GREEK BASIC COURSE Volume 1 x wise A Ba OA hey wh Gigs This work was compiled and pub- th of America. S. OBOLENSKY, P. SAPOUNTZIS and A. SAPOUNTZIS FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1967 DEPARTMENT OF STATEGREEK BASIC COURSE PREFACE le Course, Volume 1, provides introductory materiale ix moder “student soho wishes to achieve @ working command of the language ‘curently spoken by educated Greeks. The siyle is neither entirely demote (coogi) nor strictly formal. The Greek orthography is used from the beginaing so that the student Teams to read what he has eared 10 ay. Sebsequent solumes are planned to camry the student farther into the jrommar and ocabulary af rgoken Greek and to Invoduce gradually the more formal spoken and triten forms Lnoun as hethorwouse, ured on fomal occasions by all educated Greeks ‘and commonly encoulered in the press. The linguist in charge of this project it Serge Obolensky, Chairman ofthe Depart. ment of Near Easter and Alfican Languages. Greek texts have beom provided by Panagiotis S. Sepounttis ond Aspasia Alki Sopountzis, language insuuctors, These ‘ithore collaborated inthe writing, classroom testing, revision and tape recording ofthe tntire volume, which Mra. Sapountsis alo typed. James C. Bostan reviewed the English portions of the test [or style and clarity of expression. The accompanying tape reconlings were produced in the FSI stedios ander the direction of Gary Alley. James . Frith, Dean (school of Language Studies Foreign Serote Inatiate Department of State autGREEK BASIC COURSE ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface see ee ee ee Oe Introduction fs ese Symbols wed eee eee eee ee Oe eT Bestel Ointegee fe ee ee eee = Note 1.1 Transeription wed see eee ee eee eee e ee eens Se ce Co WS Assimilation of vows oe eee eee ere eee cece eee oO unit 2 rere ee ee i tte at) Note 2.1 Hat, Menttt, Vare!, tarentt! ve ee ee eee cece ee eee gop Palatalization eee eee eee tees 5 29 Defindte Arthel® See eee eee eee eee eee 16 21h Aasdmflation of VOWS oe sete eee eee ee eee eee eee 7 ttt 9 Rboets|Cialoere settee eee ee ee esrative ee eee een cere a Wote 341 > Gender and agreement sss e cece cece cece cece ee ab Det Indefinite article Se ete e cece eee e eee ene es aS 3.9 Definite article-plurel 6 sees eee ee eee eee e eens 86 nts & Paaic Dialogue se ce eee eee cette eee e eee teeee eee 0 Note bet Assindlation se eee eee eee e eee e eee cece ee at Riel | iersorell ones te ee eer | bs hi) CMT GoanuooooccudgduopooocoGouc0 4GREEK BASIC COURSE at bas 46 units Imp. and Fert. stom see ee ee Pros. tense, Class I verbs Pres, tense verb "be! se eee Basic Dislomue Narrative Hote 5.1 58 5.9 Review (Units nse 6 Assimilation of vowels se eee Assimilation of /s/ se eee eee Cases ee eee ee doc0cgud Articles: Accusative see ee ee Stress eee ete eee Declension. se eee ee eee final eee eee Noun: Accusative case. see ee Adjective: Accusative case sss Clase IL verve se eee ee ee ee a3) Greek writing system see eee Wiview DYHMS ee eee eee eee "Polite! expressions see eee e+ Narrative eee eee eee Basic Dialogue + Kerratave Note 644 be bene 62 603 Gel 65 66 clase ctass Chass class class caass Tverbs: Futures se eee eee T verbs: Future continous. . I verbs: Simple Future... I verts: Ferfective sten foms . Evarbe: Persona? endings. + + « E varbs: Irregular perfective stem foms fret yago000d9GcGu0000cGq ciase verbs: Subjunctive see eee eee ee 36 6 7 uy hs 7 7 “7 ue so s 3 3 st 38 ou 6s 66 69 n B ™GREEK BASIC COURSE 6.7 Impersonal verb /prépi/ ss sees eee e ee eee e eee ee 5 Bundt 7ooeooondcc000dbdbqdnnbobdGonon Impersonal use of /oor{/ oe eee ee cette ete e eee eee 6 Gp CoC. Jo00cq0go040000G0000cc5uG00GG U1 Seto Exprossions of THM ss ee ee este eee ence eteteeee % feria Mdtective (tale) eee er eye othe ee ie 6 tit 7 ieee Mantes ere se he eee ec cee hye er Pq