Palmer L.R. The Greek Language

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structural point of view) accounted for by postulating not a new series of unitary phonemes (e.g. *kp or *ks *), but

initial clusters. The evidence suggests proto-Greek *tk-, *thkh-, and *thqwh-*, which were reversed in Greek (cf.

for ); e.g. *dheghom/dheghom-/dhghem-/dhghom- (for the Ablaut forms of the noun declension, see

p. 267) 'earth' developed in Greek to *khthon (with m > n in final position). Similarly is traceable to *rtko-.

The Sanskrit evidence is also open to explanation along these lines. The clusters also underwent simplification:

, Lat. humus, / . A similar alternation of initial cluster and single consonant is observable in the

doublets

/ / .

6. Syntagmatic Phenomena

This section deals with the behaviour of sounds as links in the 'chain of speech'. The phenomena are those which

contribute to economy of effort and ease of pronunciationassimilation, dissimilation, simplification of clusters and

the like.

Vowels

The loss of intervocalic consonants such as -j-, -s- and -w- resulted in vowel clusters (hiatus) which were often

(especially in Attic) simplified by 'contraction': e.g. *genes-os >

> > ; *genesa > >

> (for the dialects, see pp. 59 ff.). Two vowels in hiatus may be pronounced as one syllable. In most

examples the first vowel is e. Synizesis, as this phenomenon is called, is not reflected in writing, but appears from

the scansion of the genitive endings

and . On the supposed Mycenaean synizesis in ai-za, ka-za, su-za, see

pp. 31 ff. In a three-vowel cluster the first may be removed (hyphaeresis). The vowels affected are e and o: e.g.

> > > > . Hyphaeresis also occurs in and when the

second vowel is in a closed syllable:

> or / ; a long vowel,

most frequently e, is sometimes shortened in hiatus before a following vowel. *pleja >

> ; *dhawa >

> > (see pp. 62f.); *ausos > hawos > > , cf. 'of ships' < < *nawom.

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Consonants

Consonantal clusters which begin a syllable (in the 'release' position) may be simplified by the insertion of a vowel.

This phenomenon ('anaptyxis') is especially frequent in clusters containing a sonant as the second element (j, w, m,

n, l, r). Latin examples are dracuma (

) and mina ( ). In the following reconstructions the postulated

anaptyctic vowel is indicated by a raised º; its realization depends on its environment.

'live': (contrast < *gwjo- *).

'acquire', 'buy': . Here the vowel is assimilated to the following -j- and appears as -i-.

*dowo* 'two': (Horn.), but Myc. dwo*.

'woman': (Boeotian ).

'wheel': .

In these three examples the vowel is realized as u under the influence of its labialized neighbour. Before liquids

and nasal the vowel is mostly realized as a.

*qwetwores* 'four': .

'death': (contrast ).

'bear', 'lift': (contrast ).

On the root *telH2-/tleH2-, see pp. 219 f. For aorists like , , etc., see pp. 300. Other realizations of the

anaptyctic vowel show an i, but the conditions are difficult to formulate.

'four': (Homer); skod-* 'scatter': ; *pot-* 'spread': .

The clusters NL (nasal and liquid) develop glides b or d:

*mrt- ' death': (< ).

*H2ner- 'man': (gen. sing. < ).

*melH3-/mleH3- 'go' : (< *mlo-, contrast) (aor.) < *e-mlH3-om.

Assimilations are of great frequency. They may be partial, e.g. the feature of voicing, as with pd > bd (

), gt

> kt (

); km > gm ( < *dek-menos); aspiration as in > ; nasalization as

in bn to mn ( < , cf. < *tjegw-*; < < *gwna* 'woman'). Assimilation also

affects place of arti-

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culation: e.g. mt > nt as in

< , cf. ; np/nb > mp/mb, nk/ng > hk/hg (e.g. forms compounded

with ). We may classify here the change of *kj > *tj (kjameron >

/ ); *gj > dj (*bhugjH2 > , of ); mj > *nj (*gwmjo * > > ; but see p. 223).

Total assimilation is widespread:

ts/ds/ths* > ss ( , < *dat-smos, cf. ; < *od-sma, cf. <

, cf. ). pm, bm, phm* > mm (*oqwma* > *opma > , cf. above; on -

ln- > -ll- in Aeolic

etc., see p. 96.

