Latin pronunciation

[Lass, RG, Roger, Prof]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
In light of the various comments from John Hewson and others on this
matter, I'd like to note the following:
 
(1) I learned Latin from a German teacher, and while he TRIED to
teach us 'classical' pronunciation, he never could get past the
nominative sg in reciting paradigms: so for 'Caesar' he (and
sometimes we) said [kaizar, tse:zeRis, tse:zeRi:, tse:zeRem], etc.
My favourite was 'Ciceronis oratio de amicitia', which was
[tsitseRo:nis oRa:tsio de amitsitsia].
 
(2) If you listen carefully to recordings of sacred music by German
(or Austrian) as opposed to other nationalities of singers, you'll
note for instance [ts] rather than [tS] in 'dona nobis pacem', etc.
Very careful singers, like Emma Kirkby and the English ancient music
tradition, adjust their Latin, using 'Italian' or 'German'
pronunciation where called for.
 
Roger Lass
 
Roger Lass
Department of Linguistics
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7700/South Africa
Tel +(021) 650 3138  Fax +(021) 650 3726