Iotacism

Iotacism

:"For the palatalization of certain consonants in Slavic languages, see iotation."

Iotacism is the process by which a number of vowels and diphthongs in Ancient Greek converged their pronunciation to sound like iota in Modern Greek.

Instances of iotacism

Ancient Greek had a broader range of vowels (see Ancient Greek phonology) than Modern Greek. Eta (η) was a long open-mid front unrounded vowel IPA|/ɛː/, and upsilon (υ) was a close front rounded vowel IPA|/y/. Over the course of time, both of these vowels came to be pronounced like the close front unrounded vowel iota (ι) IPA| [iː] . In addition, certain diphthongs merged to the same pronunciation, especially epsilon-iota (ει) and (later) upsilon-iota (υι) .

Issues in textual criticism

Iotacism meant that some words with originally distinct pronunciations were pronounced similarly, which can be seen in some of the variant readings of the New Testament. The upsilon of ὑμεις "humeis" (or ὑμων "humōn") and the eta of ἡμεις "hēmeis" (or ἡμων "hēmōn") could be easily confused if a lector were reading to copyists in a scriptorium. As an example of a relatively minor (almost insignificant) source of "variant readings", some ancient manuscripts spelled words the way they sounded, such as the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus, which regularly substitutes a plain iota for the epsilon-iota diphthong.

See also

*Greek language
*Greek alphabet
*Ancient Greek phonology
*Modern Greek
*Vowel shift


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  • iotacism — IOTACÍSM s.n. (fon.) 1. Evoluţie a unei vocale sau a unui diftong spre i. 2. Palatalizare a unei consoane sub influenţa unui iot; apariţia unui iot înaintea unei vocale anterioare la început de cuvânt sau de silabă; iotacizare. – Din fr.… …   Dicționar Român

  • Iotacism — I*o ta*cism ([ i]*[=o] t[.a]*s[i^]z m), n. [Gr. iotakismo s a laying too much stress upon the iota ([iota]): cf. F. iotacisme. See {Iota}.] The frequent use of the sound of iota (that of English e in be), as among the modern Greeks; also,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • iotacism — [ī ōt′əsiz΄əm] n. [LL iotacismus < Gr iōtakismos] 1. in Greek, excessive use of the letter iota 2. a change, esp. in Greek, of other vowel sounds to the sound (ē) represented by this letter …   English World dictionary

  • iotacism — См. itacismo …   Пятиязычный словарь лингвистических терминов

  • iotacism — /uy oh teuh siz euhm/, n. the conversion of other vowel sounds, esp. in Modern Greek, into /ee/, the sound of iota. [1650 60; < LL iotacismus < Gk iotakismós. See IOTA, AC, ISM] * * * …   Universalium

  • iotacism — noun a) Pronunciation of another vowel or diphthong as [i], or a vowel shift resulting in such pronunciation. b) A misspelling resulting from such pronunciation. See Also: lambdacism, rhotacism …   Wiktionary

  • iotacism — A speech defect marked by the frequent substitution of a long e sound (that of the Greek iota) for other vowels. [G. iota, the letter ι] * * * io·ta·cism ī ōt ə .siz əm n 1) a speech defect marked by use of the sound /e/ in place of other vowel… …   Medical dictionary

  • iotacism — n. frequent use of the ee sound (sound made by the Greek letter iota) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • iotacism — io·ta·cism …   English syllables

  • iotacism — /aɪˈoʊtəsɪzəm/ (say uy ohtuhsizuhm) noun conversion of other vowel sounds into that of iota (English /i/). {Latin iōtacismus, from Greek iōtakismos} …  

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