See alsoWiktionary:Latin entry guidelinesandCategory:Latin language.

The tables below show theIPA equivalents for Latin sounds.

Classical Latin had both long and short vowels. For all vowel pairs besides/a aː/ (the most open), the short versions are reconstructed as being more phoneticallyopen in most contexts than their long counterparts, which resulted later in the merging of shorti andu with longē andō in theItalo-Western Romance languages (such as Italian) after the loss of phonemic vowel length.

Note theinverted breve, which indicates that the vowel does not form a separate syllable.

In certain circumstances in Latin, the nasal consonants /m/ and /n/ are thought to have been lost, with the preceding vowel being nasalized and lengthened in compensation. In other words, nasalized long vowels could be produced by the fusion of a vowel with a following nasal consonant. This is thought to have occurred in words containing-ns- or-nf- (such asānser,cēnsus,īnferus,tōnsor,tūnsus) or in final syllables when word-final-m was not followed by a word starting with another consonant (as inetiam[ɛ.ti.ãː]). When word-final-m was followed by another consonant, it tended to be pronounced instead as a nasal consonant (as inetiam nunc[ɛ.ti.an.nʊŋk]), which was assimilated to the place of articulation of the following consonant (being pronounced as[m] before[p b m], as[n] before[t d n], or as[ŋ] before[k ɡ kʷ]). When word-final-m was followed by a vowel, it could be elided along with the preceding vowel; an example where elision became fixed in an idiomatic phrase isanimumadvertere, which was evidently pronounced habitually asanim' advertere ([a.nɪ.mad.wɛr.tɛ.rɛ]) and accordingly came to be respelled asanimadvertere.

Per Allen, the long mid vowelsē ō /eː oː/ were phonetically high-mid [eː oː] and the short mid vowelse o /e o/ were in most circumstances open-mid [ɛ ɔ].^[1] Allen argues that /e/ likely had a closer allophone when followed by a vowel (transcribed in Wiktionary entries by[e]), and an opener allophone when followed by the consonant /r/ (not marked in Wiktionary entries; Allen says "the degree of opening is unknown" and suggests that "there is no point in attempting to reproduce it").^[1]

The long close vowelsī ū /iː uː/ were phonetically fully close [iː uː]. The short close vowelsi u /i u/ were per Allen near-close[ɪ ʊ], except for when followed by a vowel (as indiēs,duo), where they likely had closer allophones (transcribed on Wiktionary by[i u]). Some evidence suggests that/i/ before/ɡn/[ŋn] may have been raised to[i] or both raised and lengthened to/iː/;^[1] for this reason, this sequence is sometimes written asīgn in dictionaries or linguistic works. But since/iɡn/ with short/i/ represents both the length expected from the etymology, and the length implied by various inherited Romance descendants such asdegno,seña, this sequence is written on Wiktionary asign/iɡn/[ɪŋn].

The close vowel pairy ȳ was not part of the native Latin sound system; the letter was adopted to represent the value of Attic Greek υ (/y yː/) in words borrowed from Greek.^[1] Formerly, υ was adapted asu/u/ (as inbursa fromβύρσα(búrsa)), a replacement that in some cases continued to be used.^[1] In the Classical period, words spelled withy ȳ were likely pronounced by educated Latin speakers with the value of the Greek vowel or an approximation of it, meaning longȳ was phonetically[yː] and shorty was presumably[y].^[1]

In Latin, the letter written asI in ancient times was either avowel or aconsonant, or rarely a sequence of consonant and vowel, depending on position and the word, the vowel being most common. The two forms had differentpronunciation and differentmetrical treatment inpoetry.

An early modern typographical convention (originating in medieval scripts) is to writeJ for the consonant form and leave I for the vowel. This is applied both to ordinary words and proper nouns. A similar modern convention exists in writing the vowelV asU (seeU and V for more). But while U is very commonly written, the use of J is more variable.

