Latin 107 – Mr. Ocaña                                                            NAME:

Alphabet – Part II: Vowels                                                     DATE:

II. 1. Vowels:

• There are five vowels in Latin: a, e, i, o, u.
• The concept of quantity: the relative duration or length of a sound or a syllable, with respect to the time spent in pronouncing it.
• Long vowels are marked by a line called macron (a horizontal line used as a diacritic over a vowel to indicate that it has a long sound); short vowels are marked by ?.
• Long vowels:
  • a. Long by “nature”: Are long the syllables with a long vowel or a diphthong: d¯el¯iba¯are, ca¯usa¯e.
  • b. Long by “position”: Are long the vowels that are followed by two consonants: c¯entum, m¯ansum.

• Short vowels:
  • a. Short by “nature”: Are short the syllables with a short vowel not followed by two consonants: ?an?im¯a, c?ub?itus.
  • b. Short by “position”: Are short the vowels that are followed by another vowel without creating a diphthong: fluv?ius, Hispan?ia, nat?iones.

--> Practice: Decide if the following syllables are long or short by position (put a mark on the right column):

II. 2. Pronuntiation chart:

--> Practice: Say out loud the following words:
1. Amat                   2. Amamus                     3. Bibo                        4. Cena
5. Colo                    6. Comes                      7. Ducis                       8. Dico
9. Ferimus               10. Filia                        11. Pacis                      12. Pono
13. Primus              14. Luce                      15. Litus                       16. Veni
17. Vidi                   18. Vinum                    19. Carmen                 20. Regis

II. 3. Diphthongs:

• A diphtongue is two vowels making one sound
• Latin had six diphtongues; only four of them worked as real diphtongues in classical times (ae, au, eu, oe):
1. AE: Caesar, rosae (eng. High)
2. AU: causa (eng. How)
3. EI: deinde (eng. Eight)
4. EU: Europa (e-u: not a proper diphthong – both vowels are sounded)
5. OE: poena (eng. Boy)
6. UI: huic (u-i: not a proper diphthong – both vowels are sounded)

--> Practice: Read aloud the following Latin words:

1. Altae
2. Puellae
3. Laudat
4. Caelum
5. Nautae
6. Heu
7. Foedus
8. Deinde
9. Huic
10. Pauper
11. saepe