Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (4.1885-1886)

NOTES ON ATTIC VOCALISM.

-coiSi'X.-

In these notes I have considered the most important questions
relating to the pronunciation of the vowels and diphthongs in Attic,
and the changes they undenvent during the Attic period. The chief,
almost the only, testimony to be profitably consulted in these ques-
tions is that of inscriptions of good date, principally those of Attica.
I have been able to examine the bulk of those which are of service,
including those contained in the C. I. A., those in Kaibel's collection,
and many which have appeared in the Bulletin de Correspondance
Hellenique, in the 'AOyvcuov, in Hermes, and in a few other collec-
tions. For nearly all statistics, however, I am indebted to the
Grammatik der Attischen Inschriftcn of Meisterhans (Berlin, 1885).
I have also made free use of Blass, Aussprache des Gricchiscken;
Herwerden, Lapidum de Dialecto Attica Testimonia; Dittenberger,
in Hermes, VI., XV., and XVII.; Saalfeld, Lautgcsetze der Griech-
.jschcn Lehnwdrter im Lateinischen; and G. Meyer, Griechische
Grammatik (Leipzig, 1886) ; besides authorities not bearing directly
on questions of phonetics. This paper, it is hoped, may contribute
something toward the settlement of certain disputed points, and
possibly suggest one or two new theories worth consideration.

1. The E-Group.

The early Attic alphabet had five vowel-signs, — A, E, I, 0, Y.
Thus all the ^-vowels were represented by E, and all the ^-vowels
by 0. The Ionians of Asia Minor, who in literary development were
in advance of the other Greek tribes, and may have enjoyed a keener
grammatical sense, were the first to feel the need of a further dis-
tinction, and to employ the Phoenician symbol Chet or rjra1 (H)
as a vowel. It had served to represent the " rough breathing " ; it

1 Not until post-classical times written for ^to with smooth breathing.