cebgododoD00GGGoadG000G0D0G00noDKaG WN Wote 261 Use Of genitive ce see eee eee ee eee te eens OS Tered Genitive cane-articlese eee eee eect eect eee eee ees 6 Teved Gonstive CA90-NONE ee eee eee e tect tence eee 72 eh and and Declensions vee eee eects eee eee e ees 87 Tae) Irregular declensions ese cette ete e eee e eee ee 90 73 Adjoctives: Declension severe eect eee eter eee ees 90 Adjectives: /aft6e/, /6108/s ee cece ee eeteeeceenee 98 TS ABjectiwent /pOlts/s eee eee ee eee eee eee ete eee 98 76 60 Of fadddsta/s ee eee eee c ee eeee Bodcucgdoqgo (4 Grea Wea ot] eine, seen eee eee te) os) frig Usolct{ribond ee ese eee tol Unit 8 EsoOrnt rh qggGuuDdpocco00000ueRbGuaGGKudoGdGG = fiareekive fe 8c eee eee at 0 Possoasive pron@im se pee eee cee e eer eter eee 103 6,2 Pargonsl pronouns used as direct and indirect object$ ss ee eee ee 103 8.3 Demon trative pronouns. Gs eee ete et eee tee teen ee 106 euser fattse/, /eksne6/ oe eee c cece cee ee eect eneeeeee 107 Bek QUBSLLON MOTD. ee ee eee eee eet eee eee 108 BS Yee Of VOID bof ae eee e cece eect ence eet eee es 18 init 9 poke Ulalogies yee ee ee ee ee ng iarnesive ee ete ete eeGREEK BASIC COURSE Wote 9.1 24d declension neuter nouns in /-ma/. e022 + + Sete1 aed declenaion nouns /to yéla/ and /to Wr¥as/ oe eee eee eae 10 Unit 10 PID in dnp oDdSUN Oo OdbboGGdobndosoUGDOKdGG Co Rarvatives oe ee ee ee) as Note 10.1 Vorb ‘be! ~ Past tome, eee cece eee e cece eect eee ee 126 tot Class I verb: Past tense personal endings. sees esse ee eee er toed Simple PAE ve eee eee cece etter eteeeeeeee MT NOek Use of vord /ards0o/ eee eee eee eee eee e eee e cree ee 0 toes Ube of verb /kondbvo/ se ee rete cece cece tee e teens OM Review (Units 6 - 10) Barrette eet eee ee ot unit 14 WAEAAAW. eee eee eee eee eee t ee eee eeeeee res mB Note 1141 Clase I verbs = contimous pat see ee eee beeen us 11.2 Past tense of verb /éx0/s +++ ese e sees wesc eee ee me Ce Unit 12 Basic UULGUE ee se ee eee eee eee eee ee ee eee eeees IF Narrative, « lee ee ee eee | ccs Hota 1261 Vooatives cee eee c cece teeta etree teen ee eee | 155 tact Clase I verbo: Imperatives see eee eee eet eee ee eee 156 taeaet Porfoctive Imperative se eee se ee tee ee eee eee 197 12.242 Continuous Imperative se eee ee eee eee ee eee eet eee 157 1863 Impersonal vorb /nydth/ oe ee eee ee ee eee eee eee | 158 mnt 13 Passo DALI oe eee eee ete eee c ete e eee ceeces th MITAETR, Cece tte e twee cette eee tenenaseees Md Note 13.1 Class II verbo - Present tenae, soe ees eee cece ee eens 168 13.2 Puture and eubjunctive contimious see eee eee eee ee eens 166 193 Notations eee e ee eeeGREEK BASIC COURSE Unit 94 (Besdc|Dinlogne) ee ee | ces Nasa lee ee il (Nose) ieese | ard cecleneicne: ores ete tee ce 73 Masta Feminine nouns in /2 19/6 se ee eee eee eee ence 8 Mu.142 Feminine nouns in /-i88, ~82/ eee eee eee eee eee eee 1m whst63 Feminine nouns in /tita/ esse eee ee eee eee eee eee 178 rut Masculine nouns in / -45/e e eee eee eee eee eee ee 15 ee Wreretse e e see os vs Katharovusa case emiings. eee ee eee eee re est 15 cress es Note 1541 Glave II verte: Forfective stom form see eee eee esse ee 187 Asetet Clase IT verba: Simple future and subjunctive ss eee eee eee 188 t5e2 Clase II verte: Simple Past esse eee eee ee 15e3 Class IT vorba: Contimous putt see ee eee ee sees 88 15edet Continuous Past in /—ava/e eee eee eeeeee bene 189 W5su Irvoqular verb /ryino/ sees cece eee cece eee e cece 190 15:8 Third declension neuter nouns in /-on/ oe eee eee ee eee ee 190 15.6 PONCan' hogdcncndddoncoso0onG = 1) 15.7 Indoclinable nouns see eee er Review (Units 11 = 15) Pete ese asec eee ee re ce ereatines eee eee ac) unit 16 Magic DIALOPUE. ee ee eee eee eee eee eeeeeenees 808 arrears) Note 16.1 Mover, oe eee eee e eee e eee ee 208 16.2 Adverbials of tim sees ee eee cece eee err) 16.3 Comparatives ese cece reece eceeee bene 209 V6 SuperLAtMO, vee eee ee ee ee eee eens eeeee ato witsGREEK BASIC COURSE 5 Condition ss. e eee eee eee eee ’ eee eeeseee ate 16.6 Adjective: katharevusa mfuter fom in /= o/s eee eee eee eee att Unit 17 Basic Diglogues +++ eee ee eee Be ee ee ae Hote + cases II vorbe: Inporstive ee ee eee ee eee cee ee eee a7 1762 Daclinable numerals. 