Ancient Greek – Phonology, Part 3
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Beek, Lucien van
Huitink, Luuk
This lecture focuses on various selected topics of Ancient Greek phonology. These are e.g. phonological processes concerning syllable structure and suprasegmental processes.
 Hello and welcome to the third and final video presentation about ancient Greek phonology. Having already treated the segmental phonemes and the accent of ancient Greek, in this presentation we will discuss a number of selected phonological topics. They concern supersegmental effects such as dissimilation, then syllable structure, the possible onsets nuclei and codas of Greek syllables, and also phonological repair strategies that are applied at morphine boundaries. So let us start with two sorts of dissimulation. Famously, Greek productively applies a rule called Grasmans law, which describes the dissimulation of aspirated sounds. So when two aspirated onsets occur in the same word, the first one is dissimulated. For instance, in Titami I put the shape of the redeplication syllable seems unexpected, but in fact, first of both aspirated onsets has been dissimulated from Titami. Another example is the compound verb ampisco to surround, which contains the elided version of the pre-verb amfi, as you see here. Now, Grasmans dissimulation also affects the word-initial glottal fricative, echo, I have, from earlier, heco. In this well-known example, the former presence of the aspiration is proven by other stem forms of the same verb, such as the future hexo. Now, there are some apparent exceptions to Grasmans law, but they can be explained by analogy. For instance, the passive aorist e cute, it was poured, restored its chi after other forms in the paradigm of kao. Another phenomenon is dissimulation of liquids. It is found, for instance, when a derivational suffix contains an L, and is attached to a root that already contains an L. There are two different treatments that are tested. The second L can be dissimulated against the first, yielding an R, as in glafuros, meaning hollow from glafuros, with the suffix ulos, and alternatively, the first L can change into R, as in argaleos, difficult from algaleos, for the root compare algos, the word for pain. Now, this treatment is not regular, but still quite frequent, and similar liquid dissimulations are also quite frequent in a language like Spanish. Classical Greek regularly inserts a plosive between a nasal and a directly following liquid. The best known example comes from the word aner, man, of which the genitive is andros, from earlier andros, with an apathetic d. The different stem form in the genitive is an instance of aplauds, a phenomenon that we will discuss in more detail in video one of the morphology part. Another example is ambrotos, a compound of the word for mortal with the negative prefix. That the labial plosive was secondarily inserted is proven by its absence from compounds and names with mrotos and murtos that are attested in the pre-classical period, in inscriptions. So comparing andros and ambrotos, we see that the inserted consonant has the same place of articulation as the preceding nasal. The one is labial and the other is dental. So we therefore speak of a homorganic plosive. The same apathesis took place in these clusters in word initial position, but there the initial nasal was subsequently deleted. So mrotos first becomes mrotos with an apathetic b and finally brotos. Actually brotos with the accent on the final syllable. So this is the simplex corresponding to ambrotos. So let's now turn to an overview of possible syllable structures in ancient Greek, our next topic. So this slide gives all possible onsets ordered from simple to more complex. So let's quickly run through the facts. First, any single consonant phoneme can be an onset, though H only can be in word initial position. Geminates cannot function as onsets, they are always divided between coda and onset within a word. Plosive plus resonant onsets are found for any plosive plus resonant. I'm sorry for any plosive plus liquid and for plosive plus n, with the exception of benneu. That doesn't exist. However, the onset men is allowed, as for instance in menema, reminder. And plosives may also precede a labial nasal in a few onsets, like tme, dme and kmeu. Now an onset consisting of two plosives is also possible, but only provided that they have a different place of articulation. So here you see some examples, pteron, deluros and ktaan. And they all show assimilation of voice or aspiration. Note that the first plosive must be non-dental, whereas the second can only be a dental. Finally, an s added before any m or plosive also yields an acceptable onset over here. For instance spendo, zbennumi and smerko. And the same goes for s plus a sequence of non-voiced plosive plus liquid, as in splanknon and so on. So these were all the possible onset structures. Now possible nuclei in Greek simply consist of vowels, both long and short, and diphthongs. Liquids cannot serve as nuclei anymore in alphabetic Greek, but in the Mycenaean period they probably could, and there are still traces of this linguistic stage in Homeric meter. Now any single consonant phoneme, except for h, may serve as a koda, but a liquid or nasal plus a labial or velar plosive is also in order, as shown by these two examples, telktron and pemptos. In this slide we