Re: GSF revisited

On 5/11/07, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
> Eugene Oh wrote:
[on geminate consonants]
> > How is either EAK/GSF reflecting
> > this, then?
>
> Philip will have to tell you about GSF
GSF uses single consonants, reflecting the pronunciation -- e.g.
θαλασα /Ta'lasa/ for "sea".

> > Side question: does anyone know if the Cypriot dialect sounds
> > different, prosodically etc., from the standard Athenian?
>
> I suspect it may well do - but I do not have enough information to say
> so definitely.
It certainly has a different phonology -- e.g. it has (what sounds to
me like) /S/ < /sj/ in words such as "sheftalia" (a local food),
spelled with sigma-iota. The presence of this sound is, I'm sure, also
responsible for their slightly different word for "chocalate":
standard Greek has σοκολάτα while on Cyprus, I've seen it written
σιοκολάτα instead, with /S/ at the beginning instead of /s/.

It also has a different morphology, retaining some older elements
(e.g. I remember hearing επεβάλλετο for standard επιβαλλόταν, and πονά
for πονάει [also possible in standard MG, but I think not as common]).

I don't remember whether its prosody was different, though.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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