17.3 Alternative porfective stam form of /O6l0/ + + eee ae Watt 18 fbeess Dinhonesels © see i ete tao Mote 1041 Prusent Perfect sees ee ee ee eect eee ence eens as 16.2 Verbs with prefins oe eee eee eee eee eee eens 236 16,9, Past tense augment /e-/ esse eee eee eee ee eee e eens 287 Unit 19 Hote 1961 Past Parfects ce eee eee eee eee ae 234 we Chae TIT Werte eee eee eee eee ee as 190241 Glass TIT vorbe - Stem formative suffixes « pce ess s9s2s2 Class ITT verbs - Present tome se ee see eee eee eee eens 236 1904.9 Clase TI verte - Future and oubjmctives sees eee eee eee 237 19.9 Chase Ik verte - Prfective otan fom see eee eee eee ee a7 19.361 Clase IIT vorbe - Staple Future and Subjunctive sees eee eee a7 19.368 Notation Unt 20 Wore 20.1 Formation of perfective atm ee eee eee cece cece eee ab 20.4.1 CSET WOrS ee ee eee ete eee t teens 2b 20.1.2 Class II verte, ++ + poute3 Class IIT verbh eee eee eee eee fee | aTGREEK BASIC COURSE Note 20.2 Class IIT verbs - Simple Past oe ee Review (Unite 16 - 20) Warrative see ee ee eee Unit 21 Basie Dialogue... eee ee ee WIT ee eee ee Wote 21.1 arg declansion neuter ane Use of /iboe/ +s. ++ ee Chass IIT verte - Imperative. Use of /Bikés/.. ses + 6 ust 22 Basie Dialogue. « « Narrative see ee Wore 22-1 Adjectives in /-fe/ +. + 22,2 Clase T vera: prohibitive 22.3 Vorb /iplrao/ +e eee 2aeh Use of word /makdrt/ +e eee eee eee unit 29 Banic Dialogue. cee eee eee ee eee eee Merativete he ee ee ee Note 2341 Past participle ss sees eee eee ee 23.2 Class III verbs Irregular perfective stems. 2363 Mixed’ conjugetion sss + + Umit 2h Basic Dialogue. MITEL cee ee eee ee ee eee e eee ee Mote au.1 Prefix /asana-/ sees ee 24,2 Prosent active participle « Unit 25 Basic Dialogues see eee eee ee ee eee aur 250 257 259 26 264 204 265 267 265 an ae a am am an 2 200 280 282 205 208 209, aoWote 25.1 Ordingls . . Review (Unite 21 - 25) GREEK BASIC COURSE a7 yor 305, 306(GREECE Internation boundary Indetitenoundony ‘Ons tReiond anise over exit Nomfs enter od 40, piies GREEK BASIC COURSEGREEK BASIC COURSE INTRODUCTION Greek 1s the official language of the present day Kingdom of Greece. More than 95 percent of its population are native speakers of Greek. Other languages spoken in Greece are those of small minorities: Turkish, Bulgarian, serbian, Sephardic (spoken mainly in Thessalonikt by the descendents of Jews formerly residing in Spain and Portugal), Albanian and some others. Outside the Limits of Greece Greek 1s spoken in the neighboring islands, such as Bozca Ada and Imbroz (Turkey), Cyprus, as well as in surrounding coun- tries, e.g. southern Albania, southern Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey (Intanbul). It 48 algo spoken by large Greek connunities in the Anericas (U.S.A., Canade, Argentina, Brazil), 1n Europe, Africa and Australia. Like English, Greek belongs to the large Indo-Hittite (Indo-European) fantly of languages and apread over the Balkan peninsula sometine during the second millenium B.C. Ancient Greek appears to have been divided into four main groupe of dialects: Arcadian-Cypriotie, Dorian, Aeolian and Tontan-Aetie. Beginning in the 4th century B.C. the Ionian-Attic dialect spread all over the Greek speaking territories while other dialects began to decline and then disappeared com pletely in the: firet centuries of the Christian era. Modern Greek presents a rather complex lingutstic picture. On the one hand this language 1e the result of a normal Lingulatie evolution from the older Greek; on the other hand, however, intense nationalistic sentiments during certain periods of Greek history have preserved intact many morphological, syntactic and lexical elements of archaic Greek. As a result there are two broad types of language used in modern Greece, the 'popular!, or dhimotiki, and the 'formal', or katharevusa. The former is the every-day language of the people containing loanwords fron other languages which have been incorporated into the Greek language in the course of later Greek history. 