PHONETIC CHANGE IN MEDIEVAL GREEK: FOCUS ON LIQUID INTERCHANGE

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1 PHONETIC CHANGE IN MEDIEVAL GREEK: FOCUS ON LIQUID INTERCHANGE * Ιο Μanolessou & Notis Toufexis University of Patras, University of Cambridge manolessou@upatras.gr, nt262@cam.ac.uk Abstract The present paper aims to propose a methodology for the research of phonetic change in Medieval Greek, and to show, through the investigation of the phenomenon of liquid interchange, that a) the new electronic tools available for the study of Greek can contribute crucially to the research on the distribution of phonetic changes and b) phonetic changes in Medieval Greek are to a large extent regular and conform to cross-linguistic patterns. 1. Introduction Medieval Greek presents no major regular changes, i.e. conditioned changes of the Neogrammarian type, which apply without exceptions (or with explicable exceptions) in all the potential phonetic environments. Thus, whereas the student of the history of Ancient Greek meets with a standard list of regular phonetic changes with precisely describable conditions, which led from Indo-European to Greek or from Proto-Greek to the various Ancient Greek dialects (e.g. /a:/ > /ɛ:/ in Ionic and Attic) 1 and even from Attic Greek to the Koine, the phonetic rules of Medieval Greek never seem to apply across the board, resulting in considerable variation both in the texts of the period (Manolessou 2008) and Modern Greek (and its dialects). The reaction of scholars to this issue has up to now been one of hopeful procrastination: to postpone discussion pending a better knowledge of a) Medieval Greek texts and b) Modern Greek dialects. Now it is true that studies of MG dialectology are lagging behind in comparison with those in other countries. However, this is mainly true of theoretical/ structural descriptions of dialects (their phonology, morphology, syntax etc.) 2. It is not true of dialectal vocabularies, as there exist hundreds of (amateur or not) local glossaries, and a wealth of dialectal attestations for each lexeme of Modern Greek collected in the archives of the Academy of Athens, dated * This paper is the outcome of research conducted for the project Grammar of Medieval Greek at the University of Cambridge, funded by a grant from the Arts & Humanities Research Council. For more information see 1 These changes are described in standard historical grammars of Ancient Greek, e.g. Rix (1992). 2 For a recent overview of theoretical approaches to Modern Greek dialects, see Ralli (2006). 291

2 and geographically localised 3. The situation nowadays, therefore, is quite different from the time when the first descriptions of Medieval Greek phonology were written (on which the descriptions of modern handbooks are based cf. the overview of desiderata in Mirambel 1953): it is now possible to track the spread of any phonetic change lexeme by lexeme in the Modern Greek dialects. Roughly the same observation can be made concerning our knowledge of Medieval Greek texts: a very large amount of published texts, both literary and non-literary, not available to earlier scholars is now easily accessible. We also possess better linguistic descriptions of Medieval Greek in general or of specific texts in particular, better tools for textual searches (such as electronic searchable texts, concordances, databases etc.) 4, all of which were not at hand for those who first tackled the vagaries of Medieval Greek phonology. It is now possible therefore, as it was not before, to examine the spread and distribution of each phonetic change in all major and hundreds of minor medieval texts, from different areas and different periods 5. Nevertheless, despite the considerable improvement in the available data, the current linguistic scholarship on Greek contains little discussion of specific phonetic