Patterns of vowel reduction in Latin: phonetics and phonology

Abstract

This paper focuses on phonetic and phonological details of vowel reduction in Latin both diachronically and synchronically. True, the reality of phonetics and phonology in dead languages is often disguised by orthography, which is frequently incomplete particularly in inscriptions. (Even in modern languages, such as English and Russian, the orthography rarely reflects such vocalic alternation caused by reduction.) Yet with utmost care (cf. Coleman 1962: 103), the detailed processes of vowel reduction can be disclosed, as will be shown in what follows. There are different mechanisms of vowel reduction between