Mytacism in Latin grammarians

Abstract This paper focuses on the different definitions of the so-called mytacism in Latin grammarians (from the early imperial period to twelth-century treatises), starting from an assessment of the textual basis of their statements. Mytacism is a vitium orationis which affects the phonetic realization of the final group vowel + [m] when followed by another vowel; mytacism also raises various phonetic and rhetorical issues such as weakening of the sound [m], nasalization of the preceding vowel, elision and hiatus. Two competing theories in modern scholarship (weak nasal consonant versus nasalized vowel) try to explain the pronunciation of the final group vowel+[m] followed by another vowel; however, ancient grammar does not possess a theoretical and terminological framework stringent enough to give an accurate phonetic description of this sound. Finally, the paper argues that mytacism is a linguistic mistake associated with the ancient perception of word boundary; its varying definitions allow us to recognize at least an elementary “phonological awareness” in ancient grammatical doctrines.