SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS.

3.  The following pronunciation (often called Roman) is substantially that employed by the Romans at the height of their civilization; i.e., roughly, from 50 B.C. to 50 A.D.

1.  Vowels.

a as in father; a as in the first syllable aha; e as in they; e as in met; i as in machine; i as in pin; o as in note; o as in obey, melody; u as in rude; u as in put; y like French u, German ue.

2.  Diphthongs.

ae like ai in eu with its two elements, e and u,
aisle; pronounced in rapid succession;
oe like oi in oil; ui occurs almost exclusively in
ei as in rein; cui and huic.  These words may
au like ow in how; be pronounced as though written

          
                                            kwee and wheek.

3.  Consonants.

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, qu are pronounced as in English, except that
bs, bt are pronounced ps, pt.

c is always pronounced as k.

t is always a plain t, never with the sound of sh as in Eng.
oration.

  g always as in get; when ngu precedes a vowel, gu has the sound of
  gw, as in anguis, languidus.

  j has the sound of y as in yet.

  r was probably slightly trilled with the tip of the tongue.

  s always voiceless as in sin; in suadeo, suavis, suesco, and in
  compounds and derivatives of these words, su has the sound of sw.

  v like w.

  x always like ks; never like Eng. gz or z.

  z uncertain in sound; possibly like Eng. zd, possibly like z.  The
  latter sound is recommended.

  The aspirates ph, ch, th were pronounced very nearly like our stressed
  Eng. p, c, t—­so nearly so, that, for practical purposes, the latter
  sounds suffice.

  Doubled letters, like ll, mm, tt, etc., should be so pronounced that both
  members of the combination are distinctly articulated.

SYLLABLES.

4.  There are as many syllables in a Latin word as there are separate vowels and diphthongs.

In the division of words into syllables,—­

1.  A single consonant is joined to the following vowel; as, vo-lat, ge-rit, pe-rit, a-dest.

2.  Doubled consonants, like tt, ss, etc., are always separated; as, vit-ta, mis-sus.

3.  Other combinations of two or more consonants are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel; as, ma-gis-tri, dig-nus, mon-strum, sis-te-re.