Pronunciation

The Latin Alphabet:

The letters of the Latin alphabet are twenty-five (the same as the English, except in having no w.) 

Letters are divided into vowels and consonants. The sound of vowels is complete in itself, whereas that of consonants becomes distinct only in conjunction with a vowel.

(The pronunciation rules given below are classical, rather than ecclesiastical or english. Pronunciation does not affect the grammar or spelling in any way, and it is straightforward enough to switch between pronunciations once the language is learnt, should one wish.)

The Latin Vowels:

The simple vowels of the Latin alphabet are six: a, e, i, o, u, y.

A vowel may be voiced either long or short:

    Long                                                                          Short
       ā          'are'          father                                             a         'ah'          aha       
       ē          'ay'            date                                               e         'eh'           bet            
       ī           'ee'           machine                                         i          'ih'            sit            
       ō         'ohw'          holy                                               o          'oh'          off

       ū          'oo'            hoot                                              u          'uh'          foot

       y        'ehew'         über                                               y         'ew'           to

Diphthongs, or double vowels, are always considered long syllables:

   ae/æ         'eye'         aye, aisle
   ei                'ay'            eight

   oe/œ         'oi'              joy
   eu            'aew'        pay you
   au            'ouw'           cow
   ui             'uwee'        gooey

The Latin Consonants:

These are pronounced like their English equivalents, but for the following exceptions:

    c     always hard like 'k' as in cat

    g    always hard as in gain

    i     when followed by another vowel, i is voiced like y in yam, in which case it is often replaced by j
       i is also voiced likewise as a consonant when placed between vowels e.g. cuius/cujus = koo-ee-us 

    q    always followed by a u which never counts as a vowel but is sounded like a w as in quick

    r    the 'dog letter', always trilled with the tongue like a dog's growl

    s    always like soot or simple, never like a z

    t    always hard as in time, never soft like sh

    v   always like w (capitalised U is often written V in latin text, in which case it remains a vowel)
    

Syllables when forming words:

To syllabify/break up a word into its correct syllables:

1. There are as many syllables as there are vowels and diphthongs.
2. Consonants begin syllables.
3. Split two consonants.

These rules work most of the time, but there are exceptions.

x and z should actually be split into two consonants, one for each syllable: x = c-s, z = d-s

Consonant pairs, which often begin words (fl, st, sc, etc), are sounded together, particularly when the second consonant is an l or an r.

Compound words, which are smaller words joined together, will be sounded with their consonants intact as they would if the smaller words were in the same order but separate.

i, as noted earlier, may act as a consonant (also written j, sounded like y in yuk.)

u after q is not a separate vowel but they together form a kw sound, as in queen. This is often also the case when u follows s and g.

Accentuation:

The last syllable is called the ultima (last)

The second-to-last is called the penult (almost last)

The third-to-last is the antepenult (before almost last)

• Two-syllable words: accent the first syllable.
• Three-syllable and longer words determine the accent based upon the penult:

1. accent the penult if it is heavy/long
2. accent the antepenult if the penult is light/short

The addition of an enclitic, e.g., -ne, -que, -ve, etc. does not change the accent.