[B-Greek] Modern Greek pronunciationfor poetry
bitan buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Mon Sep 19 10:56:55 EDT 2005
EGRAPSE Jeremy D. Brightbill
KAI APEKRIQH KARLOS:
>> There have been discussions recently about the benefits of Modern
>> Greek pronunciation for the NT. But I am wondering how it would work >>
for poetry, since the meter is based on syllable length rather than
>> word accent. How do modern Greeks pronounce Homeric poetry or Attic
>> drama? I imagine that they don't try to reintroduce the contrast in
>> vowel length. Do they shift the stress around to fit the meter? Or
>> do they simply ignore the meter and pronounce the accents as stress,
>> as they are in the modern language? I would be grateful if someone
>> could describe the system that Greeks use today, along with its
>> practical advantages and disadvantages.
> Quite frankly, although I know that there are important exceptions, I
> believe that most who READ Homer in Greek do NOT make any attempt
> whatsoever to enunciate the pitch accents -- or for that matter do
> they even read them as stress accents; rather, they read with metrical
> emphasis on the ictus:
> MAY-nin a-EI-de, qe-A, Ph-LAY-i-a-DOE a-chi-LAY-os (that's with a
> more-or-less Erasmian pronunciation)
> If it's read the same way with a Modern Greek pronunciation, I think
> the same would probably hold true:
> MEE-nin a-EE-de, thay-A, pee-LEE-ee-a-DOE a-chee-LEE-os
> Carl W. Conrad
While I can add another way of reading below, There is also a historical
question to add to Jeremy's question.
How did the ancients read poetry during the Imperial age? We can assume that
their current pronunciation of Greek would have served as the base. For
example, Josephus would probably have used the pronunciation that we see
attested in the Dead Sea Greek documents from the first century up to 135CE.
(Quite close to modern, though aspirated voiceless stops were still stops
and two non-modern vowels were still being used Y-psilon and H-ta.
*However, did he or academicians overlay an artificial poetic reading on top
of this?* They could have read in a modified artificial pronunciation that
maintained meter (fairly easy because of its regularity) or maybe even pitch
(more difficult to maintain, since it requires the correct placement of
perispwmenos versus oxytonos for manuscripts that may not have marked this).
When I read Homer or any poetry, I use the Imperial system (=Phonemic Koine)
and generally read for understanding. AFES MOI. However, I often read a few
lines 'artiscally', if for no other reason than to scan or verify whatever
system is being used in the poem at hand. What is an 'artistic' reading?
Reading very slowly, with long syllables probably getting "six mora" and
short syllables getting "three mora". (The exaggerated numbers reflect the
artificial slowness of my reading when I do this, [which should be 2 and 1,
theoretically].) And while reading this way I use a high-tone for any
oxytonos and perispwmenos, and mid for many barytonos.
The problem that I encounter is that when I read this way I cannot remember
what I am reading. I spend so much energy on the reading that I don't get
the meaning. (This happens to be predicted, of course, from second language
acquisition and reading studies in general. It is not good pedagogical
practice to ask a student to 'read and translate'. They would need to read
twice. Rather have one read and the next student
translate/discuss/paraphrase in Greek, depending on the type of feedback
being used in class.)
What would be possible in theory, would be to record some first centjury
poetry with an artificial 'poetic' intonation and then simply listen to that
without the processing energy. I can't promise to get that done in the next
month, maybe afterwards. There is a delightful 1st century sumposion song
that I like to read with students "AULEI MOI" 'toot a flute for me', with
some dark barroom humor. We also have the 1st century SEIKILOS song on the
web, for that matter, though I mimic the tune and ignore the actual reading.
(One of the few pieces of ancient poetry that came with musical notation.)
Blessings
Randall BUth
Randall Buth, PhD
Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
c/o margbuth at gmail.com
also, Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
under Rothberg International School,
Hebrew University
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
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