'Dhimotiki! 1s primarily @ spoken language, that of Greek songs and ballads, and does not have a fixed orthography, but is largely used by modern writers of poetry and fiction. ‘Me latter (katharevusa) 1s a conscious and artificial return to older Greek, and 1s taught in schools and used for official purposes and in a more or less ‘pure! forn by newspapers. Since the 2nd century B.C. the Greeks have disputed among thenselves about their language. At that time literary men scorned colloquial usage, consciously imitating the classical style in their works. The schism has continued to our days. xiaaGREEK BASIC COURSE Finally, a kind of compromise form, drawing unsystematically from both ldnimotiki! and 'katharevusa! has evolved. ‘This mixture of the two, called in this Course 'kathomilument!, 1.e. tevery-day language’, has now become the standard speech of Greece. Not all standard speakers of modern Greek, however, can be assumed to use the same mixture of katharevusa or dhinotikt elements in their speech, ‘me ratio may vary not only from speaker to speaker, but also may depend on the situation in which the speaker uses the language. Thus the same speaker may use the extreme variety of dhinotixt while buying things at a market place and then switch to the extreme katharevusa when addressing a university professor. The general trend 1s toward dhinotiki which 1s the normal ‘informal! language, bat \atharevusa in its various degrees of purity! continues to be used as the offictal language in government work (Paraliment, Courts, Radio broadcasts, etc.). The spoken Greek may be represented graphically as follow KATHOMILUMENT Differences of style are even more conspicuous in the written language. Besides Government or other public announcements, doounents, official correspondence, etc. all public signs in towns and villages are written in katharevusa. ‘Thus, for example, the word for fishing shop in every-day language is 'psardédhiko! but the sign over the store says ‘ikhthiopolfon'; the word for grocery store 48 'bakdliko! but the sign seys '"pandopolfon', ete. ‘As far as the press 1s concerned the conservative newspapers are written 4n katharevusa; those ortented towards the center, in kathomtlument; and those of the extreme left, in the extreme and sometimes even somewhat artificial dhimotakt. xivGREEK BASIC COURSE The written language, therefore, may be graphically represented thus? dhimottict kathomtlunent, katharevusa Modern Literature Older Literature Official Language Moderate Press Conservative Preas Every-day Usage This Course The Greek described in this Course is representative of the kathomtlument variety, 1.e, that of the 'standard! speech of educated Greeks. As the influences from the other styles of Greek on the natural speech of an educated person vary according to the speaker and thus create a great variety of ‘correct! utterances, both the most common dhimotiki and kathaverusa forms are represented 4n the Basic Dialogues and Grammatical Notes. At the same time the use of extreme dhimotikt or ‘overpure! katharevusa 1s carefully avoided, ‘The whole Course consists of 75 units and is divided into three volunes, each volume containing 25 units. After every five units there 1s a Review con— sisting of a Narrative which 1s based on the vocabulary of previous units. In addition to this the Review Units of Volume I have Review Drills in