On sr, sl, sm, sn > rr, ll, mm, nn, see p. 236.

Some instances of dissimilation have already been dealt with, see for instance Grassmann's Law (pp. 230 ff.).

Another characteristically Greek example is the change of tt/dt > st: e.g. > > >

. Further, dl > gl in < (possibly Myc. de-re-u-ko). In an extreme form of dissimilation

there is loss of one of the resemblant consonants: (cf. 'throw'), < di-dH2k-sho,

< . Occasion-ally there is loss of a whole syllable: < , <

The initial and final sounds of a word may undergo changes under the influence of neighbouring words in the

sentence. The phenomenon is known as sandhi. Different sandhi forms (sentence doublets) may be generalized and

so give rise to dialect differentiation. Thus

was simplified to before a consonant; some dialects preserve the

distinction whereas others have opted for one or the other. Similarly gave rise to and . The most frequent

sandhi phenomenon is assimilation: , . The sandhi variety of vowel contraction

results m crasis: < < < < < <

. Most frequently, however, sandhi hiatus leads to elision, i.e. loss of the first vowel:

, , etc. Loss of the initial vowel of the second word (aphaeresis) is less

frequent and it affects a short vowel preceded by a long vowel or diphthong:

, <

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7. Prosodies

In speaking, utterances do not simply consist of a series of sounds strung together with equal spacing and on a

level pitch. Words cohere in groups (phrases) set off by pauses, the tempo varies and prominence may be given to

certain segments by relative loudness and variations of length and pitch. These syntagmatic phenomena are

collectively known as prosodies. Basic to their discussion is the notion of syllable. An utterance has as many

syllables as there are peaks of prominence, prominence being defined in terms of sonority.1 The sounds which are

naturally endowed with a higher degree of sonority and so function as syllabic peaks or nuclei are the vowels,

though in certain environments sounds of medium sonority (the sonants like m, n, l, r) may have this function. The

valleys on either side of the peaks are constituted by the consonants.

The rhythm of the Greek word and sentence is quantitative, that is it depends on the alternation of short and long

syllables. A syllable is short if it has a short vocalic nucleus and is 'open', that is if it does not end in a consonant.

The number of consonants at the beginning of a syllable ('release', 'onset') is irrelevant. The pattern of a short

syllable is thus (C)CV. All other syllables are long: they may be open but have a long vowel or diphthong (CV,

CVS *) or have a short vowel followed by a consonant: (C)VC*. To determine the rhythm of a given stretch of

Greek it is thus necessary to fix the syllabic boundaries (syllabification). If the vowels are separated by single

consonants, the syllabic pattern is CV|CV|CV; that is, the syllables are open. A cluster of consonants separating two

peaks (nuclei) is divided between the two: CVC|CVC. Thus Iliad

is scanned

. All the closed syllables are long, as are the open ones

with long vowel. Note that in this verse the first element of the initial cluster

forms the 'arrest' or 'coda' of the

syllable

,2 and

1 See my Descriptive and Comparative Linguistics, 54-5. The syllable, though intuitively dear, as is shown

by its basic importance in versification, is scientifically elusive. Phoneticians have not reached agreement

on the acoustic and articulatory facts behind this intuitive unit of speech.

2 In Attic, certain clusters (consisting of plosives and sonants) are treated as a unit. There is no lengthening of

the preceding syllable.

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that the penultimate syllable is being the necessary resolution of the Greek affricate Y. There are three

short syllables of the pattern V

, with the vowel in hiatus; h does not count as a factor in syllabification.

In discussing the rules of quantity the ancient writers described both vowels and syllables as. long and short. If the

long syllable (our closed syllable) contained a short vowel, it was said to be long

(by 'convention'). From this

developed the unfortunate formulation that the vowel is 'long by position'. W. S. Allen has proposed a terminology

based on the Indian grammarians: vowels are short or long, syllables are 'light' or 'heavy'.