treat assimilations. Koda consonants are assimilated in Greek to the following onset as regards the features voicing and aspiration, and often also regarding their place of articulation. For example, koda nasals are assimilated to the place of articulation of the following onset consonant, as shown here by Brontë, with the root of Bremo, to Roar, Melampus with a labion nasal, and the perfect Pephanca with a velar nasal. Now the velar nasal is written with the letter gamma, and the Greeks termed this sound angma. In productive derivations, syllable boundaries may coincide with morpheme boundaries. An example of this is the substitution of koda plosives before the onset of the following suffix ma. There is total assimilation in grama letter, replacement by the homorganic fricative in plasma from platma, and by the homorganic naso in drangma from drachma. When there is no synchronic morpheme boundary, however, sequences of plosive plus m are simply retained. See here akme and drachme, and also potmos. This means that syllabification played a role in the developments observed in grama, plasma and drangma. At word end, we find a number of special exceptions to the general structure of the koda. Of course, words may end in a vowel or diphthong. But the only three consonants in which a Greek word can end are n, r and s. Thus, words cannot end in a plosive, as illustrated by the word for lord, anax, with its vocative ana, which derives from an earlier form anacht. However, as the nominative anax shows, a velar plosive plus s is a possible word end. And the same goes for an s preceded by a labial plosive, or an l. The s in such cases is called an extra syllabic consonant. However, the word ends ns, rs and ts are disallowed, at least in Attic Greek. Interestingly, in all these three cases, the consonant that would have preceded the s is a coronal. Coronals are consonants that are articulated with the front part of the tongue. These sounds undergo various sorts of deletion in Greek, especially when they appear in koda position. First of all, any dental plosive is deleted before s. All students of Greek know this rule because it is so frequently applied in the systematic aorists, for instance, epaissa from peito, to persuade. But there are more environments where dental plosives are deleted. In the perfect form pepeika, from pepeitka, from the same verb, it is lost before a velar plosive. Third, dental nasals are also deleted in koda before s plus another consonant. An example where this happens productively is pefastai, the perfect mediopassive infinitive of the verb final to show. And finally, the sibilant s is productively deleted between two consonants. This happens with the perfect endings sthe and sthae when the preceding root ends in a consonant. An example here is tetakte from tetaksthe from the verb tato. So, overseeing these four developments, it seems that ancient Greek speakers had problems with dental plosives in koda position, and also more generally with colliding coronal consonants. Another well-known phonological rule is that a dental plosive changes into s before another dental plosive. Again, a form of peito may illustrate this. Epaissa, the arist passive. Here, however, it seems that the difficulty in realizing two colliding dental plosives goes back to proto-Indo-European. The problem was that speakers of proto-Indo-European did not have geminates in their inventory, but still wanted to articulate both morphemes clearly. As a result, they inserted an epynthetic sibilant tsthe in order to separate the onset t and the koda t. In this presentation, we do not have time to discuss all the interesting phonological processes that are going on in ancient Greek, but there is one thing that really should be mentioned. Like many languages, ancient Greek uses clitics in almost every sentence. Clitics are words that do not occur independently, but only when they are attached to a host within a phrase. There are pro-clitics, such as ala and kai, the conjunctions, and more prominently, n-clitics that are attached at the end of the host. Many particles are n-clitics, such as d, t, min, gar, and also, pronominal clitics such as moi, mi, usually have a variant that can be used without a host, in this case that would be emoi. In fact, the difference between clitics and non-clitics forms is usually that the clitic form has no accent. However, not all clitics are unaccented in our texts, and d and gar, for instance, always carry an acute accent, or a graph accent in a text. It is important to be aware that the term clitic is sometimes used in Greek grammars in a narrower way, namely to denote only those words that have no independent accent mark, like te and min. In such cases, the terms prepositive and post-positive are used to refer to pro-clitics and n-clitics in a more general sense. Now, a host plus all its clitics is called a prosodic word. At these higher levels of phonology, there are further phenomena of interest to be discussed, for instance, differences in the syllabification of consonant clusters within the prosodic word and also at its boundaries. You may want to read more about such topics in the grammatical outline or in the works in our bibliography. For now, I hope you have obtained an idea about the synchronic syllable structure of ancient Greek and the various phonological rules that are dictated by it. Thank you for your attention.
