AMERICAN CLASSICAL LEAGUE 2012 in Las Vegas

1. AMERICAN CLASSICAL LEAGUE2012 in Las Vegas Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Saturday June 30 1:00-2:30pm Session 10C - Room 209 Wilfred Major Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

2. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • This workshop showcases materials which allow you to incorporate the Greek alphabet in a fun and meaningful way into virtually any class. Simple “addition” and “subtraction” allow students to work out the pronunciation of any Greek word or name. No knowledge of Greek is required, but you will be able to enhance your students' appreciation of characters from mythology, Latin literature, the Bible, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and more! All the materials in this workshop are available free online. • The Greek alphabet provides a uniquely fun way to add a new dimension to almost any class. The alphabet is entirely phonetic, so games with “alphabet algebra” make it easy to learn and follow spelling changes in Greek words. No knowledge of Greek is required, since familiar (and obscure) names from mythology, Latin literature, the Bible, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and elsewhere provide ample practice and open the gateway to many more possibilities. All the materials in this workshop are available free online.

3. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

4. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • Why do I see capital letters sometimes but then texts with lower case letters? • Why do texts of Greek look like scribbled chicken scratch? • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

5. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • Greek has twenty-four letters. • upper-case: Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω • lower-case: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω

6. the upper-case letters represent the versions used in stone-cut inscriptions law code of Gortyn 5th century BC (written right to left)

7. the upper-case letters were also used in early writing on papyrus see http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk papyrus of the poet Archilochus P.Oxy. LXIX 4708 alternate “number of the beast” P.Oxy. LXVI 4499

8. the lower-case letters represent the hand-writing from later manuscripts page of medieval manuscript of Euripides’ Hecuba

9. The Classical Greek alphabet for the printing press Capitals and cursives combined

10. From manuscript to modern printed edition

11. modern printed editions began as reproductions of manuscripts, so they retain this use of the lower-case letters modern printed edition of Euripides’ Hecuba

12. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Printed texts still use lower-case letters normally, but use upper-case letters for • the first letter of a proper name (person, place, etc) • the first letter of a direct quotation But inscriptions and other non-printed Greek (e.g., on shirts) still tend to use the upper case letters!

13. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Imagine if English were printed in a cursive script all the time. Imagine if English were printed in a cursive script all the time. This is why printed Greek texts can look like chicken scratch, but once you know the alphabet, it is just like reading someone’s handwriting.

14. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

15. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Some basic principles about the ancient Greek alphabet: • Greeks in antiquity spelled words the way they pronounced them. • If they changed the pronunciation of a word, they changed the spelling to match.

16. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • Consider the verb “record” (reCORD) and the noun “record” (RECord), which are spelled alike but pronounced differently in English. • In Greek, such words would be spelled according to their pronunciations: “rikórd” and “rékerd”

17. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Imagine these examples in English: • If anyone pronounced “going” as “gonna,” they would spell it “gonna.” • Homophones like “but” and “butt” would both be spelled “but,” even though they have different meanings.

18. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Therefore, the surest and most straightforward way to become comfortable reading and writing Greek is to sound out the words and match the sounds to the letters. SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS!

19. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

20. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! VOWELS Greek has roughly the same five vowels as English: • α“ah” • ε“eh” • ι“ih” • ο“o” • υ“u”

21. α“ah” ε“eh” ι“ih” ο“o” υ“u” ᾱ“aah” η“ay” ῑ“ee” ω“oh” ῡ“οοh” Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Short Long Like English, Greek has short and long versions of its vowels.

22. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! Speakers of Classical Greek did not like to say two vowel sounds in a row. Consequently, if two vowels come together, they tended to • merge them into one (called a “diphthong,” Greek for “double sound”) • or contract them (covered under “Alphabet Algebra” later).

23. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • A vowel + ιorυ forms a diphthong. • see following slides • α,ε andο contract with each other. • covered under “Alphabet Algebra” later

24. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! A vowel + ι forms a diphthong: • α+ ι = αι“eye” • ᾱ+ ι = ᾱι“aah” usually written ᾳ • ε+ ι = ει“ay” • η+ ι = ηι“ay” usually written ῃ • ο+ ι = οι“oy” • ω+ ι = ωι“oh” usually written ῳ • υ+ ι = υι“wee”

25. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! A vowel +υ forms a diphthong: • α+ υ = αυ“ow!” • ε+ υ = ευ“eu” • ο+ υ = ου“oo”

26. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

27. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTS Greek consonants are built around just three basic sounds: LabialDentalPalatal π τ κ p t k

28. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTSAdd a vocal sound and you get a new set, called “voiced”: LabialDentalPalatal π p τ t κ k = unvoiced β b δ d γ g = voiced

29. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTSAdd the “h” sound and you get a new set, called “aspirated”: LabialDentalPalatal π p τ t κ k = unvoiced β b δ d γ g = voiced φ ph θ th χ kh = aspirated

30. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! The Trouble with Sigma Greek is strange when it comes to pronouncing and writing words with the “s” sound: • The combinations πσ,βσ & φσ never appear. Instead, ψ replaces them. • τ,δ and θdisappear before a σ. • The combinations κσ,γσ orχσ never appear. Instead, ξreplaces them.

31. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTS LabialDentalPalatal π p τ t κ k = unvoiced β b δ d γ g = voiced φ ph θ th χ kh = aspirated ψ ps σ s ξ ks = + σ

32. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTS LabialDentalPalatal π p τ t κ k = unvoiced β b δ d γ g = voiced φ ph θ th χ kh = aspirated ψ ps σ s ξ ks = + σ μ mν nγκ, γγ, γχ, γξ ng = nasals

33. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! CONSONANTS LabialDentalPalatal π p τ t κ k = unvoiced β b δ d γ g = voiced φ ph θ th χ kh = aspirated ψ ps σ s ξ ks = + σ μ mν nγκ, γγ, γχ, γξng nasals λ l ρ r = liquids

34. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! The leftover consonant is: • ζ(instead of writingσδ)

35. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The history of writing the alphabet (and why it matters) • SPELL IT LIKE IT SOUNDS! • Vowels • Consonants • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Practice with names • Practice with English derivatives • Alphabet Algebra • What next?

36. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The alphabet in order and other stuff A YouTube video shows how to write the letters, at Learn the Greek Alphabet: 4A Penmanship Counts!: – Alpha-Mu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHDdBprw0XQ (part 1) Learn the Greek Alphabet: 4B. Penmanship Counts: Nu-Omega http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8gm2VFs_co (part 2) Visit www.dramata.com for: • A power point that diagrams the Greek letters by hand

37. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The alphabet in order and other stuff • Greek Alphabet Song Rock-n-Roll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKW9-7ZHv_4 • Greek Alphabet Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vapoNlGio8U • Information on typing ancient (polytonic) Greek on digital platforms is included at the end of this slide show and at www.dramata.com

40. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The alphabet in order and other stuff Nina Barclay. Eucleides' World: An Exploratory Introduction to Ancient Greek to Accompany Ecce Romani. CANE (Classical Association of New England), 2002. • Written to accompany Ecce Romani, but it stands alone as an introduction to Greek.

41. Sing the Greek alphabet to “Itsy Bitsy Spider”!

42. Sing the Greek alphabet to “Frère Jacques”!

43. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! • The alphabet in order and other stuff Harvey Bluedorn. A Greek Alphabetarion: A Primer for Teaching How to Read, Write & Pronounce Ancient & Biblical Greek. (2004) ISBN 978-0974361697 Harvey Bluedorn and Richard LaPierre. A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner's Copybook for the Greek Alphabet with Pronunciations. (2005) ISBN 978-1933228013 Christopher Perrin. Greek Alphabet Code Cracker. (2008) ISBN 978-1600510359 Christopher Perrin. Greek for Children, Primer A. (2010) ISBN 978-1600510236 Michelle Hahne. Song School Greek: Student Book and CD. (2009) ISBN 978-1600510441

44. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! When foreigners (ξένοι) started learning Greek in antiquity, Greek scholars developed additional symbols to help non-Greeks speak the language. From this practice, Polytonic Greek uses the following: • breathings • accents • punctuation

45. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! BREATHINGS Ancient Greek does not use a separate letter for the ‘h’ sound. Remember from earlier that Greek has the aspirated consonants φ, θ, and χto indicate this sound.

46. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! BREATHINGS If a word begins with aspiration, but not one with of these consonants, however, the aspirated consonants are no help, so Greek uses two symbols to indicate aspiration or lack of it.

47. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! BREATHINGS • ’ no aspiration: ὀ= “o” (“smooth” breathing) • ‘ aspiration:ὁ= “ho” (“rough” breathing)

48. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! BREATHINGS Words beginning with ρorυalways have a rough breathing: • ῥο= rho • as in ῥυθμος= rhythmos (“rhythm”) • ὑ= hy- • as in ὑπερhyper “above” ( English “hyper”)

49. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! BREATHINGS Sometimes only a breathing marks the difference between words. For example: • αὐτον= “him”αὐτην= “her” • αὑτον= “himself”αὑτην= “herself” Notice that if the word begins with a diphthong, the breathing appears over the second letter.

50. Fun with the Greek Alphabet! ACCENTS • Most words in Ancient Greek have an accent. • Ancient Greeks knew how to accent words. • They wrote in the accents to help non-Greeks learn the language.