Greek language

Greek (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA /ɛˌliniˈka/ – "Hellenic") constitutes its own branch of the Indo-European languages. It has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any Indo-European language. It is spoken by 15 million people primarily in Greece and Cyprus, but also in many Greek emigrant communities around the world.

Greek is written in the Greek alphabet, the first true alphabet (as opposed to an abjad or abugida) and the ancestor of both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets.

History

Main article: History of the Greek language

This article does not cover the reconstructed history of Greek prior to the use of writing. For more information, see main article on Proto-Greek language.

Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets dating from 1500 BC. The later Greek alphabet is unrelated to Linear B, and was derived from the Phoenician writing system (abjad) in c. 1000 BC and, with minor modifications, is still used today. Greek is conventionally divided into the following periods:

• Mycenean Greek: the language of the Mycenean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 16th century BC onwards.

• Ancient Greek: In its various forms was the language both of Archaic and Classical periods of Greek civilisation. It has been studied in the Islamic world and Europe since the Middle Ages.

• Hellenistic Greek (also known as Koine Greek): The fusion of various ancient Greek dialects with Attic (the dialect of Athens) resulted in the creation of the first common Greek dialect, which gradually turned into the world's first international language. Koine Greek can be initially traced within the armies and conquered territories of Alexander the Great, but after the Hellenistic colonisation of the known world, it was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. After the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial diglossy of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. Through Koine Greek it is also traced the origin of Christianity, as the Apostles used it to preach in Greece and the Greek-speaking world. It is also known as the Alexandrian dialect, Post-Classic Greek or even New Testament Greek (after its most famous work of literature).

• Medieval Greek: The continuation of Hellenistic Greek during medieval Greek history as the official and vernacular language of the Byzantine Empire. Also known as Byzantine Greek.

• Modern Greek: Stemming directly from Koine Greek, Modern Greek can be traced in the late Byzantine period (as early as 11th century).

Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévusa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Demotic Greek is the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today.

Modern Greek differs in many ways from Ancient Greek, but is still recognisably the same language: it is more similar to Ancient Greek than Italian is to Latin, for example. It is claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can understand an ancient text, but this is surely as much a function of education as of the similarity of the languages. Still, Koinē /ciˈni/, the version of Greek used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is relatively easy to understand for modern speakers.

Greek words have been widely borrowed into the European languages: astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, isomer, biomechanics etc. and form, with Latin words, the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary. See English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.

Classification

Greek is its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, Ancient Macedonian language (perhaps even a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison. Among living languages, Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it.

Geographic distribution

Modern Greek is spoken by about 12 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus but also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the USA.

Official status

Greek is the official language of the Greece where it is spoken by about 98.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of the Republic of Cyprus.

Sounds

This section describes the phonology of the Modern Greek language.

The Modern Greek language contains certain sandhi rules, some written, some not. N (ν) before bilabials and velars becomes /m/ and /ŋ/ respectively, and is written μ (συμπάθεια, "sympathy") and γ (συγχρονίζω, "synchronize").
One should note that, when n (ν) becomes m (μ) it is also pronounced as /m/ in Northern Greece (/sympathia/), whereas Southern Greeks conflate /m/+/p/ to /b/ (/sybathia/).
Pre-velar N changes to (γ) and may be pronounced /ŋ/ or /n/, although the latter is usually indicative of careless enunciation. An exception to this rule is the word συγγνώμη (freely translated "I'm sorry") in which /n/ is phoneticaly dropped and the word is pronounced "si/ŋ/γ/nomi" (this is actually an older form of the word, the current orthography is συγνώμη in which /n/ is dropped both phoneticaly and literally).
The word ἐστὶ (estí, IPA /ˌɛsˈti/), which means "is" in Ancient Greek (q.v. Modern Greek είναι), gains a "euphonic" n, and the accusative articles τόν and τήν in Modern Greek lose it, depending on the beginning letter of the next word (if it's a consonant, n is usually dropped). In the phrase "tón patéra" (τον πατέρα), which means "the father" (accusative case), instead of being dropped, n is assimilated into the second word (creating "to npatera") and, following the example above, np is pronounced /mp/ in Northern Greece and /b/ in Southern Greece, thus producing the sound /to batera/.

It should be noted that the latter example is analogous to the English use of "gimme" instead of the correct "give me", and it certainly is not an obligatory phonological rule of the Greek language. Indeed, while everyday spoken Greek sounds artificial if the sandhi rules are not used, a formal or official speech may sound equally awkward if sandhi rules are used. The general concept is described as ευφωνία (euphonia, i.e. beauty of sound) and as such it is largely left upon the intent and taste of each speaker.

