Hello,
The Wikipedia page about the pronounciation of Classical Latin vowels talks about a distiction not only between short and long, but also between degrees of openness, such that the short U had the same quality as long O (except it was short) and the same goes for short I and long E which supposedly only differed in length.
While this phenomenon does not seem to be disputed, other sources (teachers of Medieval French among others) maintain that CL only had the long/short distinction, which only progressively transitionned into a open/closed distinction, and only in late latin.
So I'm wondering about the chronology here. Did classical latin already have that double distinction, or is it a later, transitory stage that ultimately led to the lost of vowels quantities which came to be replaced by vowel openness in Romance languages?
Thanks.
The Wikipedia page about the pronounciation of Classical Latin vowels talks about a distiction not only between short and long, but also between degrees of openness, such that the short U had the same quality as long O (except it was short) and the same goes for short I and long E which supposedly only differed in length.
While this phenomenon does not seem to be disputed, other sources (teachers of Medieval French among others) maintain that CL only had the long/short distinction, which only progressively transitionned into a open/closed distinction, and only in late latin.
So I'm wondering about the chronology here. Did classical latin already have that double distinction, or is it a later, transitory stage that ultimately led to the lost of vowels quantities which came to be replaced by vowel openness in Romance languages?
Thanks.