This page presents a sketch of the phonology of Standard Modern Greek. The vowels of modern (Standard) Arabic and (Israeli) Hebrew from the phonological point of view. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ...

Vowels

Greek has a simple system of five vowels, /a, e, i, o, u/. The vowel /a/ is realised as open central. The mid vowels /e/ and /o/ have a phonetic quality in between the close-mid and open-mid level. The close vowels /i/ and /u/ have qualities approaching the respective cardinal vowels. In terms of phonotactics, /e, i/ count as front vowels, /a, o, u/ as back vowels. There is no phonemic length distinction, but vowels in stressed syllables are commonly pronounced somewhat longer than in unstressed syllables. An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... The open-mid vowels make a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. ... Vowel sound produced when the tongue is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low. ... Phonotactics (in Greek phone = voice and tactic = course) is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. ...

Modern Greek does not have distinctive diphthong phonemes; however, certain groups of vowels that otherwise count as two syllables can optionally be joined into one diphthongal syllable. This is most common for /a.i/ and /o.i/ in words like τσάι ('tea') or μπόι ('size'). Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ...

Consonants

The consonantal system of Greek is less easy to describe, as there is considerable debate about which sounds to describe as separate phonemes and which to analyse as allophones conditioned through consonant clusters. The following table presents a near-maximum inventory of 26 sounds. In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones (speech sounds or sign elements) that are cognitively equivalent. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ...

Of the 26 consonantal sounds shown here, only the 15 shown undisputed phonemes according to a minimalist analysis.^[1] These 15 are also the ones that are represented by single letters in Greek orthography and directly correspond to consonant phonemes in Ancient Greek. All others can be analysed as combinatorial clusters of two phonemes or allophonic variants of another phoneme: In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... Ancient Greek phonology is the study of the phonology, or pronunciation, of Ancient Greek. ...

• The palatals [kʲ, gʲ, ç, ʝ] can be analysed as allophones of their velar counterparts before front vowels. When these sounds occur before back vowels, a silent interceding vowel /i/ (represented in orthography as <ι>) is typically assumed. The velar sounds only ever occur before back vowels.
• The sounds [ɲ, ʎ] are usually analysed as clusters of /ni/ and /li/ respectively, and are also spelled accordingly in Greek orthography.
• The series of voiced plosives can be analysed as sequences of nasals and voiceless plosives, [b] = /mp/, [d] = /nt/, [g] = /ng/. Again, this corresponds to the orthographic spelling (using digraphs <μπ, ντ, γκ>).
• /ts/ and /dz/ can be analysed as biphonemic clusters rather than as separate phonemes.

Standard Modern Greek does not have long consonants within words, although some dialects (notably Cypriot) do.

Phonetic realisation

The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ are unaspirated, and may be slightly voiced in some dialects, especially in Crete and Cyprus. Crete (Greek: Κρήτη Kríti; Turkish: Girit) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. ...

The phonetic realisation of /b/ /d/ /g/ (or /mp/ /nt/ /nk/, depending on the analysis) is variable. In word-initial position they are pronounced as simple voiced plosives. In medial position they can be realised as either a full sequence of nasal plus stop [mb] [nd] [ŋɡ], or as a stop with only slight pre-nasalization [^mb] [ⁿd] [^ŋɡ], or again as a single stop. This is a matter of considerable sociolinguistic and dialectal variation, and some social stigma is attached to certain variants. Some speakers, following a prescriptive norm, have a marginal phonological contrast between pure voiced stops and nasal clusters word-medially, e.g. in [veˈdeta] ('celebrity', < Ital. vedetta), vs. [venˈdeta] ('blood feud', < Ital. vendetta). The same prenasalised stop sounds can also occur as the result of assimilation of /np/, /nt/, /nk/ clusters across word boundaries (sandhi). Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. ...

The nasals tend to assimilate to following consonants in place of articulation; thus there is a velar nasal [ŋ] (spelled γ) before following /k/ /ɣ/ /x/) and a labiodental nasal [ɱ] before following /f/ or /v/. The velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The labiodental nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ...

/r/ can be realised either as a trilled [r] or, in intervocalic position, as a tapped [ɾ]. In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. ... In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the tongue) is thrown against another. ...

[kʲ] and [gʲ] are further palatalised and turn into affricates [ʨ] and [ʥ] in some dialects, notably those of Crete and the Mani. Crete (Greek: Κρήτη Kríti; Turkish: Girit) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. ... Map of Greece highlighting the Mani peninsula For other meanings of the word Mani, see Mani. ...

Sandhi rules

Some of the assimilation rules mentioned above also obtain across word boundaries. In particular, this goes for a number of grammatical words ending in /n/, most notably the negation particles δε(ν) and μη(ν) and the accusative forms of the personal pronoun and definite article το(ν) and τη(ν). If these words are followed by a voiceless stop, the /n/ tends to assimilate according to the place of articulation of the following sound; conversely, the stop tends to get voiced. This results in pronunciations such as τον πατέρα [to^mbaˈtera] ('the father') or δεν πειράζει [ðe^mbiˈrazi] ('it doesn't matter'). Some of these rules are optional, and may vary according to dialect and formality of speech.

Syllable structure

Stress

Unlike Ancient Greek, which had a pitch accent system, Modern Greek has dynamic syllable stress, like English. Still like in Ancient Greek, every multisyllabic word carries stress one of its three final syllables. Enclitic words such as possessive pronouns form a single phonological word together with the host word to which they attach, and hence count towards the three-syllable rule too. This has the effect that the addition of a clitic can force the stress to move to a syllable further back in the host word. The position of the stress can also vary between different inflectional forms of the same word within its inflectional paradigm (e.g. πρόβλημα 'problem', προβλήματα 'problems'). In some word classes, Modern Greek preserves an historical pattern whereby stress position was also sensitive to vowel length, as a word could not be stressed on the third last syllable if the last syllable was long: e.g. άνθρωπος ('man', Nom.Sg., last syllable short), but ανθρώπων ('of men', Gen.Pl., last syllable long) However, in Modern Greek this rule is no longer automatic and does not apply to all words, as the length distinction itself no longer exists (e.g. καλόγερος 'monk', καλόγερων 'of monks'). Pitch accent is a kind of accent system employed in many languages around the world. ... In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word. ... In linguistics, a clitic is a morpheme that functions syntactically like a word, but does not appear as an independent phonological word; instead it is always attached to a following or preceding word. ... A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something. ...

References

1. ^ D. Holton, P. Mackridge, I. Philippaki-Warburton (1997), Greek grammar. A comprehensive grammar of the modern language. London: Routledge.

See also

• Ancient Greek phonology