What would a Latin accent sound like?

by Tallows

Specifically a Roman Latin accent. Would it sound similar to that of Italians or more so like Spanish or French? Obviously I am talking about an accent in English.

EMPEROR_JUSTINIAN_I

Honestly, not much like any of them. Latin contains the English sounds of the consonants b, d, f, g (as in gate, not as in giraffe), h, k, l, m, n (both as in normal and as in sink), p, s, t. The consonants q(u) and x are pronounced as in English as well. The sounds of Y and W exist, but are assigned to other letters. Thus, the missing consonantal sounds are those found in sh, ch, th (as in thin and that both), j, and si (as in fusion). The letter R is rolled as in Italian.

When we look at Hebrew names that are Latinized, ש (sh) becomes s, like in יהושע (Yehoshu'a) becoming Iosue (pronounced YO-sweh). Therefore CH would likely be realized as a ts sound. In Greek names that are Latinized, the letter θ (th as in thin) becomes a harsh t sound. As for the J and SI sounds, that's a matter of far more speculation. I personally would pronounce them as dz and sy respectively, if I were to try to imitate an ancient Roman speaking modern English.

The vowels in Latin are almost all found in English. They are the vowels in the words cup on (American pronunciation) pet there in ski for no (excluding the soft u sound usually added to the end) put tube (American pronunciation)

Finally, there is the German ü sound, which doesn't occur in most dialects of English.

Thus, the missing English vowel is the a sound in cat. This could be imitated with the e from pet or the o from on.

I hope this helps!

EDIT: I forgot one of the most jarring differences! Our v sound does not exist in Classical Latin. It was pronounced as a w sound.

Searocksandtrees