Как известно, латинский язык в современном мире is dead. That is, they do not speak it. But it turned out that this language is actively used in medical terminology. Not a single philologist can also do without knowledge of the language, at least elementary: reading and penmanship. The emphasis in Latin is one of the most difficult phonetic characteristics. It is about him this article.
History of language
The Latin language belongs to the Indo-European family. It is named after the tribe of Latins who settled in the tiny region of Italy - Latium.
Latin became the state language onlarge parts of Europe, as well as in North Africa, in parts of Asia. In the II century BC. er There is a mutual enrichment of the Greek and Latin languages, since during this period Greece was conquered by Rome. This is due to a significant amount of borrowing Greek words in Latin, as well as Greek medical terminology.
Latin remains the main source for the artificial creation of new medical terms in modern languages.
For hundreds of years, Latin remained the language of science and culture for Europe. A vast amount of literature was created on it (historical chronicles, theological, scientific and philosophical treatises, poems).
Mastering even minimally filled courseLatin will allow you to easily learn the ancient Greek language, and an understanding of the vocabulary and grammatical structure of the Latin language will greatly help in the study of Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian), and Germanic (German, English). Latin influenced the Russian language, in the vocabulary of which there are many Latinisms.
Latin became the basis for the creation of all Romance languages. Many other Latin vocabulary has also penetrated into other European languages, mainly from science, medicine, culture and intellectual heritage.
The grammar of the Latin language is clear, concise and, inIn general, it is available for rapid absorption. It is practically the only language in the world that has such a coherent and structured grammar. Latin terminology has become common in world linguistics. This language develops linguistic thinking, and also contributes to the most accurate expression of their feelings and thoughts in their native language. No wonder all the eminent minds of past centuries included this language in their compulsory educational program.
Today, medical and philological education is impossible without an understanding of the basics of Latin. Language learning is of paramount importance in the training of these specialists.
And they usually begin their journey with an understanding of the phonetic foundations, one of which is the stress in Latin.
rules
In terms of learning, Latin is not the easiestlanguage from existing in the world. But only because there are no its living carriers. From the point of view of linguistics, it is quite simple, of course, if you carefully understand all the details.
There are only three rules of stress in Latin:
- In Latin, stress can never be placed on the last syllable.
- The emphasis falls on the penultimate syllable, but only if it is long; if the penultimate short, then put on the third from the end.
- The emphasis is never placed beyond the third syllable.
That's all! Three simple rules that are easy to remember. But when you read them, many questions can immediately arise. For example:
- How is the number of syllables determined?
- What does a long syllable mean?
- What is a short syllable?
- How is the syllable?
In fact, these questions have very simple answers.
How to determine the number of syllables
Emphasis in Latin directlydepends on the syllable. What is a syllable? This is the minimum pronunciation unit of the language. That is, it does not carry any semantic load, but is simply a combination of different sounds.
As in many other languages, the number of syllablesin Latin is determined by the number of vowels in a word. But in Latin there are also diphthongs, that is, combinations of two sounds that imply a transition from one vowel to another. Simply put, two vowels are not separated by a consonant.
This linguistic phenomenon can confuse those who have just begun to learn a language. But a diphthong makes up one syllable, although it consists of two vowels.
For example, esophagus. There are four syllables in this word, although there are five vowels. Diphthong oh - this is one syllable! Similarly:
- auris - 2 syllables, diphthong ay;
- vertebrae - 3 syllables, diphthong ae;
- fetar - 2 syllables, diphthong oh.
How is the syllable?
To understand how a syllable passes, you need to learn a total of nine rules. They will help to accurately place emphasis in Latin.
Slogan section:
- Between two vowels (in the event that they do not form a diphthong). For example, tu-a.
- Before a single vowel. For example, simi-a (note: the rule is valid if the vowel is not in front of to).
- Between two consonants. For example, jus-tus (exceptions: a combination of mute (d, t, g, k, b, p) and smooth (r, l).
- Before combination qu. For example, anti-quus.
- Between diphthong and vowel. For example, europae-um.
- Before the combination of a little and smooth sounds. For example, tene-brae.
- Within a group of three or more consonant letters (remember that dumb and smooth combinations are indivisible). For example, mons-trum.
- After the prefix prefix. For example, in-structio.
- After the letter "j"which is between the two vowels. For example, pej-us.
Short syllables
From that, a long sound or short, its pronunciation does not depend. But this moment significantly affects the rules of stress in Latin.
So, the syllable is called short:
- if it is located in front of a group of vowels. For example, atrandmind. It is worth remembering that a vowel before a vowel is always brief!
- if located before the letter "h". For example, extrabut.
Это типы кратких звуков по положению.But there are also those who are short by nature. That is, historically they were pronounced longer (melodious) long vowels. Usually in writing they are indicated by a semicircle "hat". For example, vólŭcre.
Long syllables
Yes, as it turned out, this is not so simple.Latin language! Word stress depends on many factors. Including the longitude and brevity of the syllable, its openness and closeness (recall that the open syllable ends in a vowel, closed in a consonant, as in Russian).
So, the syllable is long:
- if it contains diphthong (digraph). For example, crataegoose.
- if it is located in front of a group of consonants. For example, potentilla.
- if it is located in front of one of the consonants "x" or "z". For example, reflexus.
It is very important to remember the following! Consonants c, b, p, t, d in conjunction with l, r will not create the longitude of the preceding vowel. For example, vertebra, anhanddrus. Highlighted sounds are brief!
In the case of longitude of sound (and, consequently, syllable), there are also historically established patterns. On the letter they are indicated by a dash. For example, amîcus
Homonyms
Очень интересной и познавательной темой в learning Latin will be an appeal to such a phenomenon as homonyms. From the rules of the Russian language, everyone knows that these words are the same in spelling, but different in meaning. But with the language spoken by the majority of Russians, everything is clear. But Latin can bring many surprises in this regard.
The fact is that the longitude and brevity of sound is not always displayed on the letter. In the language there are many words-homonyms, which, depending on the setting of the stress, change their lexical meaning.
For example, malum - evil (long vowel), malum - apple (short vowel).
In order not to make a total mistake, you need to understand how to put stress in the Latin language, in longitude and brevity of sounds.
Let's take a few more words. When there is a graphic symbol on the letter, the lexical meaning of the word is easier to understand. For example,
- occīdit - kills (indicated by longitude);
- occĭdit - decreases (marked short).
When there is no saving icon, everything is much more complicated.
Exceptions to the rules
The emphasis in Latin is due to a number ofthe rules. But as you know, there are always some exceptions to them. In Latin, they are usually associated with words that come from outside, i.e. borrowed. Most of these words come from Greek.
In them, in the second syllable from the end, the vowel before the vowel was stressed. Greek diphthongs in the process of romanization turned into long vowels. For example, Achillea (yarrow), giganteus (giant).
The next category of exclusion words refers to neologisms, names that were borrowed from modern languages. Most often, the emphasis in them can also be placed not by the general rules.
Examples
Now let's take a closer look at the principles of stress setting in Latin. Examples will help to understand everything in this question completely.
- ATenot - the word consists of two syllables (because there are two vowels), therefore the first is a stressed one.
- Arma - on the same principle.
- Natatra - it is a multi-syllable word (three syllables, because there are three vowels), the second syllable is open and long, so stress is placed on it.
- Patblicus - The stress falls on the third syllable from the end, since the second syllable is short.
- Potentia - the word consisting of four syllables (four vowels), the stress falls on the third syllable from the end, because the syllable before it is short.
- Euraboutna - a word consisting of three syllables (the combination of eu is diphthong), the stress is placed on the second syllable, because the last one is short and open.
