Week 3: Greek Flashcards
Why is Greek important in the history of PIE?
It’s important for the reconstruction of PIE.
What is the link between Doric and Mycenaean?
Doric replaced Mycenaean dialect areas.
PIE vowels
Vowel system consisted of two true vowels *e and *o.
Also two semi-vowels: phonologically */i/ and */u/.
1. Phonetic realisation as vowel: [i] and [u]
2. Consonants: [j] and [w]
3. Notation as conson.: <i ̯> and <u ̯>
What does * mean? (*e)
That these letters are reconstructed.
PIE diphthongs
- A complex vowel (tweeklank)
- Diphthongs consisted of vowels in conjunction with semivowels: ei, eu, oi, ou.
- Intervocalic u ̯ disappeared in most Greek dialects.
PIE vowel alternation
- Ablaut: vowel alternations in syllables
- Three variations:
• *-o- = o-grade
• *-e- = e-grade
• *-ø- = zero-grade
Word structure of Greek
PIE verbs and nouns have the following structure:
{root + suffix} + ending
root + suffix = stem
Vowel alternation can occur in any of these parts.
Diphthongs in Greek
*ei
*eu
*oi
*ou
Dialects of Ancient Greek
- Attic (Athens)
- Ionic (Odyssey, Iliad)
- Aeolic
- Northwest Greek
- Arcadian
- Doric
- Cypriot
Proto-Greek
PIE branch with the most speakers
Indo-Iranian
Most widely used Slavic languages are…
The Eastern ones; primarily Russian.
Most spoken West-Slavic language is…
Polish
Four most widely used Romance languages
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- French
- Italian
When was Mycenaean/Greek attested? What was the language written on and what was remarkable about it?
Mycenaean (from 14th c. BCE)
Lineair B clay tablets. Early texts were relatively close to when PIE was spoken and Greek seems to look a lot like PIE (the vowels, sounds).
Greek literature
Large corpus of very old texts
1. Iliad and Odyssey (ca. 8th BCE)
* First written texts were probably later than that.
* Orally transmitted poetry.
* Primarily Ionic but contains traces of Aeolus and Mycenaean.
2. Inscriptions (from 7th BCE).
3. Classical texts (from 5th BCE).
* Primarily Ionic and Attic.
