can be no correct rule to authorize the slipshod and slovenly habit of enunciation which is frequently allowed. To cultivate a clear and vigorous utterance of unfamiliar words is one of the incidental benefits of careful instruction in a foreign tongue.

II. ACCORDING TO THE "ROMAN METHOD."

The following are the rules adopted in the Boston Latin School, as given in "Old and New," November, 1871.

The English equivalents for the long and short sounds of the Vowels are here given

The Diphthongs ae and ai are sounded like ay, the English adverb of affirmation; au like ow in owl; oi and oe nearly like oi in oil; eu like eh'oo; ua, when a diphthong, like wah.

Ui is sounded like the French oui or English we.

Y is sounded like the German ü or French u.

Of the Consonants,

C has always the hard sound: thus Cicero is to be pronounced Kee' kero. G "

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J when used as a consonant corresponds in sound to our Y: thus jam is pronounced yam.

Qu has the sound of K:*

V has a sound approximating to the English W.

T has always the simple sound: thus the second and third syllables of justitia are sounded alike.

S has always the pure sound, and not the sound of Z or Sh.

Ch has the power of K.

Th has the power of → (Greek), or of th in thin.

Z is sounded nearly like S.

The other consonants are supposed to have had sounds nearly identical with the present English sounds.

NOTE. According to some of the best authorities, if the vowel of the Penult is short, i or u coming immediately before it is to be regarded as a semi-vowel, and pronounced like y or w, the accent going back to the syllable before: as, mŭ'lières, mo'nuĕrat, fi'liõlus. But in compounds, the accent will not be thrown back of the radical syllable: thus, impřetas, ab-fu'érat.

* Or more correctly as in English, according to Professor Lane compare 'Akovïtavoús (Strabo) for Aquitanos.

DEFINITIONS.

ARTICLES, Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections are called PARTS OF SPEECH. There is no Article in Latin.

A NOUN is the name of any thing: as, homo, man; navis, ship.

If a noun is the name of a person, or of a thing spoken of by its own name, as if it were a person, it is a Proper Noun; if not, it is a Common Noun. Thus in the sentence Roma magna est urbs, Rome is a

great city, Roma is a proper, and urbs a common noun.

An ADJECTIVE is a word used to define a quality: as, carus, dear; bonus, good.

COMPARISON Shows the degree of the quality: as,

A PRONOUN is a word used instead of a noun: as, he for the man.

The First Person, ego, I, nos, we, is the person speaking; the Second Person, tu, vos, you, is the one spoken to; the Third Person, he, she, it, they, is that spoken of, and has no personal pronoun in Latin, Demonstratives being often used instead.

A Demonstrative denotes a particular person or thing: as, hic, this, ille, that.

A Relative refers to a person or thing before spoken of: as, qui, who, quod, which.

The person or thing referred to is called the Antecedent: as, homo qui venit, the man who came.

An Interrogative asks a question: as, quis adest? who is here? ubinam gentium sumus? where in the world are we?

A VERB is a word which tells an action or condition: as, vēni, 1 came; cecidit, he fell.

Mood denotes the manner of an action: as, venit, he came (Indicative); venisset, he might have come (Subjunctive).

Tense denotes the time of an action: as, currit, he runs (Present); cucurrit, he ran (Past).

Of Voices, the Active speaks of a person doing the action: as, ferit, he strikes; the Passive, as suffering it: as, feritur, he is struck.

A PARTICIPLE expresses the action, etc., of a verb in the form of an adjective: as, feriens, striking; ictus, struck.

An ADVERB is a word which qualifies the meaning of adjectives, verbs, or adverbs: as, acerrime ferit, he strikes very hard.

A PREPOSITION is a word which expresses the relations between other words: as, in oppidum venit, he came to town; pro patria mori, to die for one's country.

A CONJUNCTION is a word which connects other words or sentences: as, procerus et validus, tall and strong.

INTERJECTIONS are exclamations: as, heus! halloo !

GENDER is distinction as to sex, and is Masculine of male creatures: as, rex, king; Feminine of female creatures: as, regina, queen; Neuter of things: as, solium, throne.

Things without sex are Neuter in English: as, stone, tree. But in Latin they are frequently masculine or feminine: as, lapis, stone (masc.); arbor, tree (fem.). This is called Grammatical Gender.

NUMBER signifies how many, and is Singular when one is spoken of: as, vir, man; Plural when more than one: as, viri, men.

CASE is the form a noun takes to show its relation to other words: as, pueri currunt, the boys run (Nominative); pueri soror, the boy's sister (Genitive).

This relation is generally shown in English by prepositions; as, gesta Romanorum, the deeds of the Romans; invidia mihi, envy against

me.

QUANTITY is the time taken in pronouncing a vowel or a syllable, in comparison with other syllables.

Thus in the word strengthen, the first syllable is long and the second short in quantity or time, though they are both called short in quality or sound; in submit, the first is long and the second short, in quantity, though the latter has the accent.

Quantity is reckoned much more important in Latin than in English, and often shows the difference in the meaning of words. Thus levis (long e) means smooth; lěvis (short e), means light; cecidit is he fell; cecidit, he cut or felled.