 | Greek language: Encyclopedia II - Greek language - Phonology
Greek language - Phonology
This section generally describes the post-Classic phonology of the Greek language.
All phonetic transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet
Greek language - Vowel sounds
Greek has 5 vowel sounds, all phonemic:
Close vowels, when found in unstressed final syllables, tend to be voiceless, particularly if they are between voiceless consonants [e.g.: φάσης /ˈfasis/ → /ˈfasi̥s/ (→ /fasː/) = "of phase" (genitive case)].
Greek language - Consonants
Greek has a repertoire of 29 consonant sounds. The number of phonemes depends on the analysis, but may be as few as 15, assuming for example that the sound [b] is represented in the underlying form as /mp/, which is also its standard orthographic representation. (cf. Newton)
Greek /p/, /t/ and /k/ are not aspirated as they are in English. They tend to be voiced to /b/, /d/ and /g/ in Cretan and Cypriot dialects. The letter <ρ> is generally pronounced /r/, but tends to be pronounced /ɾ/ in intervocalic position.
Standard Modern Greek does not have double consonants within words, although some dialects (notably Cypriot) do.
Greek language - Sandhi rules
Greek has certain sandhi rules, some represented in the orthography, some not.
/n/ before bilabials and velars becomes /m/ and /ŋ/ respectively, and is written <μ> (συμπάθεια, "sympathy") and <γ> (συγκρητισμός, "syncretism"). Before the labiodental fricatives <φ> and <β>, it is also written <μ>, but pronounced /ɱ/ (συμφωνία, "symphony").
The combination <μπ> is pronounced /mb/ after vowels (but often reduced to /b/), else /b/. In some words, especially in Northern dialects, could also be pronounced /mp/.
The combinations <γγ> and <γκ> are pronounced /ŋg/ or /ŋɟ/ after vowels, else /g/ or /ɟ/. An exception to this rule is the word <συγγνώμη> (freely translated "I'm sorry") in which /n/ is phonetically dropped and the word is pronounced /siˈŋgnomi/ (this is actually an older form of the word, the current orthography is <συγνώμη>, pronounced /siˈγnomi/, in which /n/ is dropped both phonetically and literally).
The combination <ντ> is pronounced /nd/ after vowels (but often reduced to /d/), else /d/. In some words, especially in Northern dialects, could also be pronounced /nt/.
The sounds /k/ and /g/, before the front vowels /e̞/ and /i/, are palatalized, becoming /c/ and /ɟ/. In some dialects, notably in Crete, they become [ʨ] and [ʥ].
The word ἐστὶ (estí, IPA /e̞sˈti/), which means "is" in Ancient Greek (q.v. Modern Greek είναι), gains a "euphonic" n. in Modern Greek, the negative adverb δεν and the accusative articles τον and την lose the final /n/, depending on the beginning letter of the next word (if it's a consonant, /n/ is usually dropped). In the phrase δεν πειράζει, which means "it doesn't matter", instead of being dropped, n is assimilated into the second word and, following the example above, np is pronounced /mp/ in Northern Greece and /mb/ in Southern Greece, thus producing the sound /ðempirázi/ or /ðembirázi/.
Some of these rules are optional, and reflect the formality of speech. 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.
Greek language - Orthography
The Greek vowel letters with their pronunciation are: <α> /a/, <ε> /e̞/, <η> /i/, <ι> /i/, <ο> /o̞/, <υ> /i/, <ω> /o̞/. There are also vowel digraphs, called "double-digit vowels" which are phonetically monophthongal: <αι> /e̞/, <ει> /i/, <οι> /i/, <ου> /u/, <υι> /i/. The three digraphs <αυ>, <ευ> and <ηυ> are pronounced /av/, /e̞v/ and /iv/ except when followed by unvoiced consonants, in which case they are pronounced /af/, /e̞f/ and /if/.
Modern Greek has also four diphthongs: <αη> (or <άη>) /aj/, <αϊ> (or <άι>) /aj/, <οη> (or <όη>) /o̞j/ and <οϊ> (or <όι>) /o̞j/ (diphthongs can better be transcribed using the IPA non-syllabic diacritic under /i/ instead of the approximant /j/).
The Greek letters <β> and <δ> are pronounced /v/ and /ð/ respectively. The letter <γ> is generally pronounced /ɣ/, but before the mid or close front vowels, it is pronounced /ʝ/.
The letters <θ>, <φ> and <χ> are pronounced /θ/, /f/ and /x/. The letter <χ>, before mid or close front vowels, is pronounced /ç/. The letter <ξ> stands for /k͡s/ and <ψ> stands for /p͡s/ (the tie bar is used to indicate that, in Modern Greek, <ξ> and <ψ> should be considered sibilant affricates). The digraphs <γγ> and <γκ> are generally pronounced /g/, but are pronounced /ɟ/ before mid or close front vowels. When these digraphs are preceded by a vowel, they are pronounced /ŋg/ (/ŋɟ/ before mid or close front vowels). The digraph <γγ> may be pronounced /ŋɣ/ in some words (/ŋʝ/) before mid or close front vowels). It is better to use a tie bar above /ŋg/, /ŋɟ/, /ŋɣ/ and /ŋʝ/, when used for Greek words, to indicate the simultaneous articulation.
Greek language - Historical sound changes
See: History of the Greek language, Ancient Greek pronunciation
Other related archives1500 BC, 15th century, 16th century BC, 19th, 20 official languages, 20th, 2nd millennium BC, Albania, Alexander the Great, Ancient Greek, Ancient Greek pronunciation, Ancient Macedonian language, Apostles, Archaic, Arial Unicode MS, Armenia, Armenian, Athens, Attic, Australia, Austria, Balkan, Balkan linguistic union, Belgium, Bulgaria, Byzantine, Byzantine Empire, Canada, Christianity, Classical, Classical Greek, Code2000, Code2001, Codex Alexandrinus, Cypriot, Cyprus, Denmark, Dhimotikí, Egypt, English words of Greek origin, Europe, European Union, Fall of Constantinople, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, French, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Greek alphabet, Greek dialects, Greek history, Greek literature, Hellenistic, Hellenistic Greek, History of the Greek language, IPA, Iliad, India, Indo-European, Indo-European language, International Phonetic Alphabet, Ionic, Italy, Katharévousa, Koine, Koine Greek, Latin, Linear B, List of Greek words with English derivatives, Lord's Prayer, Lucida Sans Unicode, Luke, Matt., Medieval Greek, Melbourne, Middle Ages, Modern Greek, Monotonic orthography, Mycenean Greek, Mycenean civilisation, Netherlands, New Testament, Nicene Creed, Phoenician alphabet, Phrygian, Polytonic orthography, Proto-Greek language, Republic of Macedonia, Roman, Roman Empire, Rome, Septuagint, Southern Italy, Sweden, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Thessaloniki, Turkey, Turkish, UTF-8, Ukraine, Unicode, United Kingdom, United States, Verbs, abjad, accusative, active, alphabet, aorist, aspect, aspirated, augmentation, c, cases, dative, dialect, dual, e̞, feminine, first, font, free software Unicode fonts, future, genders, genitive, genitive case, imperative, imperfect, indicative, infinitive, language family, masculine, middle, modal particle, moods, neuter, nominative, nouns, numbers, official language, optative, optative mood, passive, perfect, persons, pluperfect, plural, polytonic, present, public domain, reduplication, sandhi, second, singular, subjunctive, synthetic language, third, velars, vocative, voices, web browsers, word elements, ŋ, ɟ, ɱ, ʥ, ʨ, Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ ς (word-final form), Τ τ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Phonology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