which the student is supposed to supply proper forms of given words. ‘These drills are continued in more advanced units in connection with the katharevusa grammatical forme. Katharevusa 18 systematically introduced in the narratives of Volume III and the rules of katharevusa grammar are discussed in the subsequent grammatical notes. Thus the student who has completed Volume III of this Course should have a good foundation for reading official documents as well as newspapers written in katharevusa. ‘The following parts may be found in a Unit: Basic Dialogue Sample Drills Response Drill Substitution Drills Useful Words ‘Transformation Drills ‘Polite! Expressions Correlation-Substitution Drills Narrative Response Exercise Granmatical Notes ‘Topics for DiscussionGREEK Basi COURST Basic Dialogues and Reaponse Drills are found in each unit. Narratives begin with Unit 2, The occurrence of other parts may vary. Use of This Course 1. Basic Dialogues Most Basic Dialogues consist of 10 sentences. In more advanced units the dialogue may be divided into two or three parts of 10 to 14 sentences The instructor reads the Greek, item by item, repeating each item (a butld- up or a sentence) twice for each student. Sach member of the class repeats. the Atem immediately after the instructor, trying to imitate his (or her) pronun~ ciation. If in the instructor's opinion the item is mispronounced by the student, the instructor repeats it at normal peed with the student repeating after him (or her) as many times as necessary. after the class hours each student goes over the Basic Dialogue by listening to the tape and repeating, doing this until he knowa the dialogue by heart. After the sentences of the Dialogue have been thoroughly memorized the students take part in acting out the Dialogue. ‘The instructor may take one of the parts the first time or two, This procedure 1s to be continued until any student can take part and go through the dialogue like an actor. 2. Response Dritis Reaponse drills consist of questions and anawers based on the dialogue and narrative atiuations, und are divided into ‘Response Drill At referring to the dialogue and "Response Drill BI referring to the narrative. One 'real situation! 1s given by the dialogue and another one by the narrative. The answers to the questions are, therefore, predictable, and the student 1s supposed to know them. Thus, for example, if 1t appears from the dialogue that the restaurant is Just across the street from the movie theatre, the student must accept 1t as a treal! fact and say so when answering the question: 'Where ie the restaurant?! In the first 15 unite the answers to the questions in the Response Drills are given with the drills, Therefore, these questions and answers must be arilled in the same way as the sentences of the Basic Dialogues. Beginning with Unit 16 response drills contain only questions and the student 1s supposed to formulate the answers in his own words, but his answers must be pertinent to the given situation, From Unit 16 on the Response Drills are no longer drilled in the same way as Basic Dialogues, but rather take the form of a fre tion based on the facts given by the dialogue or the narrative. conversa~ xviGREEK BASIC COURSE 3. Useful Words and 'Polite Expressions! must be drilled by the instructor and memorized by the student in the same way 28 the Basic Dialogues. 