changes in Medieval Greek. One reason for this apparent lack might be the fact that the better knowledge of Medieval Greek texts and MG dialects has not brought about the better understanding of the precise (phonetic) conditions/environments of application of a phonetic change (for example, why σουπιά and σουσούμι but not *σουμαία; why Σουρία and ξουφάρι but not *σουμερινός; 6 ) that researchers had hoped for. Thus, thorough examination of large amounts of medieval material by the Cambridge Grammar of Medieval Greek has shown that: a) no matter how vernacular a text, from whatever period or area, medieval sound changes are almost never attested with complete normality, i.e. without exceptions. For example, φουσσᾶτα Dig. G III.69 but φοσσᾶτα Dig. G IV.465 ; γουργό Chron.Mor. H 6646 but γοργό Chron.Mor. H 633; ἀδερφοί Αchill.O 279 but ἀδελφοί Αchill.O 551; ἔφτασεν Liv.V 2443 but ἔφθασεν Liv.V There is always variation, sometimes more, sometimes less. b) most inherited words which in Standard Modern Greek exist in unchanged form may appear in MedG with the change. For example, the following are all MedG attestations of the 3 On the contents of the Archives of the Center for Modern Greek Dialects of the Academy of Athens, see Manolessou, Karantzi & Yakoumaki (2004), and on its electronic availability see Academy of Athens (2001) and the website (accessed 12/03/2008). An electronic bibliography of local dialectal glossaries is available from the Πύλη για την Ελληνική Γλώσσα, at (accessed 12/03/2008). 4 On electronic corpora in historical Greek dialectology, see Manolessou & Toufexis (forthcoming), on available electronic resources in the field of Medieval Greek see Toufexis (forthcoming). 5 With all the caveats, of course, concerning the reliability of written sources of past periods, and especially Medieval Greek, for the representation of authentic linguistic usage (Manolessou 2008). 6 On this specific change (/i/ > /u/ adjacent to labial and velar consonants and s) see Joseph (1979), Moysiadis (2005: ) and references therein. 292

3 change e > i adjacent to liquids and nasals, which do not appear so in MG: τεμόνι (1473, Corfu, KONIDARI & RODOLAKIS 1996: 78, 186.3); κεροπηγίων (1073, Miletos, VRANOUSI 1980: 50, 9.105); δεμόσιον (1148, Calabria, GUILLOU 1963: 7, 82.17); δικαστερίῳ (1112, Sicily, CUSA 1868/82: XIV, ); ναύκλερον Poulol. 540 app. cr. (Ε); Ἐρήνη (1581, Andros, POLEMIS 1995: 26, ); τοὺς κλερικοὺς MACH., Chron. Ο (Pieris/Nikolaou-Konnari); ἀδεμονεῖ Chron. Toc. 703; νὰ κολεμπήση Diig. Alex. E (Lolos). c) almost any inherited word which in Modern Greek has undergone the change may appear in Medieval Greek without it, even in very vernacular texts: For example, the following are attestations of forms which in MG have undergone synizesis (which dates probably around the 13 th c. (Minas 1983: 289)), but which appear in Early Modern Greek texts in unchanged form, although the word itself (and the text from which it is taken) is vernacular: παπαδία (1635, Nisyros, TSIRPANLIS 1982: 1, 13.3); πουλία BERG., Apok. V 27; τοῦ ψαρίου NOUK., Aisop. Myth. 28.2; κομπία (1500, Crete, MAVROMATIS 1994: 1 [Α ], ); μέ νία, τζαπία, μανάρια, λωρία, χαρανία, βουτζία (1642, Patmos, MICHAILARIS 1998: 1, ). d) there is a vast amount of hypercorrection going on, which means i) that frequently the change is attested only indirectly, through changes in etymologically unjustifiable words, something which makes both electronic and traditional searches for attestations of the spread of the phenomenon very difficult and ii) that the tendency to correct and hide the change in written language is very strong. For example, the following are attestations of hypercorrection of the Northern dialect phenomenon of mid-vowel raising: βουτσόπολον (1445, Macedonia, BOMPAIRE 1964: 30, ); σεντοκόπουλον (post 1356?, Epirus, ALEXOULIS 1892: 1, 277.7); ἐπάφηκα