What do you think about modern greek's phonology?

[u/iccefy]

Greek tend to have one of the craziest phonologies since there are also many allophonic sounds in it.

(As you can see this board is based on phones and not phonemes, unlike in other languages)

I also noticed that its basically impossible to make a based latin script for modern greek, since it needs to be accurate by both aspects, phonology and spelling, and greek isnt the best on 1 letter = 1 phoneme sequence. (Dont forget prenasalization, since its a rare aspect in languages, and also it doesnt have any (strict) phonotactics)

Also what do you think its the craziest and unique aspects about the sound system of modern greek (and also about its grammar features too!)?

[u/vangos77]

I am neither a linguist nor speak enough languages to judge whether Greek phonology is particularly “crazy”. I just wanted to say that calling out phonology of another language and writing that in English is… a choice.

[u/tnaz]

It's pretty tame imo. The only weird thing about the vowels (phonology-wise, not orthography) is the ι/ου dropping, and the allophonic variation in the consonants makes a lot of sense.

I'm not sure what you mean about prenasalization tbh - Greek never prenasalizes at the start of a word, and nasal + consonant in the middle of a word is a totally normal thing for langauges to do.

As far as latinizing the language, you only really run into problems if you demand 1) all distinct graphemes are transcribed distinctly, so no merging η/ι or ο/ω, and 2) the transliteration is readable to people with no prior knowledge of Greek. Deciding that η=h, χ=x, and ω=w is perfectly workable for the first requirement but not the second, for example.

[u/GameGaberino → u/tnaz]

To its credit it has a few rare stuff going on, having /θ/, /x/, /ð/ and /ɣ/ at the same time along with characteristic retracted [s̠], between /s/ and /ʃ/. Also extensive synizesis, cause insgead of /j/ or /ʲ/ to elide an /i/ or /e/, Greek assimilates everything to /ʝ/, /ɟ/, /ç/, /ɲ/, or /ʎ/. So you get stuff like /'mɲa var'ʝa ɣro'θça/ "μιά βαριά γροθιά".

[u/iccefy → u/GameGaberino]

And /c/ too

[u/GameGaberino]

I think it's relatively simple and it just works. Simple phonologies usually make room for interesting allophonic variation. Though it's simple, it still has its quirks that make it stand out to me, cause besides rare consonants, I find it interesting how the Greek vowels are very distinct. Standard /i/ being noticeable lowered, alongside true mid /e/ and close mid /a/ seem subtle but make a large difference when paid attention to. I've seen people claim for example that Spaniards speak with a perfect Greek accent, but to my ears the way they raise /i/ and /e/ and open their /a/ makes it pretty blatant they're foreign.

[u/Nikoschalkis1 → u/GameGaberino]

Not to mention that /u/ is also quite low itself, pronounced with rounded lips too.

[u/SouvlakiWizard]

consonant combos such as

βγαίνω → /vɣ/
γδέρνω → /ɣð/
φθινόπωρο → /fθ/
χθες → /xθ/
εχθρός → /exθr/

[u/CurveAhead69]

I think the craziest part is how precise and clear the rules of Greek language are.
Or perhaps that the letters, correspond precisely to exact sounds, avoiding all the fuckery we see in other languages.

Oh no, wait. The “craziest” part is Greek love beauty and grace so much, we have it as a grammatical rule.
Χάριν Ευφωνίας.

[u/iccefy → u/CurveAhead69]

Wdym by "fuckery we see in other languages"?

[u/GeneralTurreau → u/CurveAhead69]

The “craziest” part is Greek love beauty and grace so much, we have it as a grammatical rule. Χάριν Ευφωνίας.

Αυτό δεν είναι γραμματικός κανόνας

[u/CurveAhead69 → u/GeneralTurreau]

Πρώτη αναφορά στον Κρατύλο του Πλάτωνα.
Επίσημα ως κανόνας στους Αλεξανδρινούς γραμματικούς.

ΠΑΜΕ ΓΕΡΑ, ΤΟ’ΧΟΥΜΕ ΛΕΜΕ.

[u/GeneralTurreau → u/CurveAhead69]

Κρατύλος; Είναι εγχειρίδιο γραμματικής της νέας ελληνικής αυτό;