Study Decodes the Strange Pronunciation of Ancient Greek

The aboriginal Greek alphabet was painted connected the assemblage of an Attic black-figure cup. Credit: flickr / Dan Diffendale CC BY-SA 2.0

A caller survey from The Ohio State University offers a breakthrough mentation for wherefore the pronunciation of definite ancient Greek words has agelong confused scholars. Junyu Ruan, the study’s sole author, has identified the underlying patterns that find however accent is placed successful adjectives with communal suffixes, revealing that these irregularities are thing but random.

Published successful the Journal of Greek Linguistics, the probe challenges long-standing views astir however Greek words were formed and spoken. Specifically, it focuses connected adjectives ending successful “-es” and “-to,” which often transportation accents successful unpredictable places.

Some support the accent connected the suffix, others determination it to the root, portion immoderate default to a modular accent position. These differences person puzzled experts trying to hint the archetypal pronunciation of ancient Greek words, particularly since the rules seemed inconsistent adjacent wrong akin connection forms.

Traditionally, scholars treated connection enactment arsenic the stacking of morphemes—basic units of meaning. But this attack falls abbreviated erstwhile it comes to explaining wherever the accent lands successful past Greek. Ruan argues that assigning accent based solely connected idiosyncratic morphemes doesn’t clasp up, particularly erstwhile vowel contractions oregon compound structures are involved.

Word patterns clasp the cardinal to accent placement

Instead, the survey proposes a word-based exemplary rooted successful a mentation known arsenic Construction Morphology. In this framework, words are not conscionable assembled from parts but travel larger structural patterns, oregon schemata, which transportation their ain phonological rules. These patterns, alternatively than the idiosyncratic morphemes, dictate wherever the accent should go.

Ruan identifies 3 main types of accent placement successful adjectives ending successful “-es” and “-to”: suffixal (on the suffix), stem (on the basal oregon compound element), and recessive (falling backmost to a default presumption based connected wide rules of Greek phonology).

The Greek language has past origins and has had a profound power connected respective different European languages. Credit: Zde / CC BY-SA 4.0 / via Wikimedia Commons

For example, the adjective pseudés meaning “false” keeps the accent connected the suffix, portion thésphatos, meaning “spoken by gods,” shifts the accent leftward. Some words similar nosoodôon (“sickly”) further complicate matters owed to vowel contractions that blur the archetypal accent pattern.

To marque consciousness of these variations, the survey introduces a two-step process. First, a connection whitethorn person a lexical accent from its schema—this happens earlier immoderate vowel contraction.

If nary accent is assigned astatine this stage, a default, oregon recessive, accent is applied aft contraction based connected fixed phonological constraints. These constraints find however acold near the accent tin go, depending connected syllable operation and length.

Revealing the timing of accent and contraction

This layered attack helps explicate inconsistencies that earlier models could not. For instance, compound adjectives built with prefixes often disregard the suffix’s accent successful “-to” forms but support it successful “-es” forms.

Previous scholars tried to nexus these patterns to meaning oregon function, but Ruan’s findings amusement that operation plays a bigger relation than semantics.

The exemplary besides accounts for however vowel contractions power the last accent. In forms similar syneéthoon (“living together”), the presumption of the accent depends connected whether the contraction occurred earlier oregon aft the accent was placed.

Ruan demonstrates that lone a multi-cycle model—one that separates the timing of accent duty and vowel contraction—can correctly foretell the last spoken form.

The implications of the probe spell beyond linguistics. An close knowing of Greek accent patterns tin impact however past texts are work aloud oregon interpreted successful humanities studies. Ruan believes this exemplary provides a much precise mode to retrieve however past speakers mightiness person really pronounced their language.

By focusing connected whole-word patterns alternatively than idiosyncratic parts, the survey presents a clearer, much accordant mentation for what erstwhile seemed similar erratic accent placement. According to Ruan, these findings connection a simplified but almighty instrumentality for decoding the pronunciation of past Greek words crossed a wide scope of forms.