Athenaze 06 Ὁ Μῦθος (Lucian Pronunciation) · Ἀθήναζε (Patreon)

All posts in this series may be found here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/36186862

Ἀθήνᾱζε in Koine Greek Pronunciation of the 2nd century AD! Bottom line up front: this series for the ATHENAZE book is in my "Lucian" Koine pronunciation to aid those (including myself) who want the ability to speak and recite Greek fluidly using phonemes that are more familiar to their ears, namely the rendering of voiceless aspirates χ θ φ as their (nearly) Modern Greek fricative equivalents, as they are for most people these days using their version of the Erasmian Pronunciation (which I do not like due to its non-historical elements), as well as other historically confirmed evolutions such as the γ δ β as fricatives (which preceded the transformation of χ θ φ into fricatives by as much as centuries), and the palatization of κ and γ before front vowels, also a feature of Modern Greek. The vowel system is somewhat more conservative, but appropriate through the fall of the Western Roman Empire, including the retaining of diphthongs, and most importantly vowel length as well as pitch accent (combined with stress accent, making it sound more "normal" and familiar, I hope, to the Modern Greek ear).

Fuller Explanation:

I have been recording Athenaze, the narrative for which takes place in 5th century BC Athens, in the reconstructed Attic pronunciation of that period and have uploaded these videos to YouTube (q.v. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU1WuLg45SixrxviQiHOlkdkT-XPvyrgv ). I will continue this video series, but I have paused the production of it principally because I am eager to become competent at speaking and reciting Ancient Greek in a Koine pronunciation. This has come to pass for various motives.

As you may know, I am no longer prescriptivist in my advice for the pronunciation of ancient languages, since I have become fairly intimately acquainted with the variety that we can confirm existed coaevally, q.v. my spreadsheets on Greek and Latin phonology:

https://bit.ly/ranierigreekpronunciation

https://bit.ly/ranierilatinpronunciation

While these studies have cast doubt on my former certainty of what a "dominant pronunciation" system may have been for a particular group of people in a given century, I do not, however, advocate an "anything goes" approach to the recitation of ancient languages. Most fundamental to me is that we exercise a doctrine of observing vowel length and syllable quantity as assiduously as possible, no matter what phonetic character we apply to the individual graphemes, for both Ancient Greek and Latin, since without this most fundamental feature, the languages go through such a significant transmutation as to necessitate their evolution into Mediaeval and Modern Greek and the Romance languages. That is to say, the grammar of Ancient Greek and Latin is not possible without syllable quantity and vowel length. All the literature by native speakers from earliest and antiquity to the end of the Western Roman Empire, all that we call Ancient Greek and non-Romance Latin, has this feature in common.

And if vowel length and syllable quantity were merely an academic notion to us without a noticeable impact on the literature itself (as I might say is the case in Old Norse, for example), I might more easily excuse the disregarding this feature in speech and recitation today. However, the literature, most especially the poetry, the glittering jewel of Latin and Ancient Greek, requires this feature to construct its verses, charging us with the goal of also learning these ancient languages with phonemic vowel length preserved. And since all the best writers of Ancient Greek and Latin after the ancient period so excellently imitated their predecessors, despite many of them being ignorant of how to correctly render phonemic vowel length in speech, they maintained correct grammar reflective of the fundamental feature. Thus I strongly, strongly advocate for vowel length and syllable quantity to be observed in all studies of Ancient Greek and Latin. See my video essay on this topic: https://youtu.be/D3bmLi1bKI0

This does not dismiss the weakening of phonemic vowel length during the Roman Empire, which I have annotated on my spreadsheets (linked above). Thus, for Koine Greek, it is not at all amiss to opine for a highly Modern Greek style of pronunciation where vowel and syllable quantity are completely disregarded, as advocated by Randall Buth, q.v. https://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/koine-greek-pronunciation

Buth advocates a pronunciation which is definitely historically valid for some speakers during the Roman Empire. And my system is also vaild for at least some speakers of Greek during the Roman Empire. Which then to choose: the easier path, or the harder one? My experience as a teacher and speaker of Latin and more recently of Ancient Greek has informed me, however, that is is exceedingly difficult to relearn vowel length and syllable quantity after having acquired the language, whereas the effort put in up-front is more easily exerted, and the success at the other end is spectacular. Take the analogy an athletic adult who as a youth trained physically, compared with the person who was more sedentary when young and as an adult attempts to become athletic. Naturally the latter, we might agree, should attempt to become somewhat athletic for the sake of personal health, but it will be more difficult than if the exercise had begun at an earlier stage of development.

The study of languages, particularly ancient ones, is an exercise, an act of training that is very challenging, and requires a great deal of work and dedication, even for the dabbler. But the rewards are profound!