νὰ γράψον (1618, Serres, ODORICO 1998: 33, 114.3); δύο τοφέκια (1695, Kastoria, MERTZIOS 1947: 2, 212.4). The cause of the variation and of the non-regularity of MedG phonetic change is not that we do not understand the environments, the conditions, and the working of the changes, or that we do not have more precisely geographically and chronologically located information on the spread of the changes. Also, it is not that they are by nature sporadic changes (like metathesis or vowel assimilation). On the contrary, many of them are perfectly regular neogrammarian sound changes, which predictable environments and exceptions (analogical levellings, hypercorrections, posterior loans). It s just that they were arrested in progress. Medieval (and Modern) Greek is an ideal exemplification and documentation of spread of sound change by lexical diffusion. In some areas, in some periods, in some registers, more words are affected than in others. Ultimately, the period of activity of the change is over, before it has covered the totality of the vocabulary. The parallel existence of a learned language as a model could be seen as the ultimate inhibiting factor. Frequently it can be shown that the period of activity of a 293

4 phonetic change is several hundred years, or that in fact it is still active in Modern Greek, and still being counteracted by the standard language. This of course does not entail that it is fruitless to investigate MedG source texts from the point of view of phonology. First of all, we do need the data in order to rule out the possibility that the conditioning factor is indeed a specific phonetic environment. Secondly, we need up to date descriptions of changes, couched in modern terms, so as to be comparable with the results of research on other languages and to contribute to linguistic theory on phonetic change. And thirdly, we need to have an accurate picture of the various phonetic changes in Medieval Greek not only for use in comparative historical linguistics, but also in sociolinguistics, and textual edition and interpretation. 2. A case study: liquid interchange In order to exemplify concretely the claims made above concerning a) the feasibility and utility of research on and b) the interpretation of the regularity (or non-regularity) of phonetic change in Medieval Greek, in what follows, we will investigate a specific sound change, the so-called liquid interchange, which in fact consists of two different sub-changes: a) change of /l/ > /r/ when it is the first member of a consonant cluster (classic examples: αδελφός > αδερφός, αλμυρός > αρμυρός) and b) change of /r/ > /l/ when another /r/ sound follows in the same word (classic examples: γρήγορα > γλήγορα, πρώρη > πλώρη). We aim to provide as much detail as possible, i.e. by examining all lexemes of the Greek language possessing the appropriate phonetic environments, and checking from both written and oral sources (medieval documents and dialectal data) whether they are attested in changed form or not. The first to have noted and described the phenomenon of liquid interchange is Simon Portius in his grammar of 1638 (Meyer 1889: 10). The phenomenon is of course well-known in the literature on the history of Greek and its dialects, but there are in fact only one and-ahalf article dedicated to it: a detailed setting out of the data by J. Psichari (1905/1930), collecting most known (at the time) instances of the phenomenon from Ancient, Medieval and Modern Greek, and a short attempt at interpretation by G. Shipp (1958), linking it with other dissimilatory phenomena in Greek phonology. We are still lacking, therefore, a modern account which will incorporate a) cross-linguistic data and theoretical phonological accounts and b) the new wealth of information available through the progress of research on Greek and its dialects, as well as the new electronic research tools. 294

