Greek language

Sounds

This section describes the phonology of the Modern Greek language.

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The Modern Greek language contains certain sandhi rules, some written, some not. N (?) before bilabials and velars becomes /m/ and /?/ respectively, and is written ? (?????????, "sympathy") and ? (??????????, "synchronize").

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One should note that, when n (?) becomes m (?) it is also pronounced as /m/ in Northern Greece (/sympathia/), whereas Southern Greeks conflate /m/+/p/ to /b/ (/sybathia/).

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Pre-velar N changes to (?) and may be pronounced /?/ or /n/, although the latter is usually indicative of careless enunciation. An exception to this rule is the word ???????? (freely translated "I'm sorry") in which /n/ is phonetically dropped and the word is pronounced "si/?/?/nomi" (this is actually an older form of the word, the current orthography is ??????? in which /n/ is dropped both phonetically and literally).

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The word {{polytonic|ἐ??ὶ}} (estí, IPA /{{IPA|ˌɛsˈti}}/), which means "is" in Ancient Greek (q.v. Modern Greek ?????), gains a "euphonic" n, and the accusative articles ??? and

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??? in Modern Greek lose it, depending on the beginning letter of the next word (if it's a consonant, n is usually dropped). In the phrase "tón patéra" (??? ??????), which means "the father" (accusative case), instead of being dropped, n is assimilated into the second word (creating "to npatera") and, following the example above, np is pronounced /mp/ in Northern Greece and /b/ in Southern Greece, thus producing the sound /to batera/.

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It should be noted that the latter example is analogous to the English use of "gimme" instead of the correct "give me", and it certainly is not an obligatory phonological rule of the Greek language. Indeed, while everyday spoken Greek sounds artificial if the sandhi rules are not used, a formal or official speech may sound equally awkward if sandhi rules are used. The general concept is described as ??????? (euphonia, i.e. beauty of sound) and as such it is largely left upon the intent and taste of each speaker.

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Vowels

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

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The systematic distinction between long and short vowels has been lost in Hellenistic Greek.

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Front

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Back

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Close

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i

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u

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Close-mid            

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o

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Open-mid

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{{IPA|ɛ}}

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Open

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a

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Consonants

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

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Historical sound changes

The main phonetic changes between Classic and post-Classic (Hellenistic) Greek are a simplification in the vowel system. Koine had seven vowels, two of which ? and ? were long, two ? and ? were short and three ?, ?, ? were either long or short. This distinction is still present in modern Greek. Alongside the individual vowels there were six special vowel-vowel combinations given the name of diphthongs ??, ??, ??, ??, ?? and ??. Most noticeably, the vowels i, ?, y, and diphthongs ei, oi (?, ?, ?, ??, ??) have all become i in modern Greek but subtle differences in their pronunciation can still be heard.

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If the work of the 15/16th century Dutch cleric Erasmus is accepted a change of some consonants to fricative values is proposed to have occured. The consonants b, d, g (?, ?, ?) became v, dh, gh (dh is /ð/ and gh is /{{IPA|ɣ}}/). The aspirated consonants {{IPA|pʰ}}, {{IPA|tʰ}}, {{IPA|kʰ}} (?, ?, ?) became f, th, kh (where the new pronunciation of th is /{{IPA|?}}/ and the new pronunciation of kh is /x/). There is scant evidence however that the Dorian pronunciation of ? might have always been /th/.

Related Topics:
Consonants - Fricative - Aspirated - Dorian

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Erasmus believed that Greek was as good as being a dead language after the fall of the Byzantine Empire so decided it was easier to teach Greek to his students using his own native Dutch pronunciation. In Greece ancient Greek is taught as a living language using modern pronunciation. Very few if any Greek academics accept the Erasmian system of pronunciation or its derivatives, as illustrated by Chrys C. Caragounis in "The error of Erasmus and un-greek pronunciations of Greek" published in Filologia Neotestamentaria 8 (1995), pp. 151-185. For the opposing view see W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca – a guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1974.

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The

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The study of Greek dialects such as Cretan and Cypriot which through their isolation are believed to better reflect ancient pronunciation, indicates that the letters ?, ?, ? are pronounced b, d, g/j. This pronunciation is dominant in traditional and modern Greek music recorded from the 1930's to the present day.

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Dionysios Thraikos states that the sound of the letters ?, ?, ? was the middle (?????) sound produced by combining the letters ?, ?, ? with ?, ?, ? respectively, thus "? is the middle of ? and ?", "? is the middle of ? and ?" and "? is the middle of ? and ?".

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According to Dionysios Thraikos the sound of ? is made by the combination of ? and ? or ??.

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