Latin pronunciation

[W.Wuster]

On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Carmine Colacino wrote:

> The real problem, moreover, it is not how consonants are pronounced (as
> somebody pointed out, here is the main difference in the way Latin was
> pronounced in the Middle Ages), but rather the problems are the vowels.
> There is where Europeans and Latin Americans (might) make fun of American
> pronunciation. If you think about it, all problem (in reciprocal
> intelligibility) would be very much reduced by pronouncing the vowels wit=
h
> their basic sounds (and not diphthongized (sp?) as they are in present da=
y
> English).
> It wouldn't take much to learn how to do so, I believe.

I think you underestimate the extent to which the way of pronounciation
of one's mother tongue is hard-wired into one's brain. For instance, I
know few Italians who manage to proncounce the name of an embarkation as
"ship" rather than "sheep", even though their English may be nearly
faultless in terms of grammar, comprehension, etc..

Just my $ .02    ;-)

--
Wolfgang W=FCster
School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK
e-mail: w.wuster at bangor.ac.uk   WWW: http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/