Customer Reviews

Vox Graeca: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Greek, Second Edition

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VOX GRAECA is W. Sidney Allen's systematic reconstruction of the facts of Attic Greek pronunciation from a wide variety of ancient sources. It begins with a short explanation of common phonetic terms and then analyses first consonants, then vowels, then the Classical Greek tonal accent system. A series of appendices discusses the pronunciation of Greek in England as it was up to Allen's day, and this is still remarkably pertinent to contemporary instruction of pronunciation in the United States.

It must be repeated that VOX GRAECA is not a defence of the Erasmian pronunciation as some, mostly followers of the Modern Greek pronunciation who have never even read the work, have charged. It defends no pre-existing system. Rather, it is a reconstruction from the ground up like nothing before and proposes a system which (sadly) is not often found in academia. In Appendix B, "Selected Quotations", Allen lists numerous statements on pronunciation by ancient writers, and one can see the care by which he extracted a convincing and etymologically sound system from these works.

While VOX GRAECA is unparalled for its reliability, there are a few negative aspects. The first is that Allen makes a variance from IPA for no good reason, in for example using [y] instead of [j] for the palatal semivowel. And though IPA (with Allen's idiosyncracies) is used through most of the book, the quick-reference "Summary of Recommended Pronunciations" at the end gives examples with analogies to undependable Received Pronunciation English, French or German sounds ("o as German 'Gott'", "omega as English 'saw'"). Another aspect of the book that limits its usefulness is that Allen's coverage of changes is limited to only the classical period. He notes that many sounds have changed between Attic or Koine and Modern Greek, but as long as the change was after classical times, he sees no need to tell an exact timeframe for it.

VOX GRAECA, whatever its faults, is still the work of reference for Attic Greek pronunciation, and is a must-have for classicists and historical linguists. One hopes that a new, improved edition might be published someday, but in the meantime I highly recommend picking this up.

The previous reviewer's "not bad for a book" would only serve to humilate him, were he in the company of academics. This isn't a book designed to teach someone how to recite Greek in school. It's a book on Ancient Greek phonology. If you are studying Greek, your textbook and instructor will tell you enough to sound it out. This book is for people interested in deeper, historical issues, not restricted to scholars, but not terribly useful for anyone who doesn't already deal with a fair amount of Ancient Greek. It also happens to be a respected source of information that has seen several editions.

This book is about greek phonology, not "THE" Greek phonology, as this never existed, but about different phonologic systems that existed between archaic period and Roman (even Byzantine) times, focusing in what we call "classic Greek", that's to say, Attic Greek around V century B.C. The reconstruction is based in proofs such as: modern greek pronunciation, Roman transcription in Latin alphabet, Indian inscriptions of Greek names, etc.
This is not, as some defenders of modern Greek pronunciation claim, an apology of "Erasmian pronunciation" (a term even incorrect aplied to scholar pronunciation), but a reconstruction of old Greek phonologic system, considering the many variations throughout the mediterranean world, because we know that Greek has changed, and modern pronunciation is anachronic for V century B.C. (but some people dare to defend it maybe for chauvisnit, nationalist rather that scientific motivations).

If you want to learn about the pronunciation of classical greek this is the book for you.

This short book is fascinating reading, though I am neither a classicist nor a philologist. It gives helpful instructions on Attic pronunciation. The detailed information about the evolution of language in the Greek world was helpful to me as it nicely illustrates some of the subtleties of pronunciation. Well worth the money.

Not bad for a book, but not the way to learn this. Try "The Pronounciation and Reading of Ancient Greek: A Practical Guide." by Stephen G. Ditz of City College of New York. His "A Recital of Ancient Greek Poetry" is an excellent sampling. Books and cassettes.