5 2.1. Cross-linguistic and theoretical documentation Concerning the first point, both sub-phenomena of liquid interchange, i.e. dissimilation of consecutive liquids and liquid variation in front of consonants, are well-attested in many languages. The behaviour of Greek, therefore, has to be compared with similar crosslinguistic attestations and the interpretations proposed for them. In detail: The most well-known case of liquid dissimilation is that of Latin, in which the derivational suffix -/alis/ appears as -/aris/ when the stem of the word contains another /l/ (Steriade 1987, Odden 1994 among others): navis nav-alis, natura natur-alis, sol sol-aris, linea line-aris A similar case of dissimilation in specific suffixes occurs in Georgian (Fallon 1993), where the derivational suffix -/uri/, forming ethnic adjectives, appears as -/uli/ when the stem contains another /r/: dan-uri Danish, p olon-uri Polish, ungr-uli Hungarian, ap rik-uli African Yet a third documented case is the West Indonesian language of the Sunda islands (Sundanese), in which the plural infix -/ar/ appears as -/al/ when the root contains another /r/ (Cohn 1992, Holton 1995): kusut k-ar-usut messy, damaŋ d-ar-amaŋ well, hormat h-al-ormat respect, combrek c-al-ombrek cold All of these phenomena are in fact grammaticalised dissimilations, in that they require grammatical, i.e. morphological information, since they concern specific affixes. The Greek case is somewhat different: it affects consecutive /r/ sounds in the root of words, and does not seem to occur in suffixes or in composition (see below for a more detailed description of the data). A greater similarity to the Greek phenomenon is observable in the sporadic dissimilation of consecutive /r/ sounds in several Romance languages such as Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Italian (Lloret 1997, Colantoni & Steele 2005): Lat. cerebrum > Sp. celebro brain, Lat. peregrinum > It. pelegrino pilgrim, Lat. armarium > Port. almario cupboard, Lat. aratrum > W. Cat. aladre plough. A few Romance dissimilated words have also made it into English as loanwords, such as marble (<marmor), marmalade (<melimelum), pilgrim (< peregrinus) (Sadler 1973). 295

6 The Greek liquid dissimilation, therefore, can be seen to conform to well-attested crosslinguistic patterns, and thus to possess the potential, at least, for regularity. At the same time, it becomes possible to apply the theoretical phonological insights gained from research in these languages to the Greek case. The standard interpretation of liquid dissimilation in theoretical (autosegmental) phonology is that it constitutes an instantiation of the Obligatory Contour Principle, which disallows adjacent identical segments (Odden 1994, Lloret 1997). It is also possible to interpret dissimilatory phenomena within the framework of Optimality Theory, with the application of specific constraints which block the appearance of consecutive identical liquids (Suzuki 1998). It is beyond the scope of this paper to go into the various potential phonological analyses; our aim here is to demonstrate that these analyses are possible, and indeed necessary for Greek. The same can be said of the other instance of liquid interchange in Greek, that affecting consonant clusters with /l/ as the first member. Again, the Romance languages offer the closest parallel (Straka 1979, Fontanella de Weinberg 1984, Frigeni 2005): Lat. veritatem > Sp. verdad > veldad, Lat. carta > Sp. carta > calta, Lat. populum > pueblo > puebro, Bermudez (pr. name) > Belmudez, Lat. palma > Sard. parma > prama, Lat. plus > Sard. prus, Lat. flamma > Sard. framma. The diachrony of the Romance languages shows a frequent phenomenon of liquid interchange in consonant clusters, which may or may not have survived in the modern standard language. From a theoretical