A spurious diphthong (or false diphthong) is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

that is etymologically a

long vowel In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, f ...

but written exactly like a true

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...

(''ei, ou'').

Origin

A spurious diphthong has two origins: from

compensatory lengthening Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda, or of a vowel in an adjacent syllable. Lengthening triggered ...

of short (''e, o'') after deletion of a consonant or contraction of two vowels: #* *''mónt-ya'' or *''móntʰ-ya'' → *''mónsa'' (

assibilation In linguistics, assibilation is a sound change resulting in a sibilant consonant. It is a form of spirantization and is commonly the final phase of palatalization. Arabic A characteristic of Mashreqi varieties of Arabic (particularly Levantine ...

from palatalization) → "

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

" #* ''doter-ya'' → "giver" (feminine; compare masculine ) # #* → "you (pl.) love" #* → "mind" In general, spurious contracts from . The specific rules are more complex.

True diphthongs

By contrast, true diphthongs are ''e'' or ''o'' placed before ''i'' or ''u''. Some come from ''e''-grade of

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German ''Ablaut'' ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its ...

+ ''i'', or ''o''-grade + ''u'', co-existing beside forms with the other grade: * "I leave" (''e''-grade: genuine diphthong) — "I have left" (''o''-grade) * *''eleútʰ-somai'' → "I will come" (''e''-grade) —

Homeric Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

"I have come" (''o''-grade) * Proto-Greek *''akouyō'' → "I hear"

Pronunciation

Early in the

history of Greek Greek is an Indo-European language, the sole surviving descendant of the Hellenic sub-family. Although it split off from other Indo-European languages before 2000 BC, it is first attested in the Bronze Age as ''Mycenaean Greek''. During the Ar ...

, the diphthong versions of ει and ου were pronounced as , the long vowel versions as . By the Classical period, the diphthong and long vowel had merged in pronunciation and were both pronounced as long

monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

s . By the time of

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

, ει and ου had shifted to . (The shift of a Greek vowel to is called

iotacism Iotacism ( el, ιωτακισμός, ''iotakismos'') or itacism is the process of vowel shift by which a number of vowels and diphthongs converged towards the pronunciation in post-classical Greek and Modern Greek. The term "iotacism" refers to ...

.) In

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

, distinctive vowel length has been lost, and all vowels are pronounced short: .

Other dialects

Long ''e'' and ''o'' existed in two forms in

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

- Ionic: and (''ē, ō''). In earlier Severer

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

, by contrast, only counted as a long vowel, and it was the vowel of contraction. In later forms of Doric, it contracted to . Throughout the history of Doric, compensatory lengthening resulted in . "Severe" refers to the sterner-sounding

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

pronunciation of , in contrast to the closer .

References

{{Ancient Greek grammar Greek grammar Ancient Greek Vowels