Greek language
From Wikinfo
The Greek language (Ελληνικά) is one of the Indo-European languages, brought to Greece by the Achaeans around 1700 BC. Originally there were a variety of spoken dialects, most notably Ionic, Doric, and Attic.
Strictly we need to speak about two separate languages, Ancient Greek and its descendant Modern Greek. They are different enough (like Latin and its descendant Italian) that the phonetics and grammar of each need to be described separately. But it is common to talk about 'Greek' and let the context decide which form is meant.
The first known script for writing the language was the Linear B syllabary, used for the archaic Mycenaean dialect deciphered in 1953. After the fall of that civilization there was a period of about five hundred years when writing was not used. Since early classical times, it has been written in the Greek alphabet, derived from Phoenician. This happened about the time of Homer, and there is one obscure, fleeting reference in Homer's poetry suggesting that he might have been aware of writing.
Attic Greek was the language of Athens; most of the surviving classical Greek literature is in Attic Greek. Alexander the Great, besides being a great military leader, was instrumental in combining these dialects to form Koine Greek (from the Greek word for "common") (sometimes called New Testament Greek after its most famous work of literature). This allowed his combined army to communicate and was also taught to the inhabitants of the regions that he conquered, turning it into a "world language". The language evolved during the Hellenistic period, and for many centuries was the "Lingua Franca" of the Roman Empire. From this descended the Greek that was the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) and finally the modern Greek of today. Modern Greek has a more conservative form called Katharevousa, which includes numerous Ancient Greek words pronounced in a modern way, and the spoken form Dhimotiki, which in recent years has become the official language of Greece, instead of Katharevousa.
Greek, like many other Indo-European languages, is highly inflected -- for example, nouns have 5 cases, 3 genders, and 3 numbers, verbs have 3 moods, 3 voices, as well as 3 persons and 3 numbers and various other forms. Here is the definite 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 |
Modern Greek has lost the dative (except in a few expressions like en taxei OK), and some of the other forms have changed phonetically. In the following table the left-hand side uses a phonetic form suitable for Modern Greek only, while the right-hand side is the same thing written in the transcription for Ancient Greek, for easier comparison with the table above:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | | | SINGULAR | PLURAL | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | N | M | F | N | | | M | F | N | M | F | N | |
| Nominative | o | i | to | i | i | ta | | | o | � | to | oi | oi | ta |
| Genitive | tu | tis | tu | ton | ton | ton | | | tou | t�s | tou | t�n | t�n | t�n |
| Accusative | to | tin | to | tus | tis | ta | | | ton | t�n | to | tous | tis | ta |
The main phonetic changes between Ancient and Modern Greek are a simplification in the vowel system and a change of some consonants to fricative values. Ancient Greek had five short vowels, seven long vowels, and numerous diphthongs. This has been reduced to a simple five-vowel system. Most noticeably, the sounds i, ê, y, ei, oi have all become i.
The consonants b, d, g became v, dh, gh (dh as in English this). The aspirated consonants ph, th, kh became f, th, h - where the new pronunciation of th is /T/ as in English thin.
A large of number of words in English, Latin, and so forth, come from Greek.
Have a look at the Greeklish article.
External Links
- The Perseus Project has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including dictionaries.
- Free online resources for learners (both Ancient and Modern Greek)
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Greek language" http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language July 27, 2003
