My son is learning Ecclesiastical Latin in our homeschool curriculum. I'm learning with him and trying to stay a step ahead but the pronunciation of vowels is really confusing me. When dictionaries like Lewis Elementary have a macron are they only referring to quantity and not quality? Since there are some differences in short and long vowel sounds (that's quality?) like ī (seen) and ĭ (it). For example, when comparing the pronunciation of villa or discipuli in the curriculum's instructional videos and other online sources, people seem to be using different vowel sounds with the 'i'. So in Lewis Elementary when the macrons show vīlla and discipulī is it only referring to length/quantity and not quality? I'm hearing "vee-lah" and "vih-lah" and different variations for discipuli and other words. Is there a reliable source or dictionary where someone learning beginning Latin can know when to use the different vowel sounds (ah or uh for 'a', ay or ĕ for 'e', ee or ĭ for 'i', oh or ŏ for 'o' etc.). I'm driving myself crazy with this so any help would be appreciated!!
Confused about vowel sounds
- Thread starter Docere Delectare
- Start date
"Ecclesiastical Latin" vowels are pronounced like Italian vowels. This means A, I, U each only have a single sound (setting aside the semivowel pronunciations of I and U). To accurately learn what these are, listen to Italian speakers; the typical English approximations are "ah", "ee", "oo". The letters E (or the digraphs AE, OE) and O are a little bit more complicated: in Italian, each of the letters E and O represents two similar sounds, an "open" variant and a "close" variant ("open" and "close" are phonetic terms that approximately correspond to how close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth when pronouncing a vowel). Although the distinction between open and close versions of E and O is meaningful in most accents of Italian, Italian accents vary significantly in regards to which version they use in specific words. In Latin, the general advice is to consistently use the open versions of E (AE, OE) and O (English approximation: like "EH" and "OR" without the "R"), at least in stressed syllables: in unstressed syllables, the vowel might take a "closer" or potentially intermediate quality. (The use of close variants of E and O in unstressed syllables most likely occurs when Italians speak Latin since it is a general rule of Italian pronunciation, but few sources actually mention it, and some sources written for English speakers imply that it actually doesn't occur). If you are using an "Ecclesiastical Latin" (=Italian-style) pronunciation, macrons are irrelevant to the pronunciation of vowels, with one exception. Indirectly, macrons can tell you which syllable of a word is stressed, or whether two vowel letters next to each other belong in separate syllables: e.g. āeris "of air" pronounced (approximation "AH-eh-rees") vs. aeris "of copper" (approximation "EH-rees").