Pronuciation Flashcards
“Breathing marks” are on…
every word beginning with a vowel.
Diphthong
is two vowels that produce one sound. The second vowel is always an ι (Iota ι) or an υ(Upsilon υ). See pronunciation in Diphthongs Deck.
Memory 🔑- English does this too. Think of the name CAIN.
The AI- come together to produce the long A (AY) sound.
Gamma (γ) Nasal
Gamma (γ) normally has a hard G as in “get” but when immediately followed by γ,κ,χ,or ξ, it is pronounced as “n”.
Ex: άγγελος pronounced “angelos”
The gamma pronounced like an “n” is called a gamma nasal.
Sounds produced by α (Alpha)and ι (Iota) can be
either long or short.
Sounds produced by ε (Epsilon) and ο (Omicron) are always
short.
Sounds produced by η (Eta) and ω (Omega) are always…
long.
The following letters sound just like their English counterparts…
α, β, γ, δ, ε, ι, κ, λ, , ν, ο, π, ρ, σ/ς, τ.
The vowels in Greek are:
α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, and ω.
Circumflex Rule #1
The circumflex accent shows that the voice roles and dropped a little on the accented syllable.
(γλῶσσα).
Notice how the shape of the accent gives a clue as to the direction of the pitch.
Apostrophe
When certain prepositions and conjunctions end with a vowel and the next word begins with a vowel, the final vowel of the first word may drop out. This is called an elision. It is marked by an apostrophe which is placed where the vowel was dropped.
ἀπὸ ἐμοῦ → ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ (ο) the vowel omicron is dropped.
Acute (Accent mark) ´
The acute accent shows that the pitch originally went up a little on the accented syllable (θάνατος).
Notice how the accent mark raises from left to right. (Think of children. They think they are
“a-cute” when they rise up in the morning and you’re still tired!) 😂
Grave (Accent mark) ὰ
The grave accent shows that the voice originally dropped a little on the accented syllable (διὰ πύλης).
Hmmm. 🤔How can we remember grave and drop?
🪦⚰️
Breathing Mark (ἀ)
The Breathing mark that resembles a backwards C is SMOOTH. No pronunciation.
Memory 🔑- think of how a backwards (Ↄ) resembles a sail. See how it catches the wind a smoothly pushes you along?
Breathing Mark (ἁ)
The Breathing mark that resembles a standard facing C is ROUGH. Heavy “H” emphasized in pronunciation.
Memory 🔑- think of how the wind is pushing the sail back in a normal “C” causing the C (or Sea) to be rough.
In order to for the vowel combination to result in a diphthong it must end in
either of which two vowels?
υ or ι
Upsilon or Iota