Learn greek (3 of 7) - Greek phonology, part I.pdf - język grecki - Mistra

3 Greek Phonology

3.0 Introduction

This lesson lays the foundation for the phonetic pronunciation of Greek words.

Phonics is the study between letters and their speech sounds. It may also be

thought as the letter-to-sound relationships in a language. It is a very helpful

method of learning to pronounce the correct sound with the letter or letter

combinations they represent. Phonics is to the letter-to-sound relationship in

words as a written musical note is to its corresponding instrumental sound.

Learning Greek phonetics will train you to “hear” the language, so that both the

visualization and spelling of Greek will be intuitive. This approach to Greek

phonics will not be entirely inductive or deductive, but a combination of both.

This lesson focuses on the elementary pronunciation of all Greek consonants,

vowels and diphthongs. Throughout the lesson, these letters are blended into

sounds to form single and multi-syllable Greek words.

A systematic training in Greek phonics will prepare you to read competently the

Greek New Testament. An accurate knowledge of the phonetic value of each

Greek letter is important to understand morphological changes in words in later

lessons. Whereas these introductory lessons will not make you a linguist, they

will give you the necessary skills to understand Greek phonics.

Unlike English, the pronunciation system you will learn for Greek is largely

phonemic. This means that each letter or combinations of letters are

represented by only one letter or combination of letters. Generally speaking, if

you can pronounce a Greek word correctly, you can spell it correctly. However,

this is not fool proof, for there are exceptions, and these will have to be learned.

The phonetic method alone does not work miracles. Learning to read Greek

involves more than phonics. Study and practice is required before reading Greek

comfortably. However, you have already begun to learn Greek phonics by

mastering the individual twenty-four Greek alphabetical sounds. Now you will

build on this knowledge and listen for the likenesses and differences in the

phonetic pronunciation of these alphabetical sounds when blended together,

beginning with single syllable words and progressing to multi-syllable words.

InTheBeginning.org

Sight and Sounds of Words (Part 1)

Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs

LESSON 3: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 38

3.1 Ten Equivalent Consonants and Two Vowels listen

Lesson Two began with ten Greek letters that, by form, are similar in appearance

with ten English letters (2.1). These letters included both vowels and

consonants. These letters were:

English letters:

a b d e i k o s t u

Greek letters: a b d e i k o j t u

The letters above were grouped because of their similarity in form to those in

English. In this lesson, we begin with ten Greek consonants phonetically

equivalent to ten English consonants, but not necessarily similar in form.

Although overlap exists between these two groups, they are not to be confused.

The ten Greek consonants below share phonetic correspondence with ten

English consonants. However, six of the ten Greek consonants underlined below

have a different form than English, although they have the same phonetic sound

( i.e. , g, l, m, n, p and s/j).

Ten Greek consonants equivalent in sound to ten English consonants:

Greek letters: b g d k l m n p s / j t

English letters:

b g d k l m n p s t

We begin learning Greek phonics with these ten consonants. These Greek

consonants are the easiest to learn because of their exact phonetic correlation

with the corresponding English consonants. Very little practice is required to

learn these Greek consonants competently. The remaining seven of the

seventeen Greek consonants will receive special attention later.

When pronouncing a combination of letters constituting a syllable in Greek, the

phonetic value of each letter is clearly articulated. This is true for all Greek

letters, whether consonants or vowels. Every consonant-vowel and vowel-

consonant combination is phonetically pronounced in a blending manner, just as

in English when syllables and words are pronounced. However, unlike in

English, there are not any silent letters in the Greek language ( i.e. , the “k” in

“ kn ot”, or the “d” in “We d nesday”). Therefore, generally speaking, if you can

LESSON 3: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 39

phonetically pronounce a Greek word, you can spell it correctly. This will prove a

great asset in subsequent lessons as new Greek vocabulary words are learned.

Every Greek letter’s phonetic value is derived from the opening sound of its

alphabetical name. On page 10 (1.4) in the fifth column, the Greek phonetic

value of the letter is listed corresponding to its alphabetical character in the first.

