W kwestii restytucji klasycznej wymowy łacińskiej

Abstract

In this article the author first traces the process by which, beginning with Later Roman Empire, several ways of articulating Latin emerged, called traditional pronunciation. Of these, two are especially important: German pronunciation (dominant in northern Europe) and Roman pronunciation (used in the Church and in southern Europe). In the second part of his article the author presents briefly source of our knowledge how Latin in was pronounced in the classical period, and gives examples of that pronunciation. In the third part he deals with the question asked in the title of his article. According to the author what makes a simply return to classical pronunciation impossible is the fact that Latin became a substratum of modern languages and pronounced according to the phonetic rules of these languages it remains in phonetic correspondence with Latin vocabulary present in them (Polish included). For this reason in the classroom texts should be read in accordance with the traditional pronunciation. In principle classical pronunciation should be used at international meetings and scholarly circles. It should also be used in reading poetry, for applying traditional pronunciation will lead a loss of its acoustic elements.