Greek (Classical)
- Language Family
- Indo-European
- Subgroup
- Hellenic
- Area
- —
Summary
Nasals, liquids and the glide 'w' metathesize with a following segment 'y'.
In a sequence of nasal/liquid and glide 'y' after 'i', 'e', 'u', different phonological processes apply depending on dialects.
In a sequence of s + sonorant, different phonological processes apply with the loss of 's' depending on dialects.
A PIE tautomorphemic coronal and velar stop sequence underwent metathesis in Greek.
Type(s) of metathesis
| Type | Status | Optionality | Position | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. CC | Diachronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Root-internal | |
| b. CC | Diachronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Root-internal | |
| c. CC | Diachronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Root-internal | |
| d. CC | Diachronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Root-internal |
Case types and qualities
-
- CC
-
- C1:
- Nasal
- C1:
- Rhotic
- C1:
- Lateral
- C1:
- Labio-velar glide
- C2:
- Palatal glide
-
- CC
-
- C1:
- Nasal
- C1:
- Rhotic
- C1:
- Lateral
- C2:
- Palatal glide
-
- CC
-
- C1:
- Nasal
- C1:
- Rhotic
- C1:
- Lateral
- C1:
- Glide
- C2:
- Glottal fricative
-
- CC
-
- C1:
- Alveolar stop
- C2:
- Velar stop
Examples
The glide 'w' metathesizes with 'y' regardless of of the quality of the preceding vowel.
*dawyo > *daywo > dai'o [dayyo] > 'kindle'
*ewrewya > *ewreywa > eure ia [ewreyya] > 'wide (f.)'
Nasals and liquids metathesize with 'y' only after 'a' and 'o'.
*morya > moira > 'lot'
*phanyo > phai'no > 'show'
In Lesbian and Thessalian, a sonorant is lengthened with the deletion of 's'.
Examples where 's' follows the sonorant:
*ekrinsa > Les. e!krinna 'judged'
*enemsa > Les e!nemma 'distributed'
Kiparsky (1967): vRs > vRh > vhR > vRR (by assimilation of 'h' to R)
In the other Greek dialects, a preceding vowel is lengthened after the deletion of 's'.
Examples where 's' follows the sonorant:
*ekrinsa > At. etc. e!kri:na 'judged'
*enemsa > At. etc. e!neima [ene:ma] 'distributed'
Kiparsky (1967): vRs > vRh > vhR > v:R (by assimilation of 'h' to v)
A PIE tautomorphemic coronal and velar stop sequence underwent metathesis into Greek.
| PIE | Greek | |
|---|---|---|
| *titko: | [tikto:] | 'beget' |
| *tkey- | [ktizdo:] | 'found' |
Conditions
No conditions could be found
Motivations
No motivations could be found
Symbols
V' = stressed vowel
R = sonorant
Comments
Bibliography
- Kiparsky, P. 1967. Sonorant clusters in Greek. Lg. 43. vol. 3. 619-35.
- McCall, Betsy. 1998. Restrictions on Stop-Stop Clusters in Ancient Greek: Implications for Alignment. Paper presented at the Mid-Continental Workshop on Phonology. University of Michigan.
- McCall, Betsy. 2000. Metathesis, Deletion, Dissimilation and Consonant Ordering in Proto-Greek. Proceedings of the 11th UCLA Indo-European Conference, Journal of Indo-European Studies.