 Hello and welcome to the third and final video presentation about ancient Greek phonology.  Having already treated the segmental phonemes and the accent of ancient Greek,  in this presentation we will discuss a number of selected phonological topics.  They concern supersegmental effects such as dissimilation,  then syllable structure, the possible onsets nuclei and codas of Greek syllables,  and also phonological repair strategies that are applied at morphine boundaries.  So let us start with two sorts of dissimulation.  Famously, Greek productively applies a rule called Grasmans law,  which describes the dissimulation of aspirated sounds.  So when two aspirated onsets occur in the same word, the first one is dissimulated.  For instance, in Titami I put the shape of the redeplication syllable seems unexpected,  but in fact, first of both aspirated onsets has been dissimulated from Titami.  Another example is the compound verb ampisco to surround,  which contains the elided version of the pre-verb amfi, as you see here.  Now, Grasmans dissimulation also affects the word-initial glottal fricative,  echo, I have, from earlier, heco.  In this well-known example, the former presence of the aspiration is proven by other stem forms  of the same verb, such as the future hexo.  Now, there are some apparent exceptions to Grasmans law, but they can be explained by analogy.  For instance, the passive aorist e cute, it was poured, restored its chi after other forms  in the paradigm of kao.  Another phenomenon is dissimulation of liquids.  It is found, for instance, when a derivational suffix contains an L,  and is attached to a root that already contains an L.  There are two different treatments that are tested.  The second L can be dissimulated against the first, yielding an R, as in glafuros,  meaning hollow from glafuros, with the suffix ulos,  and alternatively, the first L can change into R, as in argaleos, difficult from algaleos,  for the root compare algos, the word for pain.  Now, this treatment is not regular, but still quite frequent,  and similar liquid dissimulations are also quite frequent in a language like Spanish.  Classical Greek regularly inserts a plosive between a nasal and a directly following liquid.  The best known example comes from the word aner, man,  of which the genitive is andros, from earlier andros, with an apathetic d.  The different stem form in the genitive is an instance of aplauds,  a phenomenon that we will discuss in more detail in video one of the morphology part.  Another example is ambrotos, a compound of the word for mortal with the negative prefix.  That the labial plosive was secondarily inserted is proven by its absence from compounds and names  with mrotos and murtos that are attested in the pre-classical period, in inscriptions.  So comparing andros and ambrotos, we see that the inserted consonant  has the same place of articulation as the preceding nasal.  The one is labial and the other is dental.  So we therefore speak of a homorganic plosive.  The same apathesis took place in these clusters in word initial position,  but there the initial nasal was subsequently deleted.  So mrotos first becomes mrotos with an apathetic b and finally brotos.  Actually brotos with the accent on the final syllable.  So this is the simplex corresponding to ambrotos.  So let's now turn to an overview of possible syllable structures in ancient Greek, our next topic.  So this slide gives all possible onsets ordered from simple to more complex.  So let's quickly run through the facts.  First, any single consonant phoneme can be an onset, though H only can be in word initial position.  Geminates cannot function as onsets, they are always divided between coda and onset within a word.  Plosive plus resonant onsets are found for any plosive plus resonant.  I'm sorry for any plosive plus liquid and for plosive plus n, with the exception of benneu.  That doesn't exist. However, the onset men is allowed, as for instance in menema, reminder.  And plosives may also precede a labial nasal in a few onsets, like tme, dme and kmeu.  Now an onset consisting of two plosives is also possible, but only provided that they have a different place of articulation.  So here you see some examples, pteron, deluros and ktaan.  And they all show assimilation of voice or aspiration.  Note that the first plosive must be non-dental, whereas the second can only be a dental.  Finally, an s added before any m or plosive also yields an acceptable onset over here.  For instance spendo, zbennumi and smerko.  And the same goes for s plus a sequence of non-voiced plosive plus liquid, as in splanknon and so on.  So these were all the possible onset structures.  Now possible nuclei in Greek simply consist of vowels, both long and short, and diphthongs.  Liquids cannot serve as nuclei anymore in alphabetic Greek, but in the Mycenaean period they probably could,  and there are still traces of this linguistic stage in Homeric meter.  Now any single consonant phoneme, except for h, may serve as a koda,  but a liquid or nasal plus a labial or velar plosive is also in order, as shown by these two examples,  telktron and pemptos.  In this slide we treat assimilations.  Koda consonants are assimilated in Greek to the following onset as regards the features voicing and aspiration,  and often also regarding their place of articulation.  For example, koda nasals are assimilated to the place of articulation of the following onset consonant,  as shown here by Brontë, with the root of Bremo, to Roar,  Melampus with a labion nasal, and the perfect Pephanca with a velar nasal.  Now the velar nasal is written with the letter gamma, and the Greeks termed this sound angma.  In productive derivations, syllable boundaries may coincide with morpheme boundaries.  An example of this is the substitution of koda plosives before the onset of the following suffix ma.  There is total assimilation in grama letter,  replacement by the homorganic fricative in plasma from platma,  and by the homorganic naso in drangma from drachma.  When there is no synchronic morpheme boundary, however, sequences of plosive plus m are simply retained.  See here akme and drachme, and also potmos.  This means that syllabification played a role in the developments observed in grama, plasma and drangma.  At word end, we find a number of special exceptions to the general structure of the koda.  Of course, words may end in a vowel or diphthong.  But the only three consonants in which a Greek word can end are n, r and s.  Thus, words cannot end in a plosive, as illustrated by the word for lord, anax, with its vocative ana,  which derives from an earlier form anacht.  However, as the nominative anax shows, a velar plosive plus s is a possible word end.  And the same goes for an s preceded by a labial plosive, or an l.  The s in such cases is called an extra syllabic consonant.  However, the word ends ns, rs and ts are disallowed, at least in Attic Greek.  Interestingly, in all these three cases, the consonant that would have preceded the s is a coronal.  Coronals are consonants that are articulated with the front part of the tongue.  These sounds undergo various sorts of deletion in Greek, especially when they appear in koda position.  First of all, any dental plosive is deleted before s.  All students of Greek know this rule because it is so frequently applied in the systematic aorists,  for instance, epaissa from peito, to persuade.  But there are more environments where dental plosives are deleted.  In the perfect form pepeika, from pepeitka, from the same verb, it is lost before a velar plosive.  Third, dental nasals are also deleted in koda before s plus another consonant.  An example where this happens productively is pefastai, the perfect mediopassive infinitive of the verb final to show.  And finally, the sibilant s is productively deleted between two consonants.  This happens with the perfect endings sthe and sthae when the preceding root ends in a consonant.  An example here is tetakte from tetaksthe from the verb tato.  So, overseeing these four developments, it seems that ancient Greek speakers had problems with dental plosives in koda position,  and also more generally with colliding coronal consonants.  Another well-known phonological rule is that a dental plosive changes into s before another dental plosive.  Again, a form of peito may illustrate this.  Epaissa, the arist passive.  Here, however, it seems that the difficulty in realizing two colliding dental plosives goes back to proto-Indo-European.  The problem was that speakers of proto-Indo-European did not have geminates in their inventory,  but still wanted to articulate both morphemes clearly.  As a result, they inserted an epynthetic sibilant tsthe in order to separate the onset t and the koda t.  In this presentation, we do not have time to discuss all the interesting phonological processes that are going on in ancient Greek,  but there is one thing that really should be mentioned.  Like many languages, ancient Greek uses clitics in almost every sentence.  Clitics are words that do not occur independently, but only when they are attached to a host within a phrase.  There are pro-clitics, such as ala and kai, the conjunctions, and more prominently,  n-clitics that are attached at the end of the host.  Many particles are n-clitics, such as d, t, min, gar,  and also, pronominal clitics such as moi, mi, usually have a variant that can be used without a host, in this case that would be emoi.  In fact, the difference between clitics and non-clitics forms is usually that the clitic form has no accent.  However, not all clitics are unaccented in our texts, and d and gar, for instance, always carry an acute accent, or a graph accent in a text.  It is important to be aware that the term clitic is sometimes used in Greek grammars in a narrower way,  namely to denote only those words that have no independent accent mark, like te and min.  In such cases, the terms prepositive and post-positive are used to refer to pro-clitics and n-clitics in a more general sense.  Now, a host plus all its clitics is called a prosodic word.  At these higher levels of phonology, there are further phenomena of interest to be discussed,  for instance, differences in the syllabification of consonant clusters within the prosodic word and also at its boundaries.  You may want to read more about such topics in the grammatical outline or in the works in our bibliography.  For now, I hope you have obtained an idea about the synchronic syllable structure of ancient Greek and the various phonological rules that are dictated by it.  Thank you for your attention.
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