phonological point of view this phenomenon is interpreted as a neutralization of the distinctive feature which distinguishes rhotics from laterals in specific positions (the phenomenon is technically termed positional neutralization of liquids, Rice 2005). The choice of the surfacing liquid (/r/ or /l/) seems to be languagespecific, and connected with the notion of markedness: in each phonological system, one of the liquids is the unmarked one (the most frequent, with the wider phonotactic distribution) and this is the one that is preferred in consonant cluster alternations a result known as emergence of the unmarked in theoretical phonology. This does not exclude the possibility of the reverse change also occurring in the language, but in this case it should perhaps be interpreted as a hypercorrection. In the Greek case, the unmarked consonant seems to be /r/, as there are far more clusters with /r/ + consonant than with /l/ + consonant. This can be (imperfectly) demonstrated by a search in the electronic 296

7 version of the Λεξικόν της Κοινής Νεοελληνικής of the Triantafyllidis foundation 7, through comparing the number of words containing the two types of consonant clusters: Table 1. Frequency of liquid consonant clusters in Standard Modern Greek /r/ + consonant /l/ + consonant v γ ð z 9 4 θ k l 84 0 m n ks 18 3 p r 0 0 s t f x ps 4 2 Total It seems again, therefore, that Greek can be brought into line with several other languages presenting similar phenomena, and that such comparative research can shed light on the causality of the change. It furthermore seems that liquid alternations in consonant clusters also possess the potential to become a regular, exceptionless sound change. 2.2 Historical overview Let us now turn to the detailed examination of the two liquid interchange phenomena in the history of Greek Classical and Koine Greek Τhere are no attestations of the consonant cluster interchange in Classical literature. The first, and quite rare, attestations of the phenomenon appear in Attic inscriptions, all of which are quite late, dated to the Roman period. Examples are collected in Dieterich (1898: 107), Jannaris (1898: 187), Meisterhans-Schwyzer ( : 83), Lademann (1915: 119), Schwyzer (1939: 213) and Psichari (1905/1930). Some of these, however, are misreadings of earlier scholars or refer to outdated editions; the most reliable information comes from Threatte (1994: 483): 7 See (accessed 12/03/2008). We are fully aware of the methodological constraints of using only one electronically available lexical database; the data presented here can without doubt be enriched with the help of other electronic or traditional resources. 297

8 Καρπούννιος IG II , 238/9 AD (< Calpurnius), Εὐέρπιστος IG II , 262/3 AD, τρομήσῃ IG II , 3 rd c. AD (< τολμήσῃ), χάρκεον δράπανον Αgora inv. no. IL , 3 rd c. AD, ἀδερφοί ΙG III 3531 (early Christian).Interchange in consonant clusters occurs in the papyri of the Roman and Byzantine periods (examples from Gignac 1976: 105): ἀτερφῶν PRyl. 160c, i.7,16 (AD 32), ἐξερθῖν PMich (AD 7), ἐρπίς POxy 1059 (6 th AD). However, liquid interchange in the late Egyptian papyri is more frequent than in any other written documents of any period of Greek, and furthermore it happens also unconditionally, i.e. even outside consonant clusters: καθαλά, ἠγόλακα (Pryl 160c, i.10 (AD 32), καθάπελ PMich (27 AD), ὑπέλ SB 5110 (AD 42). Gignac (1976: 106-7) claims that this frequent interchange of λ and ρ indicates that there was only one liquid phoneme /l/ in the speech of many writers in the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the literature of this era we also find one or two examples of the dissimilatory change, namely the frequently occurring φραγγέλιον (< Lat. flagellum) in the NT (Ev. Jh 2.15, Matth ) and οnce πλώρη (Act. Apost (Sin.)). Summing up this period: both changes begin