το άνευ κλίσι Ελληνικό: Orthography & Phonology

[The Alphabet] [Vowels] [Diphthongs] [Consonants] [Diacritics] [Punctuation]

The alphabet

ΤΑΚΕ uses the 24 letters (or 25 if one counts the grapheme Γ as two letters, gamma and agma) of the Ionian alphabet which Athens officially adopted in 403 BCE. Because of the prestigious position of Athens in the Greek speaking world, by the Hellenistic period this alphabet had become the Greek alphabet and has remained so until the present day. In WHATL, of course, it also became the common European alphabet (with certain local additions of symbols) and thence was adopted in many other parts of the word).

As no Roman alphabet developed in WHATL, there can be no official system of Romanization. Indeed, as far as its internal history is concerned ΤΑΚΕ cannot have any form of Romanization. I will, therefore, write ΤΑΚΕ exclusively in Greek letters; fortunately, in WHATL the alphabet developed lower case forms during the Middle Ages in much the same way as in our world. The ΤΑΚΕ alphabet, therefore, is:

Upper case	Lower case	English Name	ΤΑΚΕ Name	Basic sound (For more detailed explanation see the sections below)
Α	α	alpha	άλφα	[a]
Β	β	beta	βήτα	[b][β]
Γ	γ	gamma	γάμμα	[g][ɣ]
Γ	γ	agma	άγμα	[ŋ]
Δ	δ	delta	δέλτα	[d][ð]
Ε	ε	epsilon	ε	[ɛ] (but ει = [i])
Ζ	ζ	zeta	ζήτα	[z]
Η	η	eta	ήτα	[e]
Θ	θ	theta	θήτα	[θ]
Ι	ι	iota	ιώτα	[i] (or [j], see below)
Κ	κ	kappa	κάππα	[k]
Λ	λ	lambda	λάβδα	[l]
Μ	μ	mu	μυ	[m]
Ν	ν	nu	νυ	[n]
Ξ	ξ	xi	ξει	[ks]
Ο	ο	omicron	ο	[ɔ]
Π	π	pi	πει	[p]
Ρ	ρ	rho	ρω	[r]
Σ	ς (word final), σ (elsewhere)	sigma	σίγμα	[s]
Τ	τ	tau	ταυ	[t]
Υ	υ	upsilon	υ	[y] (but ου = [u] & see below for use in diphthongs)
Φ	φ	phi	φει	[f]
Χ	χ	chi	χει	[x]
Ψ	ψ	psi	ψει	[ps]
Ω	ω	omega	ω	[o]

Notes:

1. Letter names: The names used in English and other modern languages are based on the Byzantine names which were not always the same as the ancient names. In WHATL the names of the letters differed in different languages in a way analogous to the different names given in our world to the letters of the Roman alphabet. Joseph Peanou r estored the ancient names, with two exceptions, epsilon is just ε instead of the ancient ει and omicron ο instead of the ancient ου; while the ancient names have been appropriate in Athens of the 5th century BCE, they were no longer suitable for the pronunciation of the later Koine.
2. Pronunciation: Just as here 'Latino sine flexione' advocates a pronunciation based on the old Roman pronunciation with certain modifications (e.g. the distinction between long and short vowels is not maintained), so in WHATL Joesephos Peanou gave the letters a pronunciation based on what he understood to be the pronunciation of Koine Greek of the 1st century CE, but with a few modifications; in particular, he made no attempt to restore the old pitch accent or the distinction of long and short vowels, nor did he attempt to restore the distinction between unaspirated and aspirated voiceless plosive, keeping a fricative pronunciation for the latter. But those familiar with modern Greek should notice that several of the letters are pronounce quite differently in το άνευ κλίσι Ελληνικό.

