[B-Greek] Koine Greek pronunciation
Kevin Riley
klriley at alphalink.com.au
Sat Apr 12 22:24:52 EDT 2008
Mounce's pronunciation as given in the book is Erasmian with some
acknowledgement of the Classical pronunciation recommended by JACT, etc.
The recording is with an American accent, of course, which is probably no
more nor less accurate than an educated British accent. What surprised me
lately was learning how much different classical Greek dialects varied from
Attic. If we want to be "accurate" we should not only be reading Homer with
non-Attic sounds, but also all the other non-Attic authors - unless they
wrote in Attic. Somehow, it seems a little silly to have to change
pronunciation from author to author and genre to genre, even if the original
performers may have done something like that. I think it was probably that
consideration, along with a belief that Attic represented the "best" Greek,
that led to the practice of pronouncing all pre-Byzantine Greek as if it
were Attic - or what people at any time imagined Attic to be like. The
current system - which is not exactly Erasmus' system - is partly based on
the practice of making all written letters have different sounds to make it
easier for students to relate the written letters to the sounds. That is
probably not a bad thing, even if it is artificial in the majority of
languages. And the result - at least on paper - is very close to what most
experts consider to have been the pronunciation of Attic around 400 BC.
That few teachers or students bother to pronounce it as recommended is not
the fault of the system.
Personally, I am persuaded that Randall has a very good system that is the
closest of any to what C1st Greek actually sounded like, and would like to
see it used widely in NT Greek classes. But I also can't help admiring
Attic Greek spoken well by one of the few teachers who have mastered it. So
I would never say that teaching NT Greek with an Attic pronunciation is
wrong. But then, I also find Cypriot Greek appealing, so apparently my
appreciation of "good" Greek is somewhat suspect :)
Kevin Riley
-------Original Message-------
From: Carl Conrad
Date: 13/04/2008 2:52:55 AM
Don't assume that Mounce's pronunciation has any authority other than
Tradition. Realize too that there are other traditions. Although I
Don't know this for a fact, I would assume that Mounce's pronunciation
Is Erasmian, and that is notoriously artificial. You ought to take a
Look at Randall Buth's notes on Koine Pronunciation at
http://www.biblicalulpan.org/PDF%20Files/PRONSYS1%202005.pdf
This pronunciation is based on a carefully-reasoned analysis of how
Greek was pronounced in the NT era; Omicron and Omega are indeed
Pronounced alike at this time.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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