Modern Greek phonology

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article deals with the

Standard Modern Greek. For phonological characteristics of other varieties, see varieties of Modern Greek, and for Cypriot, specifically, see Cypriot Greek § Phonology
.

Consonants

Greek

affricates, [t͡s] and [d͡z
], to be allophonic.

Consonant phonemes
Labial Dental Alveolar Velar
Nasal /
μ
 /
ν
Plosive
 voiceless /p/ π /
τ
 /
κ
voiced /
μπ
 /
τ
 /
κ
Fricative
 voiceless /
φ
 /
θ
 /
ς
 /
χ
voiced /
β
 /
δ
 /
ζ
 /
γ
Tap
 /
ρ
Lateral /
λ
Examples for consonant phonemes[1]
πήρα /ˈpira/ 'I took'
μπύρα /ˈbira/ 'beer'
φάση /ˈfasi/ 'phase'
βάση /ˈvasi/ 'base'
μόνος /ˈmonos/ 'alone'
νόμος /ˈnomos/ 'law'
τείνω /ˈtino/ 'I tend'
ντύνω /ˈdino/ 'I dress'
θέμα /ˈθema/ 'topic'
δέμα /ˈðema/ 'parcel'
σώα /ˈsoa/ 'safe' (fem.)
ζώα /ˈzoa/ 'animals'
ρήμα /ˈrima/ 'verb'
λίμα /ˈlima/ 'nail file'
κόμμα /ˈkoma/ 'comma'
χώμα /ˈxoma/ 'soil'
γόμα /ˈɣoma/ 'eraser'
γκάμα /ˈɡama/ 'range'

The alveolar nasal /n/ is

alveolo-palatal (e.g. συγχύζω [siɲˈçizo] 'to annoy'), or velar (e.g. άγχος [ˈaŋхos] 'stress').[2]

Voiceless stops are

θ̠ ~ θ] in rapid speech, and very rarely, in function words, it is deleted.[5] /p/ and /k/ are reduced to lesser degrees in rapid speech.[5]

Voiced stops are

prenasalised (which is reflected in the orthography) to varying extents, and sometimes not at all.[6] The nasal component—when present—does not increase the duration of the stop's closure; as such, prenasalised voiced stops would be most accurately transcribed [ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ] or [m͡b, n͡d, ŋ͡ɡ], depending on the length of the nasal component.[6] Word-initially and after /r/ or /l/, they are very rarely, if ever, prenasalised.[1][4] In rapid and casual speech, prenasalisation is generally rarer, and voiced stops may be lenited to fricatives.[4]
That also accounts for Greeks having trouble disambiguating voiced stops, nasalised voiced stops, and nasalised voiceless stops in borrowings and names from foreign languages such as, d, nd, and nt, which are all written ντ in Greek.

/s/ and /z/ are somewhat

postalveolars /ʃ, ʒ/. /s/ is variably fronted or further retracted depending on environment, and, in some cases, it may be better described as an advanced postalveolar ([ʃ˖]).[7]

The only Greek rhotic /r/ is prototypically an alveolar tap [

r] in clusters, with two or three short cycles.[8]

Greek has palatals [

alveolo-palatal.[11]

Finally, Greek has two phonetically affricate clusters, [t͡s] and [d͡z].[12] Arvaniti (2007) is reluctant to treat these as phonemes on the grounds of inconclusive research into their phonological behaviour.[13]

The table below, adapted from Arvaniti (2007, p. 25), displays a near-full array of consonant phones in Standard Modern Greek.

Consonant phones
Bilabial Labio-
dental 		Dental Alveolar Retracted
alveolar
Post-
alveolar
 Alveolo-
palatal 		Retracted
palatal 		Velar
Nasal
 m ɱ
n̪
n
n̠
ɲ̟
 		ŋ
Stop
 p b
t
d
c̠
ɟ˗
 		k ɡ
Affricate
 t͡s d͡z
Fricative
 f v θ ð
s̠
z̠
ç˗
ʝ˗
 		x ɣ
Approximant
ɹ̠
Flap or tap
ɾ̠
Trill
r̠
Lateral
l
 		ʎ

Sandhi

Some

assimilatory processes mentioned above also occur across word boundaries. In particular, this goes for a number of grammatical words ending in /n/, most notably the negation particles δεν and μην and the accusative forms of the personal pronoun and definite article τον and την. If these words are followed by a voiceless stop, /n/ either assimilates for place of articulation to the stop, or is altogether deleted, and the stop - in both circumstances - becomes voiced. This results in pronunciations such as τον πατέρα [to(m)baˈtera] ('the father' ACC) or δεν πειράζει [ðe(m)biˈrazi] ('it doesn't matter'), instead of *[ton paˈtera] and *[ðen piˈrazi]. The precise extent of assimilation may vary according to dialect, speed and formality of speech.[14] This may be compared with pervasive sandhi phenomena in Celtic languages, particularly nasalisation in Irish and in certain dialects of Scottish Gaelic
.

Vowels

vowel chart. Adapted from Arvaniti (2007
, p. 28).

