Introduction of breathings An example of polytonic text with ekphonetic neumes in red ink from a Byzantine manuscript, of 1020 AD, displaying the beginning of the Gospel of Luke (1:3–6) The Ionian alphabet, however, also consisted only of capitals. With the spread of Koine Greek, a continuation of the Attic dialect, the Ionic alphabet superseded the other alphabets, known as epichoric, with varying degrees of speed. From 403 on, the Athenians decided to employ a version of the Ionian alphabet. The Greek alphabet is attested since the 8th century BC, and until 403 BC, variations of the Greek alphabet-which exclusively used what are now known as capitals-were used in different cities and areas. The original Greek alphabet did not have diacritics. History The Lord's Prayer in a 4th-century uncial manuscript Codex Sinaiticus, before the adoption of minuscule polytonic. A tonos and a diaeresis can be combined on a single vowel to indicate a stressed vowel after a hiatus, as in the verb ταΐζω ( /taˈizo/, "I feed").Īlthough it is not a diacritic, the hypodiastole ( comma) has in a similar way the function of a sound-changing diacritic in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti, "whatever") from ότι ( óti, "that"). It retains two diacritics: a single accent or tonos ( ΄) that indicates stress, and the diaeresis ( ¨ ), which usually indicates a hiatus but occasionally indicates a diphthong: compare modern Greek παϊδάκια ( /paiðakia/, "lamb chops"), with a diphthong, and παιδάκια ( /peˈðakia/, "little children") with a simple vowel. Monotonic orthography (from Ancient Greek μόνος ( mónos) 'single', and τόνος ( tónos) 'accent') is the standard system for Modern Greek. Since in Modern Greek the pitch accent has been replaced by a dynamic accent (stress), and /h/ was lost, most polytonic diacritics have no phonetic significance, and merely reveal the underlying Ancient Greek etymology. The rough breathing ( ῾) indicates the presence of the /h/ sound before a letter, while the smooth breathing ( ᾿) indicates the absence of /h/. The acute accent ( ´), the circumflex ( ˆ), and the grave accent ( `) indicate different kinds of pitch accent. Polytonic orthography (from Ancient Greek πολύς ( polýs) 'much, many', and τόνος ( tónos) 'accent') is the standard system for Ancient Greek and Medieval Greek. The simpler monotonic orthography ( Greek: μονοτονικό σύστημα γραφής, romanized: monotonikó sýstīma grafīs), introduced in 1982, corresponds to Modern Greek phonology, and requires only two diacritics. The more complex polytonic orthography ( Greek: πολυτονικό σύστημα γραφής, romanized: polytonikó sýstīma grafī́s), which includes five diacritics, notates Ancient Greek phonology. Greek orthography has used a variety of diacritics starting in the Hellenistic period.
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