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Charles E Bennett's " The Latin Language, A Historical Outline of its Sounds, Inflections and Syntax" has just arrived on my doorstep from the British Library. (Thanks to Johan Winge for suggesting it) This important text was written in 1895, and republished in 1907.

In this episode, I cover the following areas discussed by Bennett in the book:

1. What are the information sources that we rely on for the reconstruction of the Ancient Roman pronunciation? Is there enough information to go on to get it right? &c.

2. Was Ancient Latin a language that had its rhythms dictated by how loud stressed syllables were, or was tone important as well? Of the two, which was more important? What were the tones? What place does quantity - the length of syllables - play? How emphatic were the stresses in Ancient Latin? How did tone, quantity and word stress all interplay with each other?

3. The problem of identifying "hidden quantities" - vowels that are 'long by position'. Are there rules governing this? What are they? This area is covered in some detail, as speaking Latin with the correct vowel lengths is important for the natural rhythm of the spoken language.

In the next episode, I will read out Bennett's list of words that have their vowels long by way of hidden quantity, as the best way to get these right, is simply to attune your ear to them.