KATERINA SARRI WEBTOPOS - International Phonetic Alphabet for ancient greek and modern greek

PHONETICS for MODERN and ANCIENT GREEK

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I.P.A. = International Phonetic Alphabet
PRONUNCIATION - IPA SOUND GUIDES
Fonts for I.P.A.
phonetics chart for greek at www.greek-language.gr (in greek) from {D.G.T.}

SOUNDS OF GREEK Intern.Phonetic.Alphabet
1) VOWELS
a e i o u ♪
Also y and ε for ancient greek erasmic (not modern greek sounds).
2) CONSONANTS and combinations.
b d δ f g ɟ γ j
k c l ʎ m ɱ n ɲ ŋ
p r s t θ v x ç z
3) BINARY SOUNDS
BINARY CONSONANTS:
ks ps ts dz
VOWEL COMBINATIONS:
ia ie io iu ai ei oi
DIACRITICS
' = primary stress (before the loud syllable)
_ under two IPA symbols joins them to a tied, linked pronunciation.
Double identical consonants are NOT pronounced twice. Disregard them (except ΓΓ). They were (presumably) pronounced doubled until mediaeval times. Cypriots still do.

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TABLE of GREEK VOWELS
GREEK VOWELS
IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	description	Greek Script CAP-small in Modern-Standard and erasmic, if different
VOWELS: a e i o u ♪ (no variations in modern greek)
a	-- (english) amo (latin) ami (french)	open front unrounded	A α
e	ten	close-mid front unrounded	E ε AI αι AI αí in erasmic only: E
i	see	close front unrounded	I ι H η Y υ EI ει EI εí OI oι OI oí YI υι in erasmic only: I
o	got	close-mid back rounded	O o Ω ω in erasmic only: O
u	zoo	close back rounded	OY oυ

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TABLE of GREEK CONSONANTS and COMBINATIONS b d δ f g γ k l m n p r s t θ v x z
CONSONANT				combinations
IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	description	Greek Script CAP-small in Modern-Standard and erasmic, if different	IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	description
b	boat	voiced bilabial plosive	MΠ μπ Never [mb] at the beginning of a greek word. in erasmic: B β	mb	ambitious	MΠ μπ Always [mb] in the middle of a greek word.
d	day	voiced alveolar plosive	NT ντ Never [nd] at the beginning of a word. in erasmic: Δ δ	nd	end	NT ντ Always [nd] in the middle of a greek word.
	Note the difference between [ d ] and [ ð ] ♪			Also check coubld consonant dz
ð	this but not thin	voiced dental fricative	Δ δ
	Note the difference between [ d ] and [ ð ] ♪
f	foot	voiceless labiodental fricative	Φ φ and sometimes:AY EY HY
g	go	voiced velar plosive	ΓK γκ Never [ng] at the beginning of a greek word. in erasmic: Γ γ	could be written as ⁿg	anger	ΓK γκ ΓΓ γγ Always [ŋg] in the middle of word.
g	go	voiced velar plosive		Note the difference between [ g ] and [ ŋg ] ♪
could be written as g^	gift	voiced palatal plosive		could be written as ⁿg^		ΓK γκ Never [ŋɟ] at beginning of a greek word.
	Note the difference between [ g ] and [ ɟ ] ♪
ɣ	close to gh no english sound	voiced velar fricative	Γ γ
	Note the difference between [ j ] and [ ɣ ] ♪
j	yes	palatal approximant	no special symbol exists check j hypothetical symbol The sound occurs sometimes written as I (iota) see [ia, ie...] or Γ gamma+[i] or +[e]
	Note the difference between [ j ] and [ ɣ ] ♪
k	cool	voiceless velar plosive	K κ KK κκ	Also, check double consonant ks sound
c could be written as k^	cute	voiceless palatal plosive before [i] or [e]	K κ KK κκ
	Note the difference between [ k] and [ c ] ♪
l	love	alveolar lateral approximant	Λ λ ΛΛ λλ
could be written as l^	tagliatelle	palatal lateral approximant before [i]	Λ λ ΛΛ λλ
	Note the difference between [ l ] and [ ʎ ] ♪
m	mother	bilabial nasal	M μ MM μμ	mɲ	μια greek: =one(fem.)	occurs sometimes before [i] sound
				mp	imperium (latin)	MΠ μπ [mp] only for non greek words.
				mb	ambitious	MΠ μπ Never [mb] at beginning of a greek word. Always [mb] in the middle of greek word.
could be written as superscript ^m...		labiodental nasal	very rare it may occur in modern greek, when M [m] is followed by [f] or [v]
n	no	alveolar nasal	N ν NN νν	nd	end	NT ντ Always [nd] in the middle of a greek word. CHECK /d/.
				ndz	-	NTZ ντζ Always [ndz] in the middle of a word. CHECK /d/. and CHECK /dz/
could be written as n^	new	palatal nasal (rare)
	Note the difference between [ n ] and [ ɲ ] ♪
	sing	velar nasal (rare)	rare sound called «άγμα» [ˈaɣma] no particular symbol exists Gamma plays its role. Occurs at these ΓK γκ ΓΓ γγ ΓΞ γξ ΓX γχ combinations.
p	pool	voiceless bilabial plosive NOT aspirated	Π π ΠΠ ππ	pç		Occurs sometimes when /p/ is followed by /ia, ie, io, iu/
				Also check double consonant ps
r	arrow as in spanish	alveolar trill	P ρ PP ρρ
s	sex	voiceless alveolar fricative	Σ σ (ς) ΣΣ σσ	In greek, there is no ʃ ♪ postalveolar sound as in shop
t	tool	voiceless alveolar plosive NOT aspirated	T τ TT ττ	Also check double consonant ts
θ	thin but not this	voiceless dental fricative	Θ θ
v	vote	voiced labiodental fricative	B β BB ββ and binary (αυ, ευ, ηυ)
x	scottish Lokh	voiceless velar fricative	X χ
ç could be written as x^	similar to he	voiceless palatal fricative	X χ before [i] and [e] and sometimes I ι
	Note the difference between [ x ] and [ ç ] ♪
z	zoo	voiced alveolar fricative	Z ζ Σ σ before [v,γ,δ,m]	NOTE that in greek, there is no ♪ postalveolar sound as in french je
				Also check double consonant dz