4. Naprative ‘The narrative presents in expository style either 2 eituation similar to that represented in the Basic Dialogue, or a situation related to it, with broader vocabulary. ‘The instructor goes through the sentences illustrating new vocabulary items in the same way as for Basic Dialogue. After the students have thus la through the whole narrative at a normal speed. ‘he students listen with their books familiarized themselves with the new vocabulary, the instructor ré closed. The students summarize in English as much as they understand of the narrative, Then the students read and translate the narrative into English. The instructor then asks the questions of Response Drill 'B! and the students answer them, The narratives are intended to be memorized at home and retold in the student's own words in class the next day. ‘The narratives in Units 2 through 5 are presented both in transcription and in the Greek writing system. In subsequent narratives the transcription 4s omitted. 5. Sample Drills are to be treated in the same way as the sentences of Basic Dialgoues . 6. Substitution, Transformation and Correlation-Substitution Drills are to be used in accordance with the instructions given at the beginning of each drill. 7. Response Exercise Response Exercises occur at the very end of each unit, ‘The questions of these exercises are not necessarily related to any particular unit. Gradually, as the studentts vocabulary increases, these questions become of more general character, The purpose of a Response Exercise 1s to induce the student into a free conversation within the scope of his vocabulary. In Units 2, 3, and 4 all possible answers to the questions are given. All ‘these answers should be drilled in the same way as the sentences of the Basic Dialogues. Beginning with Unit 5 these exercises consist of questions only, and the student 1s supposed to be able to answer the questions by himself. Any answer given by the student 1s considered correct if 1t 1s appropriate and 1s good Greek. The answer is corrected by the instructor if necessary. ‘The student repeats the corrected answer. xviGREEK BASIC COURSE 8. Topics for Discussion ‘These drilis appear in the advanced units in 11eu of Response Exercts. ‘The instructor presents the toptes one by one and asks the members of the class to take part in the discussion. One of the students 1s asked to develop the the topic further and give his reasons for agreeing with the problem raised by instructor, Another student should present his arguments to defend the opposite point of view. Another one should try to find a compromise between the has The and two positions. ‘Then other students join in the discussion, When one topic been fully discussed the instructor raises the next controveratal quertion. exercise goes on until all topics of the unit have been thoroughly discussed totally exhausted. GLOSSARY At the end of each volume there 1s an alphabetical list of ail the vocab~ ulary items introduced in that volume, Following each verb is a number indicating the unit in which the other forms of the verb are listed.GREEK BASIC COURSE wor: Symbols used in the Basic Granmavical Notes. Qn the Bnglteh ele, parentheses and quotation marke are used toge:her (" 1) hen a nore Literal translation 49 given in addition to the ordinary English equivalent. Brackets [ ] are used to indicate words in the English equivélent which do not have an equivalent in Greok. Parentheses ( ) tndicate words which are in the Grosk but not in normal. English equivalent. The English side 40 not a Uterel translation of the Ore ) Dut what Bnglioh apaavers ordinarily say in auch a situation, Tho use of parentheses and brackote ap explained above should make the situttion clear in efch caso, Qn the Grook side, parentheses are use to intcate sounds which are sonetines onktted, Alternate prommetation of the sane word oF alternate vords are given after slant line /. Tn the Gramatical Hotes, slant Lines / / are used to set off Greek sounds, wore, phrases or gentences in transcription within an English text.Kadnuépa ous. KaAnon€pa cag. Kadnvoxra oa5- Xatpere. Te cov. nig elove/elore Mig clove; nan ebyap tore wat tact we" koctcs Kant ebyaptors, x.