Greek Diacritical Marks: What are those funny little marks?

Greek Diacritical Marks:What are those funny little marks?

Breathing Marks• Greek does not have an H-sound as a

separate letter – it uses small markings known as breathing marks to indicate adding an h-sound to the beginning of a word

• The rough breathing symbol goes above the letter or the second vowel of a diphthong = ¡ma aƒ

• The smooth breathing symbol goes above the letter or the second vowel of a diphthong = ¥nqrwpoj

Breathing Marks

• A breathing mark is placed to the LEFT of a capital letter

• A word beginning with rho or upsilon (R, r, U, u) always has a rough breathing mark

Syllables

• A Greek word has as many syllables as it has VOWELS and DIPHTHONGSFà - la

• A syllable break occurs right after a vowel followed by a consonant¥ - kron (note that kr is cluster)

• A syllable break occurs between two consonants or a double consonantfÚl - la

Syllables

• A syllable is long by nature if it contains– A naturally long vowel (omega)– A diphthong

• A syllable is long by position if it– Is followed by 2 consonants– Is followed by a double consonant

• A syllable is always short when it contains– A short vowel followed by no consonant

or a single consonant• A syllable is usually short if it contains

– A short vowel followed by a consonant cluster

Accents

• English relies on stress – emphasizing certain syllables in pronunciation

• Greek relies on PITCH – the raising and lowering of the voice on syllables

• There are three types of PITCH markers:– Acute (raise the pitch) £– Grave (lower the pitch) ¦– Circumflex (raise and lower) ©

• Accents go above the vowel or diphthong; acutes and graves to the left of the breathing mark and circumflexes above the breathing mark

Accents

• In most Greek words only ONE syllable has an accent

• It is always one of the last three syllables in the word

• The last syllable is the ultima• The next-to-the-last syllable is the penult• The syllable before the penult is the

antepenult• An accent will always be on one of these

three positions, NEVER earlier

Accents

AccentAccent VowelsVowels PositionPosition

Acute DiphthongsLong vowelsShort vowels

AntepenultPenultultima

Grave DiphthongsLong vowelsShort vowels

Ultima (in place of an acute)

Circumflex DiphthongsLong vowels

Penultultima

Accents

• The accent WANTS to be on the antepenult if the ULTIMA is short; if the ULTIMA is long, then the accent moves to the penult

• If the accent on the penult is long and the ultima has a short vowel, the accent will by a circumflex