Vowels

There are seven letters denoting vowels; they are α ε η ι ο υ ω and, when not forming part of a digraph or diphthong, they are pronounced thus:

Α α	As French, Italian or Spanish a; IPA /a/.
Ε ε	As standard American or British English e in bet; IPA /ɛ/.
Η η	As French é in été; IPA /e/.
Ι ι	As French, Italian or Spanish i; IPA /i/. (But see below for its use in diphthongs and as a consonant when initial before a vowel or intervocalic.)
ο ο	Like the standard German o in Gott; similarly to French o in bonne or British English ough in thought (but not like any vowel of American English). IPA /ɔ/.
Υ υ	As French u in lune; IPA /y/. (But see below for its use in diphthongs.)
Ω ω	As French o in mot; IPA /o/.

There are also two digraphs denoting simple vowel sounds:

ΕΙ ει	Exactly the same sound as ι above. Those who are familiar with modern Greek should note that in ΤΑΚΕ, there are only two ways of spelling /i/.
ΟΥ ου	As French ou in coup. IPA /u/.

Diphthongs

There are only four true diphthongs in ΤΑΚΕ; they are:

ΑΙ αι	Like the i in standard English mine, or ei in German mein. IPA /ai̯/.	In prevocalic positions, these diphthongs were followed by the semivowel [j]; so, for example, πόιο (What sort of ...?) is pronounced ['pɔi̯jɔ] or ['pɔjjɔ].
ΟΙ οι	Like the oi in standard English join. IPA /ɔi̯/.
ΑΥ αυ	Like the ou in standard English house, or the au in German haus. IPA /au̯/	In prevocalic positions, Joseph Peanou advised that these diphthongs be followed by the semivocalic [w]. In practice, however, this is more often [β] (just like intervocalic Β β; see under consonants). Therefore ευαγγέλιο (Gospel) might be [ɛu̯waŋ'gɛliɔ], [ɛwwaŋ'gɛliɔ] or [ɛu̯βaŋ'gɛliɔ]. But note: *[ɛββaŋ'gɛliɔ is certainly incorrect as voiceless fricatives are never geminate (see below).
ΕΥ ευ	Not like any sound of standard English, but like the el in belt in Cockney English. PA /ɛu̯/

Ancient greek grammars list υι as a diphthong; but in the Greek on which ΤΑΚΕ is based, it occurs only before vowels. In ΤΑΚΕ it is treated as υ /y/ followed by intervocalic ι; for the latter see under consonants below.

As for the so-called 'long diphthongs' of ancient Greek:

The second element of ᾱι, ηι and ωι appears to have become silent before the end of the 2nd century BCE. The Byzantine practice, normally followed in printing modern texts, is to write the iota subscript, thus ᾳ ῃ and ῳ. In ΤΑΚΕ the iota subscript is ignored and the three vowels written without any iota.
Those whose second element is υ are rare. The uncommon ᾱυ is treated exactly the same as αυ in ΤΑΚΕ; ηυ occurs almost exclusively as the 'augmented' form of αυ- and ευ- and, as ΤΑΚΕ verbs will not be augmented, ηυ will not occur in ΤΑΚΕ. The diphthong ωυ was fairly rare and restricted to certain dialects; it did not occur in the Greek on which ΤΑΚΕ is based.

Consonants

1. Plosives and fricatives (excluding sibilants)

The main difference between ancient Greek and ΤΑΚΕ here is that Joseph Peanou did not attempt to reintroduce the distinction between aspirated and aspirated voiceless plosives; he retained the 'Vulgar Greek' pronunciation of the former aspirated plosives as fricatives. Thus we find:

Voiceless plosives

Π π	As French p in page, similar to English p in page. IPA /p/.	The preferred pronunciation is as voiceless unaspiated plosives as in French; but as there is no contrast with aspirated forms, the aspirated forms of modern English were in practice often used in WHATL by speakers from Britain and northern Europe. Those familiar with modern Greek should note that in ΤΑΚΕ these consonants are NOT* voiced after nasals.*
Τ τ	As French t in tout, similar to English t in two. IPA /t/.
Κ κ	As French c in car, similar to English c in car. IPA /k/.

