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5 Greek Phonology

5.0 Introduction

Lesson Five concludes an introductory three-part study of Greek phonology.

Lesson Three presented a bird’s-eye view of Greek vowels and consonants.

Lesson Four concentrated on the organization of the Greek consonants and their

phonetic relationship to one another. Finally, this lesson focuses on the vowel

sounds, including the diphthongs and their phonetic relationship with words

beginning with other vowel sounds, and several editorial diacritical phonetic

markings associated with vowels and diphthongs.

Whereas Greek consonants are the most stable phonetic sounds among the

letters, pronunciation of the Greek vowels proposes a formable challenge to any

NTGreek student. For the beginning Greek student, however, learning a few

diacritical phonetic markings will aid in pronouncing consistently the vowel

sounds and syllables in words. These diacritical markings primarily include

breathing marks (smooth and rough), accent marks (acute, grave, and

circumflex) and the punctuation marks (comma, colon, period and interrogative).

It must be pointed out from the outset that these diacritical markings are editorial.

By editorial, it is meant that the earliest manuscripts of NTGreek did not contain

any of the breathing, accentual or punctuation markings. They were added later

than NTGreek times by copyists of the Greek manuscripts to assist in the

phonetic pronunciation of Greek by those to whom the language was foreign.

Therefore, these markings are not part of the inspired text. This should not

insinuate, however, they are arbitrary or of little benefit, and therefore should be

ignored. For the beginning Greek student these editorial diacritical markings

distinguish between words that would otherwise appear the same (fo/bou - “of

fear”, fobou= - “Fear!”; o( - “the”, o3 - “which”; h3n - “which”, h]n - “was”).

Many Greek instructors choose to teach NTGreek without utilizing any of the

before mentioned editorial diacritical markings. Nevertheless, they are excellent

phonological tools for the nonnative speaker when it is remember why ancient

copyists employed them in the first place. Therefore, this grammar will follow the

copyists’ pedagogical approach and make the most of the diacritical markings to

aid in the pronunciation of NTGreek vowels and diphthongs where applicable.

InTheBeginning.org

Sight and Sounds of Words (Part 3)

Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs

LESSON 5: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 76

5.1 The Greek Breathing Marks

A very important diacritical phonological marking is the breathing. There are two

breathing marks, the smooth breathing ( 0 ) and the rough breathing ( ().

These complementary breathing marks modulate or regulate the aspiration of

every initial vowel and diphthong. A smooth breathing specifies that there is no

aspiration; a rough breathing indicates aspiration. When aspiration occurs (as in

only the rough breathing mark), it is pronounced as the aspirated “h” in English.

There is not a Greek letter to represent the phonological aspirated “h”

sound (as in English; “heat”, “helix”, “hinge”, etc.). It is believed that the

bisection of the Greek capital letter, H ( ├ ┤ ), became to represent the two

breathing marks ( ├ = rough and ┤ = smooth; ca. VII A.D.) after the letter

had lost its original aspiration long before the NTGreek Era. These

diacritical marks later evolved to └ and ┘ (ca. XI A.D.) to the modern

breathing marks, 9 (rough breathing) and 0 (smooth breathing).

Because the breathing marks are phonologically important to every initial vowel

and diphthong, it would be wise to learn and use these markings until you know

Greek vocabulary very well. Under no circumstances should breathing marks be

omitted when practicing writing Greek words in the exercises.

5.1.1 The Smooth Breathing Mark. If the breathing mark over the vowel or

diphthong is curled to the left like a closing single quotation, 0 , then it is the

smooth breathing mark, indicating that the initial vowel or diphthong is not

aspirated. The smooth breathing never effects the aspiration of an initial vowel

or diphthong. The following examples are the names of the Greek vowels.

listen a)lfa, e0yilon, h0ta, i0wta, o0mikron, u0yilon, w)mega

When a word begins with a vowel which is also a capital letter, the smooth

breathing cannot go above it because of the letter’s size; therefore, it is placed

before the letter.

listen 0Alfa, 0Eyilon, 0Hta, 0Iwta, 0Omikron, 0Uyilon, 0Wmega

When a word begins with an initial diphthong, the smooth breathing mark always

appears over the second vowel whether or not the initial vowel is capitalized.

listen au0toj, Au0tou, oi0kei, Oi0koj, ai0wn, Ai0wnia

LESSON 5: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 77

5.1.2 The Rough Breathing Mark. If the breathing mark over the vowel or

diphthong is curled to the right like an opening single quotation, 9, then it is the

rough breathing mark, indicating that the initial vowel or diphthong is aspirated.

