The Phonological Interpretation of Ancient Greek

This volume treats systematically the variation found in the

successive stages of the development of all ancient Greek dialects. It combines

synchronic approach, in which generative rules expound phonological divergencies

between the systems of different dialects, with a diachronic statement of

unproductive and mostly pan-Hellenic shifts.

Professor Bubeník presents

a phonetic description and structural phonemic analysis of the best-known

variant—Classical Attic of the 5th century B.C.—and displays and

contrasts the vocalic and consonantal inventories of all the other dialects

classified according to their major groups. Derivational histories of individual

dialects are examined in their juxtaposition, to ascertain which rules are shared by

various dialects and which are dialect-specific. The pandialectal framework enables

Bubeník to capture various relationships among genetically related dialects

which are missed in atomistic and static treatments, and to show more convincingly

the extent of their similarity and their systemic cohesion.

This volume makes

a significant contribution to both classical scholarship and current theory of

language change by offering new analyses of a variety of phonological and

morphophonemic problems presented by a dead language and its dialects.