For a century, ecclesiastical Latin, that is Latin with an Italianate pronunciation, has been the official pronunciation of the Catholic Church due to the centrality of Italy and Italian, and this is the default of many singers and choirs.
In the interest of historically informed performance, some singers of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music adopt the pronunciation of the composer's period and region.
While in Western university classics departments the reconstructed classical pronunciation has been general since around 1945,[citation needed] in the Anglo-American legal professions the older style of academic Latin still survives.
This is far from a complete listing and lacks the local variations exhibited through centuries, but is intended to give an outline of main characteristics of different regions.
The Liber Usualis prescribes a silent "h", except in the two words "mihi" and "nihil", which are pronounced /miki/ and /nikil/ (this is not universally followed).