The rough breathing always effects the aspiration of an initial vowel or diphthong.

listen o9, oi9, ai9, e9c, o9dov, r(w, a(gioj

(ho) (hoi) (hai) (hexs) (hodos) (rho) (hagios)

When a vowel begins a word which is also a capital letter, the rough breathing

cannot go above it because of the letter’s size; it is placed before the letter.

listen 9O, 9H, 9Ec, 9Odoj, 9Oj, 9Wra|, (Eteroj

When a word begins with an initial diphthong, the rough breathing mark always

appears over the second vowel whether or not the initial vowel is capitalized.

listen au9th, Au9th, ou9tov, Ou9tov, eu9riskw, Eu9riskw

5.1.3 Special Considerations. There is also a consonant associated with a

breathing mark. When rho (R r) begins a word, it always carries the rough

breathing mark. However, it is pronounced as "rh" instead of “hr”. Paragraph

4.3.5 (page 70) introduced the semi-consonant rho (R r). At the beginning of a

word, rho acquires characteristics of a vowel. This is the reason its alphabetical

name is spelled with an aspirated “r” ( r h o ). A number of English words that have

been brought over from Greek begin with “rh”, instead of “r” (“rhapsody”, “rhino”,

“rheostat”, “rhetoric”, “rhubarb”, “rhythm”, etc.). As in the case of initial vowels,

the rough breathing occurs before a capitalized letter.

listen r9apizw, 9Rebekka, r9hgma, 9Riza, r9iptw

When upsilon (U u) or the diphthong upsilon + iota (Ui/ui) begins a word, it

always has a rough breathing mark. There is never an exception!

listen u9per, (Ualov, u9brizw, u9po, ui9oj, Ui9oqesia

The alphabetical name of U u ( upsilon ) is technically not a contradiction

to the above principle. Whereas U u is spelled as upsilon (not as

“ hupsilon ”) in English, the actual Greek spelling of the letter’s name is

u0 yilon with a space between “u0” and “yilon”.

LESSON 5: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 78

5.2 Syllabification

Syllabification is the division of words into their individual syllables. In order to

pronounce Greek words phonetically and consistently correct, one must first be

able to divide words into their individual syllables. Many Greek words have only

one syllable. However, most words have more than one syllable, and therefore,

guidelines of syllable division are needed to manage their division. Hyphens are

used in the examples below to indicate a word’s correct syllable division.

5.2.1 Principles of syllabification. The following general principles of

syllabification are an attempt to describe the phonetic and linguistic process. An

apparent exception to these principles may appear time to time, indicating only

that there is another principle involved to be perceived and understood. The

following eight principles of syllabification are in their order of importance.

1. Every word has as many syllables as it has separate vowels and/or

diphthongs. Thus, every syllable must have one (and only one) vowel or

diphthong.

The following words have only one syllable.

listen e0n, oi9, de, h9n, ei0j, e0k, kai, su, gar

The above examples exemplify that a syllable may begin with a consonant,

a vowel, or diphthong. A syllable may end with a consonant, a vowel, or

diphthong. In fact, a syllable may not have any consonant at all. The

combined quantity of vowels or diphthongs determines the number of

syllables in a word. Therefore, the vowel or diphthong stands at the focal

point of every Greek syllable. Study the following examples.

The following words have two syllables.

listen sw|zw, e0ti, qhta, ou0te, e0kei, sigma

The following words have three syllables.

listen merizw, Maria, lalew, i0wta

The following words have four or more syllables.

listen fobeomai, a)khkoamen, e9wrakamen

LESSON 5: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 79

2. Two consecutive vowels which do not form a diphthong are divided.

e0qeasameqa e0-qe-a-sa-me-qa

a)khkoamen a)-kh-ko-a-men

e9wrakamen e9-w-ra-ka-men

kenow ke-no-w

qee qe-e

dia di-a

eu0wdia eu0-w-di-a

Spania Spa-ni-a

i9eron i9-e-ron

luomen lu-o-men

3. A single consonant surrounded by vowels normally begins a new syllable.

Another way of stating this principle, a single consonant is pronounced

with the following vowel or diphthong.

maqhthj ma-qh-thj

lumainw lu-mai-nw

qelete qe-le-te

logoj lo-goj

palai pa-lai

h0geto h0-ge-to

e0geneto e0-ge-ne-to

e0pexw e0-pe-xw

leipomeqa lei-po-me-qa

a)gorazw a)-go-ra-zw

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