Sturtevant E.H. The Pronunciation of Latin and Greek. The Sounds and Accents

University of Chicago Press, 1920. — 225 p.A classical study of Latin and Greek phonetics.In writing on Greek and Latin pronunciation I have had two objects in view: to gather and evaluate the evidence which has been discovered since the appearance of the handbooks by Blass, Seelmann, and Lindsay, and to put at the dispo9al of students and teachers a clear statement of the basis of our knowledge of the pronunciation of the classical languages.The former of these objects did not require the discussion of theories inconsistent with those which the evidence, as I understand it, compelled me to adopt, and such a discussion would have interfered with the second object. Most of the rejected theories have been refuted in print, and the references in the footnotes will guide the curious to the appropriate literature. In many cases the evidence upon which divergent theories have been based is given in connection with the interpretation which seems to me to be correct.For similar reasons I have omitted much that has been advanced as evidence but which seems to me not to be significant. Since the loss of Latin ν between like vowels is not a valid argument for the semivocalic character of the sound, the matter is nowhere mentioned, although it has been brought into the discussion by some.Evidence which is significant both for Greek and for Latin has, as far as possible, been given in detail in the treatment of the Latin sounds, on the assumption that the Latin part of the book would be consulted more frequently than the Greek. In the chapter on the Greek sounds such evidence is stated summarily, and a cross reference to the fuller treatment is added. Consequently the chapter on the Latin sounds immediately follows the introductory chapter, so that one who works through the book consecutively need not turn to later pages in order to understand what he is at the moment reading. The chapters on accent, however, are placed in proper chronological order; for it would be quite impossible to understand the evidence on the Latin accent without some acquaintance with the Greek accent.