Moderator: Aldus Marius
Q Valerius Scerio wrote:What would you propose for the consonantal I? Y wouldn't work, since it's also the vowel Y borrowed from Greek? And then what about Ecclesiastical Latin? It pronounces the V like an English V, not like an English W. Why bother adding even more confusion to it? Finally, works in Latin are universal, i.e. not every country pronounces the V like an English V. Latin is written as Latin, not English. Your view is rather Anglocentric.
Q Valerius Scerio wrote:But the J doesn't sound like a modern English J. Also, you'll rarely see J in Latin texts, and never in Ancient Latin texts. It was a medieval invention.
Why do we need this standardization you ask for?
Aldus Marius wrote:Salvete iterum...
The [j] sound has, as you've stated, a very long pedigree. But the letter "J", as a distinct symbol for that sound, dates only from the late Middle Ages. Apparently telling students that those were initial-I's as opposed to middle-of-the-word I's wasn't enough anymore... (Kids!)
In fide,
Marius the Printer's Devil
Q Valerius Scerio wrote:Er, that website you linked disagreed with you. The [j] sound is the modern English Y. Learn IPA. The modern English J is actually [dʒ].
Thais Aurelia Ovensa wrote:Germanic tongues pronounce the J sound as Y, and the W sound as V, both of which found their way into ecclesiastical Latin, which prevailed so long we lost all knowledge of it ever being different.
Does modern Italian have a J sound?
Thais Aurelia Ovensa wrote:Many people do not classify English as a Germanic tongue. It has a basic Germanic grammar, but the bulk of its vocabulary is derived from Latin and later Romance languages. English is really a unique language that cannot be comfortably classified in any of the existing language groups; it is the offspring of German and Latin.
Anyway, to get back on track, is there any information on how Ecclesiastical Latin developed and what influenced the consonantal pronunciation changes? Was it contrived, or was it a natural evolution? And should we, as members of the SVR, prefer reconstructed Classical Pronunciation or Latin as it later developed?
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