User:Chronographos/Greek pronounciation

(tag removed) merge|Ancient Greek phonology}}

The concept of orthography was absent in Ancient Greek. In contrast to modern practice, the Ancient Greeks did not read what they wrote, rather they wrote down exactly what they pronounced. To the degree that the relation between phoneme and grapheme was bijective, no "spelling error" was possible in principle. Over the course of time spelling and pronunciation started to diverge, and the study of spelling errors is one of the principal tools that have allowed linguists to reconstruct Greek pronunciation and its evolution over time. Transliteration of Greek words into other alphabets, principally Latin, and rendition of Latin (and Biblical Hebrew, to a much lesser degree) words into Greek has also given hints as to actual pronunciation at the time of the transliteration.

Ancient phonemes

Vowels

Articular positions in Classical Attic Greek (top) vs. Modern Greek (bottom)

Short vowels

The short e (ε in Greek orthography) is shown in the table as mid close vowel [e] but it may have been nearer to [ɛ].

	Front	Back
Close unrounded	i ι
Close rounded	y υ
Close-mid	e ε	o ο
Open	a α

Long Vowels

The [uː] (ου in Greek orthography) may still have been [oː] in the fifth century.

	Front	Back
Close unrounded	iː ι
Close rounded	yː υ	uː'ου
Close-mid	eː ει
Open-mid	ɛː η	ɔː ω
Open	aː α

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p=π b=β	t=τ d=δ	k=κ g=γ
Aspirated Plosive	pʰ   =φ	tʰ   =θ	kʰ   =χ
Nasal	m=μ	n=ν	ŋ=ν or γ
Trill		r ̥=ῥ r=ρ
Fricative		s=σ z=σ		h=Η or ʽ
Lateral approximant		l=λ

Note: [z] was an allophone of [s], used before voiced consonants, and in particular in the combination [zd] written as zeta ( ζ ). The [r ̥] (voiceless r) written as rho with a rough breathing ( ῥ ) was probably an allophone of [r].

Modern phonemes

Vowels

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

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

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid		o
Open-mid	ɛ
Open	a

Consonants

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p b			t d	c ɟ	k g
Nasal	m	ɱ		n	ɲ	ŋ
Trill				r
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ç ʝ	x ɣ
Affricate				ts dz
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant				l	ʎ

Historical sound changes

The main phonetic changes between Classic and post-Classic (Hellenistic) Greek are a simplification in the vowel system and a change of some consonants to fricative values. Ancient Greek had five short vowels, seven long vowels, and numerous diphthongs. This has been reduced to a simple five-vowel system. Most noticeably, the vowels i, ē, y, ei, oi (ι, η, υ, ει, οι) have all become i. The consonants b, d, g (β, δ, γ) became v, dh, gh (dh is /ð/ and gh is /ɣ/). The aspirated consonants pʰ, tʰ, kʰ (φ, θ, χ) became f, th, kh (where the new pronunciation of th is /θ/ and the new pronunciation of kh is /x/). There is scant evidence however that the Dorian pronunciation of θ might have always been /th/.

Further Reading

See W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca – a guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1974. ISBN 0-521-20626-X.