18.078 Re: 18.075 Greek Advice

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 78.
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        Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 20:03:03 -0300
        From: Robin Smith <rasmith_at_aristotle.tamu.edu>
        Subject: Re: 18.075 Greek Advice

From: Robin Smith <rasmith_at_aristotle.tamu.edu>
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:16:18 -0500
To: Humanist Discussion Group <dgants_at_ROGERS.COM>

>>>>> "Yuri Tambovtsev" == Humanist Discussion Group <dgants_at_ROGERS.COM> writes:

    Yuri Tambovtsev> Dear Humanist colleagues, could you tell me if
    Yuri Tambovtsev> voiced consonants such as "b, d, g", etc. are
    Yuri Tambovtsev> devoiced at the end of the Greek word into
    Yuri Tambovtsev> something like "p, t, k, x" etc. in modern Greek
    Yuri Tambovtsev> and in Old Greek?

Ancient Greek words end either in a vowel or in the consonants s
(sigma or the double letters xi, psi, zeta), r (rho), or n (nu), with
a few exceptions in k (e.g. ek). So, the occasion simply never
arises. The only comparable case I can think of even in internal
composition is g (gamma) + t' (aspirated t, theta) = kh (chi), as in
the aorist passive stem of legein (lekhth-).

There's surely a linguist out there who can give a more informed
answer about Modern Greek, but (apart from the same issue about what
words can end with) there are cases in which a consonant is voiced
or unvoiced depending on what follows: sigma is normally unvoiced
(s) but becomes voiced (z) before mu or a voiced consonant, and
consonantal upsilon (upsilon in the diphthongs eu- and au-) is 'f'
before unvoiced (auto= 'afto'), 'v' before voiced (augo='avgho').
On the other hand, there are circumstances in which an unvoiced
consonant becomes voiced because of what precedes it: nasal + unvoiced
becomes nasal + voiced (e.g. en taxi is pronounced 'endaxi', mporo
is pronounced 'boro').
Received on Wed Jun 23 2004 - 19:31:51 EDT