Re: Could you please open your history book...


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Posted by Glad to help on March 27, 2002 at 16:12:23:

In Reply to: Could you please open your history book... posted by ati on March 26, 2002 at 03:11:38:

Modern Greek taught in Greek schools is taught with a modern if formal pronounciation. You will be aware that modern Greek consists of two streams of the language, Demotic and Katharevousa. Demotic is the modern Greek spoken by all in everyday situations and is most often taught in community Greek schools. Katharevousa was formalised as the formal Greek language in the mid-nineteenth century (after liberation), and is currently the language of the law courts, government, all formal or official communications. The pronounciation found in Katharevousa is closer to ancient Greek. Of course no one knows exactly how ancient Greek was pronounced, philologists can only go by the way it was written because Greek still remains a largely phonetically written language, ie., how it is spoken is how it is written, so certain assumptions can be made as to how ancient Greek was pronounced. There are more clues as to how ancient Greek was pronounced with the finding of ancient Greek musical texts that noted rhythm. By studying how beats fell on which syllabul, certain assumptions on how certain ancient Greek words were pronounced can be made. I hope this has given you enough to go on, and good on you if you choose to study ancient Greek, there are few things more wonderful than examining ancient sites and being able to read and understand inscriptions made so long ago.



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