Template:La-IPA/documentation

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Documentation for Template:La-IPA. [edit]
This page contains usage information, categories, interwiki links and other content describing the template.

This template generates pronunciation for Latin terms using Module:la-pronunc. It is generally quite smart; see examples below. Most of the time it is sufficient to copy the term’s spelling (with macrons) into the first parameter, but occasionally you need to help the module out through respellings.

Parameters

  • |1=: Term’s spelling, with macrons (possibly respelled as necessary). If omitted, the page title is used.
  • |eccl=1 or |eccl=yes: Also generate Ecclesiastical pronunciation; Ecclesiastical pronunciation is now generated by default.
  • |vul=1 or |vul=yes: Also generate Vulgar Latin pronunciation. Defaults to true if the page is in the Reconstruction namespace. (NOTE: This is problematic in that the Vulgar Latin pronunciation varied by area. This assumes the pronunciation of a specific portion of the Italo-Western region, with a 7-vowel system, lenition of intervocalic stops and palatalization of /k/ and /g/ before front vowels.)
  • |classical=0 or |classical=no: Don’t generate the Classical pronunciation.
  • |ann=: Add a boldfaced “annotation” before the generated pronunciation. This is intended when multiple pronunciations need to be specified because multiple headwords with different pronunciations are contained in the same etymology section (e.g. the nominative and ablative singular of a feminine noun). Use |ann=1 to generate an annotation based on param 1 (the term’s spelling/respelling). Any other value is included literally as the annotation.
  • |accent=, |accent2=, …: Override the default accent qualifier (normally “Classical”, “Ecclesiastical” or “Vulgar”).

Respelling

Normally, it is enough to specify the term’s spelling, with macrons. The following additional marks are supported:

  • ' (an ASCII apostrophe): Override the position of the stress. Example: {{la-IPA|Ver'gilī}}.
  • . (an ASCII period): Specify an explicit syllable boundary. This also prevents certain default rules from operating, e.g. conversion of i to j and u to v word-initially, between vowels and (in the case of i) after certain prefixes (see below).
  • ; (an ASCII semicolon): Specify an optional syllable break in the middle of a cluster that can also be syllabified as an onset. In particular, in many Latin words a syllable break could fall between an obstruent (like /p b t d k g/) and a following liquid (like /r/ or /l/) in poetry, even when the consonants could also form a valid syllable onset.
  • _ (an ASCII underscore): If placed between two vowels, cause the vowels to be pronounced as a diphthong when they otherwise wouldn’t (particularly useful in the sequence e_u).
  • - (an ASCII hyphen/minus): Denotes a prefix when placed at the end of a word, or a suffix when placed at the beginning of a word. This changes the handling of stress; in particular, a prefix won’t have any stress, and a suffix will be treated as if it had a preceding syllable for the purposes of stress placement (or lack thereof).
  • ë, ü (a diaeresis/umlaut): In the sequences , , forces interpretation of the sequence as two separate vowels rather than a diphthong (e.g. {{la-IPA|coëmō}}). The same effect can also be achieved by adding a . between the vowels.
  • ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ (a breve): Indicates a short vowel. Normally this has no effect, but it can be used to force a vocalic interpretation of i or u, e.g. in {{la-IPA|langŭī}}. The same effect can also be achieved by adding a . after the i or u.
  • Macron-breve sequence (e.g. {{la-IPA|crū̆sta}}): Indicates that the vowel length is unknown. Two pronunciations will be generated on the same line, one with vowel length and the other with vowel shortness.

The following should additionally be noted:

  • Normally, sequences of vowel + obstruent (b d g p t c ph th ch f) + liquid (l r) have a syllable division between the vowel and the obstruent (e.g. ē.brius not ēb.rius). However, an exception is made for occurrences of the prefixes ab-, ad-, ob-, sub- + liquid (l r), which are divided after the prefix (ab.rogō not a.brogō). This will lead to wrong syllable division in occasional false positives, which need to have the syllable division manually specified (e.g. a.bra, a.brotonum).
  • Normally, an i before a vowel after a consonant is treated as vocalic; but an exception is made following any of the prefixes ab-, ad-, circum-, con-, dis-, ex-, in-, inter-, ob-, per-, sub-, subter-, super-, trans-, and trāns-, where the i will be treated as consonantal /j/. This will lead to wrong results in occasional false positives (e.g. abiēs, interior and the perfect-stem forms of derivatives of , such as adiit, subieram, etc.). In such words, a syllable break . should be placed after the i.
  • u needs to be rewritten as v in words beginning su- where the u is consonantal, e.g. suēscō, suāvis.
  • An extra j needs to be added in words such as obiciō (pronounced as if spelled objiciō) and obex (pronounced as if spelled objex).

Examples

1 syllable

2 syllables

3 syllables

4 syllables

Explicit syllable division specified

Affixes

Breves, macron-breve sequences, diaereses

Ultimate challenges

Ecclesiastical