: how do researchers find the sound of dead languages with just the written text without ever hearing it.
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In the case of Latin we have their textbooks. Like, literally, we have instructional material where the writer was telling people how to pronounce things. Similar to how a teacher nowadays might say “It is *act*ually, not *aksh*ually.” Or “It is *ask* not *aks* or *ax.”*
The Romans were helpful in this regard, even though they would make fun of barbarian languages (the word comes from an old Greek slur) part of Roman diplomacy was understanding local customs. Often to overthrow them from the inside, but the result was Romans would learn local languages and local people would learn Latin. The written record they left behind contains descriptions of the languages they encountered.
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