Attic Greek Pronunciation Improper Dipthongs

Ancient greek lesson 5 how to pronounce ancient greek diphthongs.

Attic greek pronunciation improper dipthongs.

In this post there are examples on the pronunciation of the diphthongs ει οι and αι. A dipthong is a combination of two vowel sounds in a single syllable. There are proper and improper diphthongs. In classical attic this was a single sound monophthong written with two letters digraph in some words this long vowel derived from a true diphthong always spelled ου in the old attic alphabet genuine diphthong.

Pronunciation was shifting during this period and shifted further over the following. In some other words this vowel resulted from the process of contraction as in the genitive ending ους from εος or compensatory lengthening as in the. A diphthong is a combination of two vowels that make one syllable. Their second vowel is called iota subscript.

Greek has seven vowels. This iota has no effect on the pronunciation but is essential for translation so pay close attention to it. An iota subscript is a small iota written under the vowels α η or wω ᾳ ῃ ῳ and normally is the last letter in a word. An improper diphthong is made up of a vowel and an iota subscript.

An iota subscript is a small iota written under the vowels α η or ω ᾳ ῃ ῳ and normally is the last letter in a word. Comments are turned off. Show more show less. α ε η ι ο υ and ω.

αι as in aisle. The dipthongs are αι αυ ει ευ οι ου ηυ υι ᾳ ῃ ῳ. The last three formed by writing ι under ᾱ η ω are called improper diphthongs. Vowels ε and o are always short η and ω are always long and α ι υ may be either short or long.

Ancient greek phonology is the reconstructed phonology or pronunciation of ancient greek this article mostly deals with the pronunciation of the standard attic dialect of the fifth century bc used by plato and other classical greek writers and touches on other dialects spoken at the same time or earlier. The pronunciation of ancient greek is not known from direct observation but determined. The diphthongs are pronounced. This iota has no effect on the pronunciation but is essential for translation so pay close attention to it.

The information presented here is essentially the same as the core information in unit 1 of introduction to attic greek but broken into smaller chunks and provided with audio examples the aim is to discuss the pronunciation of attic greek in the 5th and 4th centuries b c e.