*eoets; Nat. WéAvora. “Ox. Tapawaris “Aproyot. Eva 860 GREEK BASIC COURSE kalinéra sa. kalispéra sas. kalinfzxta sas. xfrete. yaa. pba Sabe/iate péa 10007 kad efzarieté Bho Good morning (‘your good day?). Good afternoon. or Good evening. (‘your goat afternoon/ evening"). Good night. (said on parting). Hello. oF Good bye. a. how you are How are yout wll, ‘thanks (+E thank*) and you? ‘Tim fine, thanks, and you? Wo. Please. or You're welcome, (Or be!GREEK BASIC COURSE wiry tela tert ‘three ‘Eocene tésera four névre pénde five ee x08 atx énxé ted eptd/etts seven buxG/8xre ket /axts ett evvta/twed enbe/eryé nine coy Beka ten Grammatical Notes Yodern Greok 19 written in Greek letters inberited from ancient Greek. The spelling Ae to a large extent historical and 1s therefore ot cons ent on a munber of pointe. In order to mike 1t easier for the student the first 10 unite of this course are written both in Greek characters and in transcription, Begining with the unit 11 everything 18 4n Greok script and the transcription 1s used only occasionally in grammatical notes. ‘The transcription used here is an adaptation of Latin letters for most sounds and Greek letters for a fov, Tt 1s not stricltly speaking a tphonetic! transcription, For example the letter /x/ stanis for ope sound before /a,0,u/ and for another sound before /e,A/. Since the pronunciation 4s predictable on the tasie of where it occura, a single letter may be used for both sound. The transcription used in this course consists of the following letters and other symbols: Novela ay 0) ue) 4 Consonants: Votceless: p, t, 0, ky a, fy ts, x Voiced: by dy 8 gs ty ¥) dy YT 1 mY ‘Te accent mark /*/ indicates the loudest syllable in a plrage ot sentence and /*/ Amdicates a less lou ("secondary') stress. The weak stress is unmarked. A word said 4m isolation (as in the bulld-ups) will regularly have # primary stress /“/, In a sentence this may be replaced by seconiary /*/ or even ty weak stress (unmarked), The stress in CreekGREEK BASIC COURSE falls alvays on one of the Last three syllables of a vord. There are three types of phrase endings (or! ‘Junctures') im Greek: /,/ /2/ ant /./ (the spectal signs for these are /|/, /li/ and /#/ respectively). ‘These punctuation marks are sot used in the sam way or with the same veiues as in either English or Greek ordinary spelling. The system used here assigns specific values ‘to the punctuation marks. ‘Tne comma /,/ indicates that the intonation pattern preceding it 4s characterized by a raised pitch of the last stressed syllable of the phrase, A period /./ 1s used to indicate the end of a phra: accompanied by falling pitch. It may or may not correspond to a period either in Greek or in English spelling. ‘A question mark /2/ indicates a rising pitch in questions. Questions in Greek may be divided into tuo categorie: +) Questions waich begin with a question word (such, for example, as ‘who!, 'when!, ‘where', thow!, ete.), e.g. ‘Where are you going?! ‘What did he say?! etc. 2) Questions without question words (usualy beginning with « verb in Greek) such as, tare you going there?! ‘Did he say that?!, etc. Tue highest pitch in questions of the first category 1s on the question word, falling gradually to the last syllable. Questions of the second categary have the highest pitch on the stressed syllable of ‘the last word. Tue pitch levels are of course, not absolute, but are high or lov relative to each other. Stress (which 48 loudnese) and pitch (which is height of tone) must be carefully distinguished, Since the loudest syllable is often the highest in pitch, there io frequently a tendency to confuse the two. Very special attention mst be paid to the intonation of each Greek sentence. Tt should never be treated as if it were an English sentence, The punctuation marks will help the student to aay things correctly; but only careful Listening, and imitation as well as constant and persistent dril! will give him a correct premuneiation.