Vox Graeca: The Pronunciation of Classical Greek (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: open mid vowel, close mid vowel, two light syllables, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dionysius Thrax, Grassmann's Law (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A significant addition to this revised edition is an appendix on the Greek alphabet, designed to provide a parallel and historical background to a similar appendix in the previous edition. -- Book Description

Product Description

This edition of Professor Allen's highly successful book is on the pronunciation of Attic Greek in classical times. In this third edition, Allen has revised the section on stress in classical Greek, the chapter on quantity has been recast, and the author has added an appendix on the names and letters of the Greek alphabet, to provide a parallel and historical background to the similar appendix in the second edition of his Vox Latina. The total amount of revision since the first edition has made it necessary to reset the whole book, so in addition to the new material, the supplementary notes of the second edition are now incorporated into the main text making this book much more convenient to use.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 3 edition (September 25, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521335558
• ISBN-13: 978-0521335553
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #972,027 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The standard work on Attic pronunciation, though not perfect, October 22, 2004

By	Christopher Culver - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Standard Book of Classical Linguistics, January 4, 2002

By	panurge3 "panurge3" (CA United States) - See all my reviews

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.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, quite exhaustive research, September 15, 2004

By	Danilo Vilicic (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews

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).