Greek language
The Greek language (Ελληνικά)an Indo-European language, bornGreeceonce spoken also alongcoastAsia Minor. In classical times there werevarietyspoken dialects, most notably Ionic, Doric,Attic.
Modern Greek isliving tongue,some scholars have overly stressed similaritymillennia-old Greek languages. Its interintelligibilityancient Greek ismatterdebate. Itclaimed that"reasonably well educated" speaker ofmodern tongue can readancient language, but itnot made plain how muchthat education consistsexposurevocabularygrammar obsoletenormal communication. From 18341976 there was an attemptimpose Katharevousa ("purified" language--an attempt"correct" centuriesnatural linguistic changes) asonly acceptable formGreekGreece. After 1976, Demotiki (speech ofpeople) was finally accepted byGreek government as bothde factode jure forms oflanguage. A large numberwordsexpressions have remained unchanged throughcenturies,have found their way intonumberother languages, including Latin, German, French,English.
Theremany theories aboutorigins ofGreek language. One theory suggests thatoriginated withmigrationproto-Greek speakers into Greece, whichdatedany period between 3200 BC1900 BC Another theory maintains that Greek evolvedGreece itself outan early Indo-European language.
The first known scriptwriting Greek wasLinear B syllabary, used forarchaic Mycenaean dialect. Linear B was not deciphered until 1953. Afterfall ofMycenaean civilization, there wasperiodabout five hundred years when writing was either not used, or nothing has survived topresent day. Since early classical times, Greek has been written inGreek alphabet, saidbe derived from Phoenician. This happened abouttimeHomer,thereone obscure, fleeting referenceHomer's poetry suggesting that he might have been awarewriting.
Attic Greek waslanguageAthens; most ofsurviving classical Greek literaturein Attic Greek. AlexanderGreat was instrumentalcombining these dialectsform Koine Greek (fromGreek word"common") (sometimes called New Testament Greek after its most famous workliterature). This allowed his combined armycommunicatewas also taught toinhabitantsthe regions that he conquered, turninginto"world language". The language evolved duringHellenistic period, andmany centuries was"Lingua Franca" ofRoman Empire. From this descendedGreek that wasofficial language ofEastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire)finallymodern Greektoday. Modern Greek hasmore conservative form called Katharevousa, which includes numerous Ancient Greek words pronounced inmodern way, andspoken form Dhimotiki, which since 1976 isofficial languageGreece, insteadKatharevousa.
Greek, like many other Indo-European languages,highly inflected --example, nouns have five cases, three genders,three numbers, verbs have three moods, three voices, as well as three personsthree numbersvarious other forms. Here isdefinite article declined:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masc. | Fem. | Neuter | Masc. | Fem. | Neuter | |
| Nominative (subject) | ho | hê | to | hoi | hai | ta |
| Genitive (possessive) | tou | tês | tou | tôn | tôn | tôn |
| Dative (indirect object+) | tô | tê | tô | tois | tais | tois |
| Accusative (direct object) | ton | tên | to | tous | tas | ta |
| Vocative (address sb) | ô | ô | ô | ô | ô | ô |
Modern Greek has lostdative (except infew expressions like en taxei OK),some ofother forms have changed phonetically. Infollowing tableleft-hand side usesphonetic form suitableModern Greek only, whileright-hand side issamewritten intranscriptionAncient Greek,easier comparison withtable above:
| Modern | | | Ancient | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | | | SINGULAR | PLURAL | |||||||||
| M | F | N | M | F | N | | | M | F | N | M | F | N | |
| Nominative | o | i | to | i | i | ta | | | o | ê | to | oi | oi | ta |
| Genitive | tu | tis | tu | ton | ton | ton | | | tou | tês | tou | tôn | tôn | tôn |
| Accusative | to(n) | ti(n) | to | tus | tis | ta | | | to(n) | tê(n) | to | tous | tis | ta |
The main phonetic changes between AncientModern Greek aresimplification invowel system andchangesome consonantsfricative values. Ancient Greek had five short vowels, sevenvowels,numerous diphthongs. This has been reduced tosimple five-vowel system. Most noticeably,sounds i, ê, y, ei, oi have all become i.
The consonants b, d, g became v, dh, gh (dh asEnglish this). The aspirated consonants ph, th, kh became f, th, h - wherenew pronunciationth/T/ asEnglish thin.
Greek has sandhi rules, some written, some not. ν before bilabialsvelarspronounced "m""ng" respectively,is written μ (συμπαθεια)γ (συγχρονιζω) when this happens withinword. The word εστι "is"Ancient Greek gains ν, andaccusative articles τοντηνModern Greek lose it, depending onstart ofnext word; thiscalled "movable nu". In τον πατερα "the father"first wordpronounced "tom",in Modern Greek (but not Ancient Greek, which had an independent "b" sound)second wordpronounced "batera" because "mp" -> "mb".
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See also
External Links
- The Perseus Project has many useful pages forstudyclassical languagesliteratures, including dictionaries.
- Free online resourceslearners (both AncientModern Greek)
- SPIonic, public domain greek font.
- Learn Greek Online, if you'd likelearnbeauty ofmodern greek (with real audio files, totally free)
- Learn Ancient Greek at Textkit. There you can find free downloadable Ancient Greek grammarsreaders.