Voiceless fricatives

Φ φ	As English f in fought. IPA /f/.
Θ θ	As English th in thought. IPA /θ/.
Χ χ	As Welsh ch in chwaer or German ch in Bach. Some English speakers use this sound when pronouncing loch. IPA /x/. Note: unlike modern Greek, in ΤΑΚΕ the sound is not palatalized to [ç] before front vowels.

Voiced plosives/fricatives
Joseph Peanou referred to these as voiced plosives, but some linguists hold that phonemically they are voiced fricatives.

	When initial in a sentence or after a pause, and when preceded by a nasal consonant	In all other positions
Β β	As English b in bought. IPA [b].	As Spanish b in sábado. IPA [β].
Δ δ	As English d in dent or French d in dent. IPA [d].	As English th in mother. IPA [ð].
Γ γ	As English g in goat. IPA [g].	As Spanish g in pago. IPA [ɣ]. For the use of γ as a nasal consonant before other nasals and before velars, see below under 'Nasals'.

2. Sibilants

Σ σ *	As English z when followed by a voiced consonant (i.e. β, δ, γ, λ, μ, ν, ρ); In *all* other positions always as English s in so. IPA /s/.
Ζ ζ	As English z in zoo. IPA /z/. (When intervocalic the consonant was normally geminate, i.e. /zz/, see below under 'gemination').
Ξ ξ	As English x in fox. IPA /ks/. It should never* be given the [gz] sound of 'exam' nor, of course, the [z] sound of 'xylophone'.*
Ψ ψ	As English ps in lapse. IPA /ps/. It retains this sound even when initial; it should never be like the 'ps' in 'psychology'.

* Word final lower case Σ is always written ς.

3. Nasals

ΤΑΚΕ has retains the three nasal consonants of ancient Greek, thus:

Μ μ	Like the English m in mime IPA /m/.
Ν ν	Like the English n in nine IPA /n/.
Γ γ	This letter is used as the velar nasal before the nasals <μ and ν> and before the velars <κ, χ, γ and ξ>, when it is like the English n in sink IPA /ŋ/. When was used to denote the velar nasal it can be regarded as an allophone of /g/ before the nasals, and of /n/ before the velars. The Greeks, however, clearly felt it to be a separate sound as they used the same letter to denote the sound in whatever position it occurred. When used to denote /ŋ/ it was in ancient Greek and is in ΤΑΚΕ called άγμα ['aŋma], whereas when it denotes the voiced plosive/fricative it is (and was) γάμμα ['gamma]. There is no ambiguity in this usage since [ɣɣ] is not a permitted combination and, therefore, γγ unambiguously denotes [ŋg].

Those familiar with Modern Greek should note that in ΤΑΚΕ the combinations μπ, ντ and γκ denote [mp], [nt] and [ŋk] respectively; there is no voicing of the plosive. Interestingly, perhaps, is the fact the phonemic status of [b], [d] and [g] is controversial in both Modern Greek and ΤΑΚΕ, though for very different reasons.

4. Liquids

Λ λ	As the English l in leaf. IPA /l/. The preferred pronunciation is to use always the "clear l" as in German hell* (bright), but some people use the "dark l" of English hell in certain environments.*
Ρ ρ	An apical trill as in the Italian r in caro. IPA /r/.

4. The approximant [j]

Ι ι

Iota is pronounced [j] when:

it is initial before a vowel or diphthong;
when it occurs between two vowels (but the digraph ει is considered as single vowel; there is no [j] between this and another vowel; however after the diphthongs αι and οι [j] is pronounced before a following vowel, see 'Diphthongs' above).

Those familiar with Modern Greek should note that in ΤΑΚΕ:

ι is pronounced [j] only in the circumstances given above; it does not become [j] before a vowel in all positions.
Only ι is ever pronounced [j]. The digraph ει /i/ always keeps its full vocalic pronunciation, as do all other vowels and diphthongs.