Vowels

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

The systematic distinction between long and short vowels has been lost in Hellenistic Greek.

Consonants

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

Historical sound changes

The main phonetic changes between Classic and post-Classic (Hellenistic) Greek are a simplification in the vowel system and a change of some consonants to fricative values. Ancient Greek had five short vowels, seven long vowels, and numerous diphthongs. This has been reduced to a simple five-vowel system. Most noticeably, the vowels i, ē, y, ei, oi (ι, η, υ, ει, οι) have all become i. The consonants b, d, g (β, δ, γ) became v, dh, gh (dh is /ð/ and gh is /ɣ/). The aspirated consonants pʰ, tʰ, kʰ (φ, θ, χ) became f, th, kh (where the new pronunciation of th is /θ/ and the new pronunciation of kh is /x/). There is scant evidence however that the Dorian pronunciation of θ might have always been /th/.

Grammar

Ancient Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, is highly inflected. For example nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated in four main tenses (present, aorist, perfect, and future), with a full complement of moods for each main tense, although there is no future subjunctive or future imperative. (The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is actually mostly of aspect.) In addition, indicative forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist. There are infinitives and participles for all corresponding finite combinations of tense and voice, excluding the imperfect and pluperfect. However, usage of ancient/obsolete grammatical forms and phrases is becoming increasingly common in current language in the abscence of similar modern forms (e.g.: ειρήσθω εν παρόδω, French: a propos ; ευκαιρίας δοθείσης, Latin: data occasione).

Modern Greek has simplified some aspects of this system but is still largely a synthetic language. It is one of the few Indo-European languages that has retained a synthetic passive. The dative is lost except for in a few expressions like εν τάξει (en táxei /ɛn ˈdaˌksi/), which means "OK" (literally: "in order"). Other noticeable changes in its grammar include the loss of the optative, infinitive and the dual number (with the exception of δύο, the numeral two, used undeclined in all cases); the reduction in the number of noun declensions, and the number of distinct forms in each declension; the adoption of the modal particle θα (a corruption of ἐθέλω ἵνα > θέλω να > θε' να > θα) to denote future and conditional tenses; the introduction of auxiliary verb forms for certain tenses; the reduction of participles to only two, one active and one passive; the extension to the future tense of the aspectual distinction between present/imperfect and aorist; the loss of the third person imperative, except in archaicisms such as ζήτω! ('long live!'); and the simplification of the system of grammatical prefixes, such as augmentation and reduplication. Interestingly, modern unaugmented Aorist forms sometimes coincide with Homeric ones.

Writing system

Modern Greek is written in the late Attic variant of the Greek alphabet, which originated in the 8th or 9th Century BCE, assumed its final form in 403 BCE, and displaced other regional variants due to its use for the Koine dialect during the Hellenistic era.

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with a capital and small form: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ ς (word-final form), Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.

Examples

Some common words and phrases

• Greek (man): Έλληνας, IPA /ˈɛliˌnas/
• Greek (woman): Ελληνίδα /ˌɛliˈniða/
• Greek (language): Ελληνικά /ɛˌliniˈka/
• hello: γεια /ʝa/ (informal, literally "health"), you only say this to people that you know well. When you address a stranger you use the more formal "good morning": καλημέρα /ˌkaliˈmɛɾa/
• good-bye: αντίο /aˈdiˌo/ (formal), γεια /ʝa/ (informal)
• please: παρακαλώ /paˌɾakaˈlo/
• I would like ____ please: θα ήθελα ____ παρακαλώ /θa ˈiθɛˌla ____ paˌɾakaˈlo/
• sorry: συγγνώμη /ˌsiˈɣnomi/
• thank you: ευχαριστώ /ɛˌfxaɾiˈsto/
• that/this: αυτό /ˌaˈfto/
• how much?: πόσο; /ˈpoˌso/
• how much does it cost?: πόσο κοστίζει; /ˈpoˌso ˌkoˈstizi/
• yes: ναι /nɛ/
• no: όχι /ˈoˌçi/
• I don't understand: δεν καταλαβαίνω /ðɛŋ gaˌtalaˈvɛno/ (sandhi - see above) or /ðɛŋ kaˌtalaˈvɛno/
• I don't know: δεν ξέρω /ðɛŋ ˈgzɛˌɾo/ (sandhi - see above) or /ðɛŋ ˈksɛˌɾo/
• where's the bathroom?: πού είναι η τουαλέτα; /pu ˈiˌnɛ i ˌtuaˈlɛta/
• generic toast: εις υγείαν! /is iˈʝiˌan/
• juice: χυμός /ˌçiˈmos/
• water: νερό /ˌnɛˈɾo/
• wine: κρασί /ˌkɾaˈsi/
• beer: μπύρα /ˈbiˌɾa/
• milk: γάλα /ˈɣaˌla/
• Do you speak English?: Μιλάτε Αγγλικά; /miˈlaˌtɛ ˌaŋgliˈka/
• I love you: σ’ αγαπώ /ˌsaɣaˈpo/
• Help!: Βοήθεια! /voˈiθiˌa/