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TABLE of GREEK BINARY UTTERANCES (CONSONANTS)
IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	Greek Script CAP-small in Modern-Standard and erasmic, if different
consonants: binary sounds a) written with monogrammes
ks	sex	Ξ ξ κσ in the middle of compound words
ps	lips	Ψ ψ
[ ks ps ♪ ]
consonants: binary sounds b) written with digrammes
ts	nuts	TΣ τσ τς NOTE that in greek there is no tʃ sound as in church
dz	dads	TZ τζ in erasmic: zeta Z NOTE that in greek there is no d ♪ sound as in judge
[ ts dz ♪ ]

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TABLE of GREEK BINARY UTTERANCES (2 VOWELS pronounced fast)
DIPHTHONGS (vowels) (two vowel sounds)
[ia, ie, io, iu] are often pronounced in mod.gre. very fast, as [ja je jo ju] or [ça çe ço çu]. The phaenomenon is called synizesis old gre: συνίζησις mod.gre: συνίζηση [si`nizisi]. Some greek speakers pronounce them this way, some others do not. The very good {D.G.T.} says that research is not adequate to give definite rules and that the pronunciation of some words is dubious. Such small nuances betray foreigners that otherwise speak greek very well. Sometimes, a [i...] or a [j...] version could produce different meaning for one word. e.g. gre.v. < βιάζoμαι > can be pronounced [`vjazome] = eng: I am in a hurry. [vi`azome] = eng: I am raped.
IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	Greek Script CAP-small in Modern-Standard and erasmic, if different
ia i`a		IA ια EIA εια IA ιά EIA ειά In some cases, pronounced [ja, ça, ɲa] but not always. sometimes, pronounced [i a]
i`e		IE ιέ EIE ειέ IE is also pronounced [je] but not always. sometimes, pronounced [i e]
io i`o		IO ιo EIO ειo IO ιó EIO ειό IO is also pronounced [jo, ço] but not always. sometimes pronounced [i o]
iu i`u		IOY ιoυ EIOY ειoυ OIOY oιoυ IOY ιoύ EIOY ειoύ OIOY oιoύ IO is also pronounced [ju, çu] but not always. sometimes pronounced [i u]
ai `ai	ice	AÏ αϊ AH αη AI άι AH άη but not always. sometimes, pronounced [a i]
ei	mail	'EI έι EÏ εϊ but not always. sometimes, pronounced [e i]
oi `oi	point	OÏ oϊ OI όι but not always. sometimes, pronounced [o i]

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NON-GREEK VOWELS for reference
IPA phonetic symbol	as in the word... (english or other)	description
non-greek allophones
æ	cat	almost open front unrounded
schwa	ago ['gυ]	almost close-mid central unrounded
α	arm	open back unrounded
ʌ	cut	open-mid back unrounded
ε	père (french) resembles erasmic pronunciation of ancient greek ETA	open-mid front unrounded
ı i with no dot	sit	almost close front unrounded
	saw	open-mid back rounded
ʊ	put	almost close back rounded
y	tu (french) exists in erasmic pronunciation of ancient greek UPSILON	close front rounded
non-greek semiphone
w	wet	approximant
w	see the early, abandoned greek letter digamma

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katerina sarri, athens, october 2007