A&G §1 — THE ALPHABET

§1

The Latin Alphabet is the same as the English (which is in fact borrowed from it) except that it does not contain J, U, and W.

The character C originally meant G, a value always retained in the abbreviations C. (for Gāius) and Cn. (for Gnaeus).

I and V were used both as vowels and as consonants (see § 5).

In this book i is used for both vowel and consonant i, u for vowel u, and v for consonant u: iūs, vir, iuvenis.

§2

The simple Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y.

The Diphthongs are ae, au, ei, eu, oe, ui, and, in early Latin, ai, oi, ou. In the diphthongs both vowel sounds are heard, one following the other in the same syllable.

§3

Consonants are either voiced (sonant) or voiceless (surd). Voiced consonants are pronounced with the same vocal murmur that is heard in vowels; voiceless consonants lack this murmur.

The voiced consonants are b, d,g, l, r, m,n, z, consonant i, v.
The voiceless consonants are p, t,c (k, q), f, h, s, x.

§4

Consonants are further classified as in the following table:

		LABIALS	DENTALS	PALATALS
	Voiced (mediae)	b	d	g
Mutes	Voiceless (tenues)	p	t	c (k, q)
	Aspirates	ph	th	ch
Nasals		m	n	n (before c, g, q)
Liquids			l, r
Fricatives	(Spirants)	f Strictly, a labio-dental, pronounced with the under lip touching the upper teeth.	s, z
Sibilants			s, z
Semivowels		v		consonant i

Double consonants are x (= cs) and z (= dz); h is merely a breathing.

Mutes are pronounced by blocking entirely, for an instant, the passage of the breath through the mouth, and then allowing it to escape with an explosion (distinctly heard before a following vowel). Between the explosion and the vowel there may be a slight puff of breath (h), as in the Aspirates (ph, th, ch).
The aspirates are almost wholly confined to words borrowed from the Greek. In early Latin such borrowed sounds lost their aspiration and became simply p, t, c.
Labials are pronounced with the lips, or lips and teeth.
Dentals (sometimes called Linguals) are pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching or approaching the upper front teeth.
Palatals are pronounced with a part of the upper surface of the tongue touching or approaching the palate.
Palatals are often classed as (1) velars, pronounced with the tongue touching or rising toward the soft palate (in the back part of the mouth), and (2) palatals, in which the tongue touches crrises toward the hard palate (farther forward in the mouth). Compare the initial consonants in key and cool, whispering the two words, and it will be observed that before e andi the k is sounded farther forward in the mouth than before a, o, or u
Fricatives (or Spirants) are consonants in which the breath passes continuously through the mouth with audible friction.
Nasals are like voiced mutes, except that the mouth remains closed and the breath passes through the nose.

§5

The vowels i and u serve as consonants when pronounced rapidly before a vowel so as to stand in the same syllable.

Consonant i has the sound of English consonant y; consonant u (v) that of English consonant w.

Consonant i and u (v) are sometimes called Semivowels.

Classification of Sounds