5. Gemination

Gemination of consonants is a feature of some languages, e.g. Italian and Finnish; in WHATL it is a feature of ΤΑΚΕ (and also a feature of Joseph Peanou's native Italiot. In ΤΑΚΕ, therefore, consonants which are doubled in the spelling, should be geminated or pronounced double as, e.g. in modern Cypriot Greek. Also, as in Koine Greek, medial ζ is geminated.

It will be found that, as in the ancient language, the following consonants only may be geminate:

The the voiceless plosives: -ππ- /pp/, -ττ- /tt/ and -κκ- /kk/.
Of the sibilants, only -σσ- /ss/ and -ζ- /zz/.
The liquids and nasal (except /ŋ/): -λλ- /ll/, -μμ- /mm/, -νν- /nn/ and -ρρ- /rr/.
Intervocalic -ι- is also always geminated /jj/ (but see 'Diphthongs' above).

The voiceless fricatives are never geminated, rather we find an affricate pronunciation used instead thus:

the three affricates are: -πφ- /pf/, -τθ- /tθ/ and -κχ- /kx/.

Just as in classical Attic and early, Koine Greek, the three voiced plosives (fricatives) are never geminate*. Remember that -γγ- is not a double gamma, it is agma followed by a gamma and is, therefore, pronounced /ŋg/. Also, fairly obviously, the double consonants ψ /ps/ and ξ /ks/ cannot be geminated and, therefore, are never doubled in writing.

Exceptions were occasionally found in words of foreign origin, most noticeably the Koine Σάββατον (Sabbath, Saturday) from Hebrew. The words for 'Saturday' in the Hellenic languages of WHATL derive from 'Vulgar Greek' forms *Σάμβατο (cf. in our world French 'samedi' ← *'sambati die' and Romanian 'sîmbătă') or *Σάβατο. Joseph adopted Σάβατο as the ΤΑΚΕ form. Some purists, however, still insist on writing Σάββατο and then argue about how it should be pronounced!

Diacritics

Joseph Peanou disregarded most of the diacritics invented by the Alexandrian grammarians and used in Byzantine and later editions of ancient and Koine Greek texts; he retained only two, the acute accent (´) to denote stress and the trema (¨) to denote diaeresis.

1. Stress

In words of two or more syllables, the stressed syllable is always marked with an acute accent above the vowel; in the case of digraphs and diphthongs, the accent is put over its second element; e.g.
άνθρωπο /'anθropɔ/ (person, human being); μητρό /me'trɔ/ (mother); εκείνο /ɛ'kinɔ/ (that); τούτο /'tutɔ/ (this).

2. Diaeresis

The trema is placed over ϊ or ϋ after a preceding vowel if these letters are to retain their full vocalic value and do not form a diphthong with the preceding vowel or are not part of a digraph; e.g.
προϊστορικό /prɔ.istɔri'kɔ/ (prehistoric); προϋπόστη /prɔ.y'pɔste/ (to presuppose).

Punctuation

The hyphen (-) is used much as in english and other European languages. Also the apostrophe (') is used, as in many languages, to indicate the elision of a vowel, e.g. απ' αυτό "from him/her" (← από + αυτό); note, however, the apostrophe marks only the elided vowel - the space between the words is still retained.

ΤΑΚΕ uses the comma (,) and full-stop or period (.) in much the same way as in English and other European languages. The ΤΑΚΕ question mark, however, is like our semicolon (;) and the middle dot (·) serves as both a colon and semicolon. There is no special exclamation mark.

Various brackets, e.g ( ) [ ] < > { }, were developed to denote parenthesis or to enclose blocks for special reasons very much as we do in English. The round brackets, (), are the ones normally used for parenthesis.

Speech is indicated in dialogue by a leading dash as, for example, is commonly done in French, e.g.
―καλ' ημέρο, Μάρκο. ("Good day, Mark")
―καλ' ημέρο, Άννα. ("Good day, Anna")

Quoted speech was shown with guillemets, thus: το Μάρκο λέγε «καλ' ημέρο, Άννα.» (Mark said "Good day, Anna").