The Lord's Prayer in Greek (Matt. 6:9-13)

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·

τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφελήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ρῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας·

ἀμήν.

Transliterated:

Pater hēmōn, ho en tois ouranois hagiasthētō to onoma sou;

elthetō hē basileia sou; genethetō to thelēma sou, hōs en ouranōi, kai epi tēs gēs;

ton arton hēmōn ton epiousion dos hēmin sēmeron;

kai aphes hēmin ta opheilēmata hēmōn, hōs kai hēmeis aphiemen tois opheiletais hēmōn;

kai mē eisenenkēis hēmas eis peirasmon, alla rhusai hēmas apo tou ponērou.

Hoti sou estin hē basileia, kai hē dúnamis, kai hē doxa eis tous aiōnas;

amēn.

The Nicene Creed in Greek

Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα, παντοκράτορα, ποιητήν οὐρανοῦ καί γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καί ἀοράτων.
Καί εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τόν Υἱόν τοῦ Θεοῦ τόν μονογενῆ, τόν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός γεννηθέντα πρό πάντων τῶν αἰώνων. Φῶς ἐκ φωτός, Θεόν ἀληθινόν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, δι’ οὗ τά πάντα ἐγένετο.
Τόν δι’ ἡμᾶς τούς ἀνθρώπους καί διά τήν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν καί σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καί Μαρίας τῆς Παρθένου καί ἐνανθρωπήσαντα.
Σταυρωθέντα τε ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἐπί Ποντίου Πιλάτου καί παθόντα καί ταφέντα.
Καί ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατά τάς Γραφάς.
Καί ἀνελθόντα εἰς τούς οὐρανούς καί καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός.
Καί πάλιν ἐρχόμενον μετά δόξης κρῖναι ζῶντας καί νεκρούς, οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.
Καί εἰς τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον, τό κύριον, τό ζωοποιόν, τό ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορευόμενον, τό σύν Πατρί καί Υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον καί συνδοξαζόμενον, τό λαλῆσαν διά τῶν προφητῶν.
Εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν, καθολικήν καί ἀποστολικήν Ἐκκλησίαν.
Ὁμολογῶ ἕν βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν.
Προσδοκῶ ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν.
Καί ζωήν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος.
Ἀμήν.

References

W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca - a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1968-74. ISBN 0-521-20626-X

Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library). Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0582307090

Crosby and Schaeffer, An Introduction to Greek, Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1928.

See also

• List of Greek words with English derivatives
• Greek dialects

External links

Greek language edition of Wikipedia

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Modern Greek

• Learn how to count in Greek
• Flash presentation with the sound of the letters of the Greek Alphabet
• Biography of Yiannis Psyxaris and the impact his book "My Journey" (Το ταξίδι μου) had on the Common vs Clean Language dispute
• Page about modern Greek Literature
• The Greek Language and Linguistics Gateway
• A Brief History of the Greek Language
• Greek Language
• The Perseus Project has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including dictionaries.
• Free online resources for learners (both Ancient and Modern Greek)
• Athena, public domain polytonic Greek font
• Gentium — a typeface for the nations, a freely available font including polytonic Greek support
• A volunteer community offering free Q&As about Greece and the Greek Language
• Learn basic Greek words and phrases and the speeches of Xenophon Zolotas, Dr. Soukakos, Athnassopoulos and Kalaras
• Learn Greek - Official site of the Greek Institute of language and speech processing
• Learn Greek Online, for people who would like to learn the beauty of modern Greek (with real audio files, totally free)
• Greek courses
• Learn Ancient Greek at Textkit. There you can find free downloadable Ancient Greek grammars and readers.
• Generator for Greek typographical filler text
• Greek–English, English–Greek dictionary.
• Greek–English Dictionary: from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.
• Greek–Spanish dictionary.
• European Union Dictionary to/from Greek to all EU languages (Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish)