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Pronunciation in modern Greek - ᾗ, ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι

Posted: May 20th, 2012, 5:35 pm
by Jonathan Robie
Nikolaos Adamou wrote:... My current studies using garageband show that there is much larger variation then even the modern Greeks think of and the voice, when properly trained, or when it comes from villages and it is not the Athenian standardized, has all its old beautify.

Not all ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι, sound the same,
ᾗ is different from ᾖ but is not hῇ.

In such a way, that on one line you can see the text, and on a parallel line you can see the sound, and you can hear it as well.
Can you say more than that? In modern Greek, what distinctions are made between ι, η, υ, ει, οι, and υι? You mention proper training and regional differences?

How is ᾗ different from ᾖ, without being pronunced like hῇ?

Are there recordings that would illustrate your points? Feel free to upload them as attachments in this thread if you want.

Re: Pronunciation in modern Greek - ᾗ, ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 8:13 am
by mattias
The digraph ⟨γγ⟩ may be pronounced [ŋɣ] in some words ([ɲʝ] before front vowels and [ŋ̄ɣ̄] before back ones). The pronunciation [ŋk] for the digraph ⟨γκ⟩ is extremely rare, but could be heard in literary and scholarly words or when reading ancient texts (by a few readers); normally it retains its "original" pronunciation [ŋk] only in the trigraph ⟨γκτ⟩ where ⟨τ⟩ prevents the sonorization of ⟨κ⟩ by ⟨γ⟩ (hence [ŋkt]).