It is easier if these ten consonants are practiced within syllables. Just as in

English, a Greek syllable always contains a vowel sound. Therefore, vowels will

also be needed. Two Greek vowels that are always pronounced short will be

used. These vowels are E e (e2 yilo/n) and O o (o2 mikro/n). These two vowels are

chosen because in Greek they are always pronounced like their English short

counterparts ( i.e. , the “e” in “net”, and never like and the “e” as in “equal” or in

“term”; “o” in “cot”, and never like the “o” as in “open” or “order”).

All the following examples are single syllables. For learning purposes, familiar

English words accompany the Greek syllable that have the same sound. This

makes it easier to check pronunciation of new Greek consonants and vowels as

they are learned.

The Ten Consonants with the Short Vowel E e ( e2 yilo/n )

listen

(beg) (set) (leg) (men) (Kent) (dell) (den) (kelp)

listen kemp, step, stepj, desk, pet, pep, bet

(kemp) (step) (steps) (desk) (pet) (pep) (bet)

listen kept, spek, ten, tent, bent, end, pen

(kept) (speck) (ten) (tent) (bent) (end) (pen)

listen sent, dent, let, tel, melt, meld, send

(sent) (dent) (let) (tell) (melt) (meld) (send)

listen pelt, get, kemp, Ben, bel, belt, mend

(pelt) (get) (kemp) (Ben) (bell) (belt) (mend)

beg, set, leg, men, Kent, del, den, kelp

LESSON 3: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 40

The Ten Consonants with the Short Vowel O o ( o2 mikro/n )

listen dog, lob, pop, sod, dot, pond, Bob

(dog) (lob) (pop) (sod) (dot) (pond) (Bob)

listen pot, top, not, lot, sop, Tod, od

(pot) (top) (not) (lot) (sop) (Todd) (odd)

listen stop, God, blob, topj, mob, log

(stop) (God) (blob) (tops) (mob) (log)

listen lop, lost, ton, mog, on, mop

(lop) (lost) (ton) (mog) (on) (mop)

listen mom, opt, pod, pomp, Sol, stob

(mom) (opt) (pod) (pomp) (Sol) (stob)

3.2 The Seven Greek Vowels

There are two major categories of speech sounds in language. The open sounds

with free breath are called vowels. The closed sounds are called consonants.

When a person says “ah” for the doctor, an open sound is made with free

passage of breath. This sound is a vowel, as are all the other open and freely

breathed sounds in speech. The open quality of vowels distinguishes them from

consonants. Consonants are made with the breath totally or partly checked.

This hindering of sound is done by the tongue, teeth, or lips. This is true of the

ten consonants that you have already learned to pronounce (3.1).

Our attention turns to the open sounds, the vowels. Greek has seven letters that

are vowels. The vowel sounds in Greek are represented by the letters below. In

their alphabetical order, they are:

listen A a, E e, H h, I i, O o, U u, W w

LESSON 3: Greek Phonology: Consonants, Vowels and Diphthongs Page 41

Two of these seven vowels are always pronounced long, two always short, and

three may be either long or short. These vowels can be charted as below:

listen Always long: H h, W w

listen Always short: E e, O o

listen May be long or short: A a, I i, U u

In a different manner, these Greek vowels may be charted horizontally to indicate

their relation to one another:

listen Short: E e O o A a I i U u

listen Long: H h W w A a I i U u

Observe from above that H h is the long from of E e, and W w is the long form

of O o. There are not any distinct Greek letters to differentiate between the

variable short and long forms of A a, I i, and U u . Whereas there is a distinct

phonetic sound associated between the long and short sounds of A a and I i ,

there is not a difference in the pronunciation between the long and short of U u .

In a different manner, these same seven vowels may be also charted vertically:

Always Short: Always Long: Variable (short or long):

E e H h A a A a

O o W w I i I i

U u U u

3.2.1 Open and Close Vowels listen

The seven Greek vowels are classified as “open” or “close”, depending on

whether the mouth is relatively open or the lips close together when making the

sound of the vowel. The open vowels are A a, E e, O o, H h and W w because

whether long or short they are sounded with the mouth open. The close vowels

are I i and U u because they are sounded with the mouth almost closed. The

tongue and lips assume different positions in the case of each.

Learn greek (3 of 7) - Greek phonology, part I.pdf

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