From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 30 1996 - 07:11:09 EDT
Without citing the original post, I want to endorse as warmly as possible
Edward Hobbs' wise comments on pronuncication and aural reinforcement:
1. I cannot imagine that learning Greek without reading aloud and acquiring
an aural equivalent of the written words ever being successful. One needs
to HEAR the words--at least mentally (which means learning them by oral
pronunciation, of course), if one is really to accumulate vocabulary
successfully.
2. One needs also to HEAR the words of Greek sentences in their original
sequence--repeatedly--if one is to acquire any sense of the way the
Greek-speaking mind works (as opposed to hunting for subject and verb, then
adding modifiers until a little crossword puzzle has been solved). That is,
one needs to learn to think in Greek, at least to some extent, if one is
ever really to understand it. Oral reading is a powerful catalyst in this
process.
3. As Edward said, if ever one intends to pronounce Greek before others
beyond one's original classmates, it makes sense to learn the Erasmian
pronunciation--not because it accurately represents the way Greek was ever
pronounced (it most certainly does not) but because it is the most nearly
universal conventional pronunciation and it can only be a useless display
of mixed pedantry and ignorance to pronounce Greek words--showing that you
know them--before others in a way that they cannot understand.
4. I would agree with the argument that modern Greek pronunciation is
probably closer to the pronunciation of 1st-century Koine Greek--with OI,
U, I, H, EI all pronounced "ee"--but to use this pronunciation before
others, most of whom have learned the Erasmian pronunciation, doesn't
contribute to communication. And finally, that process of "ITACISM"--the
leveling of the vowel & diphthong sounds to a single common "ee" sound can
ruin one's spelling of Greek (as Egyptian papyri show very clearly in
numerous instances of letters written by literate but unsophisticated
persons).
In sum, it's practical to learn the Erasmian pronunciation and to use it in
aural reinforcement of vocabulary acquisition and it reading aloud of
original Greek texts to get the habit of thinking in Greek word-order.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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