All that said, I have gained an appreciation for the convenience of a convention, and the efficiency it can bring a person when rendering a "dead" language alive again.  Thus I can hardly blame users of the Erasmian Pronunciation for sticking to its relative simplicity and clarity.  And if proper vowel length and syllable quantity are maintained, Erasmian, Modern, Classical, or Koine pronunciations are all quite acceptable in my book for Ancient Greek of any period. The training in phonemic vowel length allows us to access the rhythms of Ancient Greek poetry effortlessly, which as I have averred above is the most important, and most universal, feature. Given the vast diatopic and diachronic mutations of Ancient Greek, it is not easy to switch blithely from Attic to Koine to Modern pronunciation of the language. But I would like to do that some day, as I recently trained myself to do Latin, switching between Ecclesiastical/Italian pronunciation and Restored Classical fairly easily. But this sort of party trick isn't necessarily for everyone.

So, which pronunciation system should one master? On this, for the time being, I have concluded that the Koine Pronunciation that I present in this recording, which I call ἡ Λουκιᾱνὴ Προφορά̄, the pronunciation I imagine might have been used by Lucian who flourished in the 2nd century AD, to be pedagogically most helpful because of the retention of more conservative (but extant in Koine) features such as diphthongs αι οι αυ ευ etc., pitch accent (combined usually with stress accent in the model of Serbo-Croatian), and the vital phonemic syllable quantity and vowel length; in addition, it is also convenient through its application of the (nearly) Modern Greek fricative γ δ β χ θ φ, which in addition to being familiar, are also very beautiful to my ear. 

As I practice this accent, I am assiduously studying Modern Greek to induce as much of the spirit of the more recent tongue, such as in intonation and vowel placement, as is possible within the above framework. I have attempted something similar with my Latin accent, importing as much Italian character as I can muster without betraying the fundamentals of the ancient language.

Thus I will be recording the entirety of Athenaze in my Koine pronunciation and posting the audio here on my Patreon page.  Thanks for reading this far!  Χάριν ὑ̄μῖν οἶδα! Ἔρροσθε εὐτυχέως!

*****

My Athenaze playlist on YouTube in Classical Attic (5cBC Athens) pronunciation:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU1WuLg45SixrxviQiHOlkdkT-XPvyrgv

Lingua Graeca Per Se Illustrata by Seumas Macdonald audio recordings in Roman Imperial Koine Pronunciation:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/32708727

Ranieri's Greek Pronunciation Chronology spreadsheet:

https://bit.ly/ranierigreekpronunciation

Ranieri's Latin Pronunciation Chronology spreadsheet:

https://bit.ly/ranierilatinpronunciation

Koine Greek Phonology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek_phonology

Randall Buth's Koine Greek Pronunciation:

https://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/koine-greek-pronunciation/

*****

Imperial Roman "Lucian" Koine Greek Pronunciation

Ἡ Λουκιᾱνὴ Προφορά̄

Syllable quantity, including geminated consonants and long vowels, is strictly observed. Pitch accent is often supported by stress accent. Other interchanges are in the monophthongization of diphthongs, which may have been in free variation with each other during much of the Roman Empire, for example αι /ae̞̯~ae̯~æe̯~æɛ̯~æː~ɛː/ and οι /øy̯~oy̯~ɵi̯~øi̯~ɘi̯~əi̯~øː~ʏː/

Prescribed version 1:

key features:

fricatives for

γ /ɣ~ʝ/

δ /ð/

β /β/

χ /x~ç/

θ /θ/

φ /ɸ/

N.B. both the β and φ are bilabial fricatives /β/ and /ɸ/, respectively; if labiodental fricatives /v/ and /f/ are desired, then must also be αυ /av, af/ and ευ /e̞v, e̞f/.

Prescribed version 2 (Archaic):

If you want to have

αυ /au̯/

ευ /e̞u̯/

then you have to have

χ /kʰ~cʰ/

θ /tʰ/

φ /pʰ/ (because letter φ and the unvoiced diphthong end-glide /w/ as in αὐτὸς must merge as /φ/ before becoming the modern fricative /f/. )

Prescribed version 3 (Evolved):

if you want

φ /f/

β /v/

then you have to have

αυ /av, af/

ευ /e̞v, e̞f/

(See note above)

Other evolved traits: αι > /e̞ː/ and οι /yː/

Prescribed version 1, all letters

α /a/

ε /e̞ /

ι /i/

ο /o̞/

υ /y/

ᾱ /aː/

η /e̞ː/ = ῃ

ει /iː/

ῑ /iː/

ω /o̞ː/ = ῳ

ου /uː/

ῡ /yː/

αι /ae̯̞/

αυ /aβʷ, aɸʷ/

ευ /e̞βʷ, e̞ɸʷ/

οι /oy/

υι /yː/

ᾳ /aː/

ῃ /e̞ː/

ῳ /o̞ː/

‘ /h~∅/

ζ /z̠ː/

σ /s̠~z̠/

γ /ɣ~ʝ/

δ /ð/

β /β/

χ /x~ç/

θ /θ/

φ /ɸ/

κ /k~c/

τ /t/

π /p/

ρ /ɾ~r, r̥ʰ~r/

λ /l/

μ /m/

ν /n/