One more notion requires elucidation before discussing the prosodic phenomena of Greek. In practice there is a

wide variation in the actual phonetic length of syllables. As we saw, the initial cluster is irrelevant:

counts as

the same length as . In Greek practice and theory, the basic quantitative unit (the 'primary time', )

was the short vowel, and this was applied also to the 'light' syllable. The long (' heavy') syllable was taken as

double the length of a short syllable. In modern discussions the 'primary measure' is called a mora, and a long

vowel or diphthong is regarded as having two morae.

Accent

The prominence given to a syllable of a word is called accent (accentus being a Latin translation of the Greek

'tune played in accompaniment'). In Greek (as in IE) the accent was essentially one of pitch, a musical

accent as opposed to the stress accent of English. The Greek terms

and (< *ten- 'stretch'), with their

reference to the string 'tension' of musical instruments, implies this musical character, and this is supported by the

correlation of the melody with the tonal pattern exhibited by the musical inscriptions from Delphi (ii B.C.).

Short vowels were susceptible to only one kind of accent, the

'sharp' (Lat. acutus); this raised the pitch up to

an interval of one fifth above the non-accented neighbours,1 which were said to be ; 'heavy', 'low' (Lat.

gravis) and in speech there

1 W. S. Allen moots the possibility that the 'fifth' hi the variation from the mean.

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was a falling glide from the high to the low tone. In long vowels and diphthongs the acute accent could fall on

either 1, the first or 2, the second mora. In 1, there was a falling glide from the high pitch on the first mora to the

lower pitch on the second mora; the accent was said to be

, 'two-toned', 'complex', or

(Lat. circumflexus). In 2, the voice rose from low to reach its peak on the second mora: there was a

rising glide. The two accentuations may be seen in ( ), vocative ( ).

While Greek has preserved the IE pitch accent, it has modified the placing. Whereas the IE accent was completely

free and could fall on any syllable (this being also true of Vedic Sanskrit), in Attic Greek it cannot lie further back

than the third syllable. Even within the 'three-syllable rule' the accent is subject to considerable limitation. In the

final syllable 1, the short vowel may bear the acute, but this becomes grave, unless the word has sentence-final

position:

; 2, a long vowel or diphthong may be either acute or circumflex( . In the

penultimate syllable the accent is acute on a short vowel, but an accented long vowel or diphthong is perispomenon

if the final vowel is short, and acute if it is a long vowel or diphthong1(

, ). The antepenultimate syllable

may be accented only if the vowel of the final syllable is short. The sole permissible accent is the acute. If in the

declension of a word a long vowel appears in the final syllable, the accent is brought forward to conform to the

three-syllable rule: e.g.

. The accentual pattern may be represented as mora patterns in 1, final,

2, penultimate and 3, antepenultimate syllables.

1. (oxytones); (perispomena).

| | |.. (paroxytones); |. (properispomena).

3.(.) |.(.)|. (proparoxytones).

The general rule thus appears to be that the accent cannot go further back than the last mora but two; the sole

exceptions are words of the pattern of

( |..|.). To take account of these R. Jakobson has reformulated the

three-syllable rule as follows: 'the span between the accented and the final mora

1 Final counts as a short syllable (except in the third singular aorist optative), as does except in the

vocative singular of

feminines (p. 277), the locative singular in (e.g. contrasting with nominative

plural

), and the third singular optative in .

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cannot exceed a syllable.' W. S. Allen has proposed a still more concise form which introduces the concept of

contonation (In Memory of J. R. Firth (1966), 8-14). As shown above, there is evidence from the musical texts that

the Greeks used a post-tonic glide on the syllable following a high tone. This may have been what was designated

by some writers, including Aristotle, as

('middle' tone) and Allen suggests that the term may have included

the 'complex tone' as a whole, which from a phonetic point of view was probably similar to the glide on a long

vowel or diphthong in the syllable following a high tone. Thus it is possible to regard the Greek accent as a

complex phenomenon involving both the high tone and the subsequent fall. This is an instance of a 'contonation'.

Allen's formulation of the three-syllable rule is 'not more than one mora may follow the contonation'. If we use the

notation

for the falling glide, the 'contonation' presented by possible only if the final vowel has a

single mora, i.e. is short.

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Morphology

1. Some Preliminary Notions

Word class, root, stem and inflexion

The form of a word may vary according to the part it plays in the function of a sentence. Thus

'immortal'

shows a variety of endings (

, etc.), the so-called cases with functions briefly described as nominative,

accusative, genitive, dative, etc. Such word-components having a syntactic function are called inflexions, and their

complete tabulation is known as the declension of a noun or the conjugation of a verb. If the case inflexions are

removed, the word-rump that remains is called the stem:

. Comparison with other words with a negative

meaning like

'untrodden', 'unknown', 'unborn', etc., reveals the existence of a prefix

with the meaning 'not'. , when brought together with other words dealing with the notion of 'death' like the

verb, , aorist , perfect infinitive , is seen to contain one form of a nucleus to

which a suffix

has been added. The common element of this whole family of 'death' words is known as the

root, and the varying vocalic guises in which it appears

are known as the Ablaut forms (see above).

A whole variety of stems may be formed from a given root by different suffixes. From do- 'give' we have the

nominal forms

(*do-ti-), (< *do-ter-jH2), ,

, and further the verb

The Greek word may thus contain three kinds of morphological units ('monemes'): the root, one or more affixes

(suffixes and prefixes; on the 'infix', see below), which are attached to the root to form stems (there are also root-

stems), and finally the inflexion, which transforms the stem into a complete word and indicates its syntactical

function.

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2. Stem Formation

A. Nouns

Within the noun system the phenomenon of 'agreement' makes it necessary to make a distinction between

substantive and adjective: the inflexions of the adjective are determined by thc 'gender' of the substantive. The

concept of 'gender' is required to account for this agreement of the adjective with the substantive which it qualifies,

as in French le beau garçon, la belle flue, in German ein schöner Garten (masc.), eine schöne Frau (fem.), ein

schönes Buch (neut.). The genders are named 1, masculine, 2, feminine and 3, neuter because of the preponderance

of males, females and inanimate objects among the referents of the nouns that enter respectively into these different

gender classes; but in principle grammatical gender has nothing to do with sex: cf. German der Löffel 'the spoon'

(masc.), die Gabel 'the fork' (fem.), das Messer 'the knife' (neut.). The category of adjective is also required to

account for the grammatical phenomenon of 'comparison', but this is a matter of stem formation and not inflexion.

I. Substantives

The chief productive suffixes of Greek will be listed in a functional classification.1

The suffix may be zero: these are root nouns belonging to the most ancient stock of words, like

, , etc. Others have close connections with the verb:

< *weqw- * 'speak' (cf. ), (acc. ) < *oqw-* 'see', /

/ / / . These are in the main action nouns, designating objects, animals

and abstract ideas, but rarely agents. When they figure as second members of compounds, however, they form

agent nouns:

(< *neigw-* 'wash'), . On the whole he

root nouns are fossil formations and tend to be replaced by suffixed forms, especially those in and .

Ancient, too, are the formations characterized by the addition of the thematic vowel. These fall into two classes

distinguished by the position of the accent. Those with oxytone are agent

1 See Latin Language, 35 ff.

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nouns:

, etc. The paroxytones are action nouns (but form agent nouns as second

members of compounds): . The agent nouns are closely connected with a verbal

root (e.g.

, ) and the sense is often passive: e.g. , 'what is left', 'pasture' (in the sense

'what is shared', 'share-land'),

'furrow' ('what is drawn').

A. Substantives from substantives

1. Diminutives are chiefly formed with the suffix , but this often combines with the suffix of the noun to

produce compound forms, some of great productivity, e.g.

(a)

, etc.

(b) was used to form diminutives, which often developed independent meanings, e.g. . 'window'. This

formation provided the names for all sorts of technical objects and for birds, plants and parts of the body:

'bundle',

'seal', 'pin', 'brooch', etc.

(d)

, etc.

2. Other diminutives have the suffix , .

One basic word may, at different dates, have a variety of diminutives, sometimes with a great accumulation of

suffixes:

3. Feminines.

(a) was also used to form feminines, at first in patronymics of females: , etc. The suffix also

figures in the feminine counterparts of certain masculine formations: / /

/ . Agents in have feminines in , and large number of such formations figure as

names for instruments. In Attic was replaced by , which remained productive in the Koine and survives

in modern Greek.

(b) In IE an important feminine suffix was *-jH21 (for the

1 On the alternation of -iH2/-jH2 yielding / , see above; an older notation is .

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