Learn about Greek assimilation
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Greek Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, we'll cover Greek assimilation. |
| WHAT IS ASSIMILATION? |
| In the previous lesson, we mentioned that assimilation is a process whereby a sound becomes more like a neighboring sound. It can occur either within a word or between words. |
| In this lesson, we will be examining more assimilation processes. |
| Unlike the ones we saw in the previous lesson, the processes that occur in this lesson are *not* optional, so you will need to pay special attention to these ones. |
| Let's start with the first case. The S sound in front of voiced consonants. |
| If you are wondering what voiced consonants are, those are the ones that create vibration in your vocal cords when you pronounce them. You can tell if a consonant is voiced if you put your finger on your throat when you pronounce them. If you feel a vibration, it is voiced. |
| In Greek, when the letter S precedes *any* of the voiced consonants, either at the beginning or even within a word, it is pronounced as a Z sound. Listen to Stefania... |
| "σβούρα |
| σγουρός |
| προσδιορίζω |
| της ζέβρας |
| κόσμος |
| δυσνόητος |
| Ισραήλ |
| σμπαράλια |
| τις μπότες |
| τους νταήδες |
| τους τζαζίστες" |
| An exception to this, is for the N sound. Although rare, sometimes it doesn't follow the above rule, for example... |
| "σνίτσελ |
| σνομπάρω |
| προσνήωση" |
| Another exception, is for the L sound. Sometimes a speaker may optionally choose to apply assimilation between word boundaries. Stefania will pronounce the following example normally at first and then with assimilation. |
| "καλός λόγος |
| καλός λόγος (with assimilation)" |
| Did you hear the difference? Let's move on. |
| Next we shall see some letter clusters that include this letter. |
| In these clusters, the first letter is not pronounced as it is normally, but rather as an N sound. Otherwise, it would be too difficult and unnatural for a Greek person to articulate. Let's hear some examples... |
| "έλεγξα |
| έλεγξα (slowly) |
| άγχος |
| άγχος (slowly) |
| ελεγκτής |
| ελεγκτής (slowly)" |
| Now, in the case of these double consonant combinations that we've studied in a previous lesson, we mentioned that they might behave unexpectedly in some words. Like in the following examples, their pronunciation is like the N we just saw rather than their normal G or NG sound. |
| "συγγνώμη |
| συγγραφέας |
| πλαγκτόν" |
| Since these words are exceptions and don't follow the rules we've learned, you'll just have to memorize their pronunciations individually. |
| Now let's move on and focus specifically on the ones that apply to double vowel combinations. |
| If you've watched our Greek Writing Series before, then you will already know that the first combination can be pronounced either as an A-V sound, like in the word 'aviation', or as an A-F sound, like in the word 'affection'. |
| The second combination works in the same way. It can be pronounced as an E-V sound like 'ever', or as an E-F sound like 'effect'. |
| The variations with the V sound in them are produced when the combinations come before a vowel or a voiced consonant. For example... |
| "αυ |
| παύω |
| Αύγουστος |
| αύριο |
| ευ |
| Εύα |
| ευλογώ |
| εφεύρεση" |
| The variations with the F sound in them are produced when the combinations come before an unvoiced consonant. For example... |
| "αυ |
| ναύτης |
| αυτός |
| επαυξάνω |
| ευ |
| ευχαριστώ |
| ανεύθυνος |
| ευκίνητος" |
| If you are wondering again what unvoiced consonants are, it's the consonants that do not create a vibration in your throat when pronounced. Instead they are the turbulent sounds that the movement of air makes as it passes through your teeth, tongue, throat, or lips. |
| What's important to mention here is that when the letters for the V and F sound come after this particular combination, then we don't pronounce two long V and F sounds, but just one normal V or F sound. Essentially, one of the V or F sounds are silenced. Listen to how Stefania pronounces the following words... |
| "Εύβοια |
| ευβοϊκός |
| εύφορος |
| εύφλεκτος" |
| Now that we've mentioned about assimilating identical sounds, there are two more cases where Greeks silence letters within a word. |
| The first case is silencing one of two identical consonant letters that are next to each other. Stefania will present you an example for each possibility. |
| "Σάββατο |
| εκκλησία |
| αλλοιώνω |
| έμμεσος |
| εννιά |
| παππούς |
| συρροή |
| θάλασσα |
| ελάττωμα" |
| The second case is silencing the P sound in the M-P-T cluster. This is optional though. Some people do pronounce it, while others don't. It depends on age, style and speed of speech, formality level or even dialect. The P sound is usually silenced in casual or fast speech, while it is pronounced in formal speech due to the need for better articulation. Listen to Stefania pronounce it both ways. |
| "άκαμπτος, άκαμπτος |
| άμεμπτος, άμεμπτος |
| Πέμπτη, Πέμπτη |
| πέμπτος, πέμπτος |
| σύμπτωμα, σύμπτωμα" |
| Were you able to tell which version had the silenced P? If you're thinking the second version, then you're right! |
| In this lesson, we covered assimilation in Greek. |
| In the next lesson, we'll review the material that we've covered in this series with a few quizzes. |
| Which assimilation proccess is the most difficult for you? Were there any tricks that helped you to learn them? Please comment and share your thoughts! |
| See you in the next Ultimate Greek Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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