Greek has a system of five vowels /i, u, e, o, a/. The first two have qualities approaching their respective cardinal vowels [i, u], the mid vowels /e, o/ are true-mid [e̞, o̞] and the open /a/ is near-open central [ɐ].[15]

There is no phonemic length distinction, but vowels in stressed syllables are pronounced somewhat longer [iˑ, uˑ, eˑ, oˑ, aˑ] than in unstressed syllables. Furthermore, vowels in stressed syllables are more peripheral, but the difference is not large. In casual speech, unstressed /i/ and /u/ in the vicinity of voiceless consonants may become devoiced or even elided.[16]

Examples for vowel phonemes[17]
πας /pas/ 'you go' subj.
πες /pes/ 'say' imper.
πεις /pis/ 'you say' subj.
πως /pos/ 'that' conj.
πού /pu/ 'where'

The phonetic values of ⟨αυ⟩, ⟨ευ⟩ and ⟨ηυ⟩ are /av/, /ev/ and /iv/ when they appear before a voiced consonant or a vowel and /af/, /ef/ and /if/ otherwise (before voiceless consonants).[18]

Stress

Unlike

Enclitics form a single phonological word together with the host word to which they attach, and count towards the three-syllable rule too. In these cases, primary stress shifts to the second-last syllable (e.g. αυτοκίνητό μου [aftoˌciniˈto mu] 'my car'). Phonetically, stressed syllables are longer, or carry higher amplitude, or both.[19]

The position of the stress can vary between different inflectional forms of the same word within its inflectional paradigm. In some paradigms, the stress is always on the third-last syllable, shifting its position in those forms that have longer affixes (e.g. κάλεσα 'I called' vs. καλέσαμε 'we called'; πρόβλημα 'problem' vs. προβλήματα 'problems'). In some word classes, stress position also preserves an older pattern inherited from

nominative singular, last syllable short), but ανθρώπων ('of men', genitive plural, last syllable long). However, in Modern Greek this rule is no longer automatic and does not apply to all words (e.g. καλόγερος 'monk', καλόγερων 'of monks'), as the phonological length distinction itself no longer exists.[20]

Sample

This sample text, the first sentence of Aesop's fable "The North Wind and the Sun" in Greek, and the accompanying transcription, are adapted from Arvaniti (1999, pp. 5–6).

Orthographic version

Ο βοριάς κι ο ήλιος μάλωναν για το ποιος απ’ τους δυο είναι ο δυνατότερος, όταν έτυχε να περάσει από μπροστά τους ένας ταξιδιώτης που φορούσε κάπα.

Further information: Greek orthography

Transcription

[o voˈɾʝas ˈco̯iʎoz ˈmalonan | ʝa to ˈpços aptuz ˈðʝo ˈineo̯ ðinaˈtoteɾos | ˈota ˈnetiçe napeˈɾasi apo broˈstatus | ˈenas taksiˈðʝotis pu̥ foˈɾuse ˈkapa]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Arvaniti 1999, p. 2.
  2. ^ Arvaniti 2007, pp. 14–15.
  3. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 7.
  4. ^ a b c Arvaniti 2007, p. 10.
  5. ^ a b Arvaniti 2007, p. 11.
  6. ^ a b Arvaniti 2007, p. 9.
  7. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 12.
  8. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 15.
  9. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 19.
  10. ^ Baltazani & Topinzi 2013, p. 23.
  11. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 19–20.
  12. ^ Arvaniti 2007, pp. 20, 23.
  13. ^ Arvaniti 2007, p. 24.
  14. ^ Joseph & Philippaki-Warburton 1987, p. 246.
  15. ^ Arvaniti 2007, pp. 25, 28.
  16. ^ Arvaniti 1999, pp. 3, 5.
  17. ^ Arvaniti 1999, p. 3.
  18. ^ Holton 2004, pp. 1–2.
  19. ^ Arvaniti 1999, p. 5.
  20. ^ Holton, Mackridge & Philippaki-Warburton 1998, pp. 25–27, 53–54.

References

  • Arvaniti, Amalia (1999). "Illustrations of the IPA: Modern Greek" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 29 (2): 167–172.
    S2CID 145606058. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2016-03-03.
  • Arvaniti, Amalia (2007). "Greek Phonetics: The State of the Art" (PDF). Journal of Greek Linguistics. 8: 97–208.
    doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2013-12-11.
  • Baltazani, Mary; Topinzi, Nina (2013). "Where the glide meets the palatals" (PDF). Selected Papers of the 20th International Symposium of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Versita. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03.
  • Holton, David (2004). Greek: an essential grammar of the modern language. Peter Mackridge, Irene Philippaki-Warburton. London: Routledge.
    OCLC 63791905
    .
  • Holton, David; Mackridge, Peter; Philippaki-Warburton, Irini (1998). Grammatiki tis ellinikis glossas. Athens: Pataki.
  • Joseph, Brian; Philippaki-Warburton, Irene (1987). Modern Greek. Beckenham: Croom Helm.
  • Zachariou, Philemon (2020-06-08). Reading and Pronouncing Biblical Greek: Historical Pronunciation versus Erasmian. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
    ISBN 978-1-7252-5448-0
    .

Further reading

External links
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