Generally speaking, modern Latin–English dictionaries always use I; however, in the 19th and early 20th centuries the use of J was more widespread (for example, the substantial 1879 dictionary ofLewis and Short). Reprints of classical works on the other hand sometimes write J and sometimes write I. Ecclesiastical works use J more commonly than scholarly classical works, but not to the exclusion of I.

The exclusive use of I never results in ambiguity about the identity of a word, as there are no words that are distinguished solely by the use of I versus J (unlike U versus V; see below).

As a vowel,

• (Classical): IPA: short/i/, long/iː/

As a consonant,

• (Classical):/j/, but doubled/jj/ when between vowels

As a consonant–vowel sequence

• (Classical):/jji/ after a vowel (e.g.reicit),/ji/ after a consonant (e.g.subicio)

In Latin, the letter written asV in ancient times represented either avowel or aconsonant depending on its position and the word. These two forms had distinctpronunciations and differentmetrical treatment inpoetry.

A moderntypographical convention is to writeU for the vowel and leave V as the consonant. Generally speakingdictionaries write U this way and the majority of reprints of classical texts adapt them and show U too. The use of V for the vowel in new works is usually a deliberatelyclassical style or appearance, and that includes for example ininscriptions on newmonuments and the like.

Note that there are words where V and U contrast:servit is the third-person singular present ofserviō, pronounced/ˈser.wit/ in two syllables; whileseruit is the third-person singular perfect ofserō(“to link together”), pronounced/ˈse.ru.it/ in three syllables.

As consonant,

• (Classical): IPA:/w/, (in Greek loanwords between vowels)/ww/

As vowel,

• (Classical): IPA: short/u/, long/uː/

• Consonants: b (ps, pt) k d f g (ŋ) h j k l m n p kw r s t w ks z kʰ pʰ tʰ

Latin has onerhotic consonant, which is transcribed as /r/ in thephonemic transcription used on Wiktionary. The phoneme /r/ likely had multiple phonetic realizations (allophones) in Classical Latin.

Analveolar trill [r] was likely a common realization in at least the following two contexts: at the start of a word after a pause, or when the consonant was geminated (doubled) as /r.r/ [rː], such as in the wordterra. Most sources describe the trill [r] as the primary pronunciation of Classical Latin /r/.

Aalveolar tap (or flap) [ɾ] was likely a possible allophone of singleton (non-geminate) /r/ in some cases, especially in word-medial intervocalic position. A minority of sources describe the tap [ɾ] as the primary pronunciation of Classical Latin /r/.

There is disagreement about the overall frequency of tap versus trill realizations of /r/. Various contextual factors may have influenced which allophone was used, such as the identity of the surrounding sounds, the position of word and morpheme boundaries, prosody, speech rate, or speech style. Aside from trills and taps, other sounds such as fricatives may have been used as allophonic pronunciations of the phoneme /r/.

Because of the uncertain distribution of the trill and tap realizations of /r/, and because the IPA recognizes [r] as a valid broad transcription of the tap [ɾ], the phonetic transcriptions in Wiktionary entries do not differentiate between the possible allophones of Latin /r/, and use only the transcription [r].

In most Latin lemma entries, Wiktionary provides an Ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation reflecting the “Italianate” standard adopted in most of the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century. The Italianate pronunciation is derived from modern Italian, and thus includes Italianisms not known in Classical Latin such as /t͡ʃ/ forc beforee ori. SeeItalianate Latin at Wikipedia for more.

Some example entries for Latin pronunciation given in IPA.

• IPA^(key): /hyˈper.bo.leː/   (forhyperbolē)
• IPA^(key): /ˈnoː.men/   (fornōmen)
• IPA^(key): /ˈnoː.mi.nis/   (fornōminis)

• Other: ˈ ˌ ː .

• Wiktionary:IPA pronunciation key
• w:Latin spelling and pronunciation

• Latin appendices
• Pronunciation by language

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