to appear around the 2 nd 3 rd c. AD, with isolated exceptions such as ἀργαλέος which do not constitute prototypical instantiations of the phenomena. It cannot be claimed that the changes possess any regularity, with the possible exception of Egyptian Greek, where there is substratum interference Medieval Greek Βoth phenomena are attested in Medieval Greek, starting from the sporadic attestations of the early Byzantine period collected by Psaltes (1913: 76, 98), e.g. σκαρμός DAI /l/ > /r/ in consonant clusters An electronic search of the corpus of Christian Inscriptions (PHI#6 CD-ROM) has shown that a few specific words appear frequently in changed form, therefore the change seems to have been stabilized, for these words at least. For example, the word ἀδερφός and its derivatives appears 16 times, the word χαρκός and its derivatives appears 14 times: καὶ τῇ ἀδερφῇ μου Ζωσιμοῦτι TAM II 1142; Ἀλέξανδρος Ζωτικοῦ Πενκελλέος οἱ ἀδερφοὶ τῆ εἰδία μητρὶ MAMA 4 195; Κύριε μνίσθητι τῶν πέντε ἀδερφῶν IK Iznik 576; λύτροσε τοῦ τόπου τούτου τοὺς δύω ἀδερφοὺς Corinth 8,1 207; ἀναγούστις οιἡὸς Θεοδούρου χαρκέος ἐπύησεν SEG 37:1292; ωρίων ἐνθάδε κεῖμαι χαρκεὺς Κρήτης φαβρικάρεις IScM III 194; σοματο θήκη Κόνο νος χαρκο λόγου MAMA

9 A search of all /l/ + consonant combinations in the electronic version of Kriaras (1967-) (only up to the lemma παραθήκη) 8, plus all data collected by the Medieval Greek Grammar project has given a small corpus of 290 words which potentially could undergo the change. Of these 76 are attested in Medieval Greek as actually having undergone it (percentage 26 %): ἀδερφή, ἀδέρφιν, ἀδερφομεράδι, ἀδερφομοίρι, ἀδερφός, ἀδερφοσύνη, ἀρβανίτης, Ἀρβέρτος, ἀρμέγω, ἁρμίζω, ἁρμύρα, ἁρμυρός, ἀπερπίζω, ἀπόβγαρμα, ἀποστερνάμενος, ἀπότορμα, ἀποτορμία, ἀπότορμος, ἀποτορμῶ, παρτσαμιάζω, Βαρσαμᾶς, Βαρσαμίνα, βάρσαμο, Βαρσαμόνερο, βάρσαμος, βάρτε/ἐβάρτην, βγάρτε/βγαρμένος, βουργάρικα, βουργαροαναθρεμμένος, βουργαρομουσουδάτος, Βούργαρος, βουργία, βουργίδα, βουργίδιον, βρυκόλαξ, γκόρφι, ἐρτεῖν, ἔρτιμον, ἐρμίγγιο, ἔρμιγγας, ἕρμον, ἐρπίζω, ἐρπίδα, ἐξαδέρφη, ἐξάδερφος, εὔτορμος, ἤρθα/ἔρθω, κάρτσα, καρτσέτα, καρτσόνι, καρτσόπανον, κεφαλαργία, κεφαλαργικός, κόρφος, κόρπος, κορπώννω, κουρτέλλα, Μαρτέζης, μανιόρδος, μουρτεύω, μούρτος Ι, μούρτος ΙΙ, μουρσουμάνος, μπούρβερη, μυροβρύτης, ξώφαρσα, σορδάτος, σορδίο, σουρτάνος, συχνοπαραγγέρνω, φαρκόνι, φαρτσοσύνη, Χαρκίτης, χαρκίν, χάρκωμα, χαρκός. An important note that should be made is that the /l/ > /r/ change is an active change in Medieval Greek, as it has affected not only forms inherited from previous periods, but also medieval loanwords (such as έλμο, Αρβέρτος, κουρτέλλα, μουρσουμάνος, σουρτάνος). The examination of the words that have not undergone the change shows that they are mostly learned words, such as: ἀγαλματίας, ἀλθαία, ἄλπειος, ἀσελγής, ἀνελκύω, βαλτώδης, βοόφθαλμος, γλαυκοφθάλμων, διάγγελμα, ἔγκολπῶ, ἔκστιλβος, ἑλκυσμός, ἐνταλτηριώδης, θεάδελφος, ἱεροψάλτης, Κέλται, μαλθακώδης, νευραλγία, ξιφουλκία, ὀλκάς, ὀρείχαλκος, ὀφθαλμοφανῶς. Also some of them are hapax words in the medieval literature, such as: γρηγοροφθάλμων, δελφινοθαλασσίτης, ἐγκαψοσμαλτωμένος, ἐλμιγγοβότανον λουτεροκαλβινοδίδακτος. 8 Available under (accessed 12/03/2007). 299

10 There are a number of words which seem to have undergone the reverse change, i.e. changing a /r/ + consonant cluster to a /l/ + consonant cluster: ἀλμπιτράριος, ἀλμπιτράτζο, ἄλμπιτρος, ἀλτελαρία, ἀποσκιλτῶ, βάλκα, βελτόνι, βουλγατόριον, βουλγήσιος, βουλγησία, βούλκα τά, βουλκώνω, Bουλχάρδος, βούλχας, δελπανομύτης, ζαλκάδι, ὑστελνός, φούλκα, φουλκίζω. These constitute less than 1% of the total words which could potentially undergo the change, i.e. the medieval words which contain a cluster of /r/ + consonant. Furthermore, for some of them alternative causes can be brought forward: for example, the /l/ in ἄλμπιτρος (< it. arbitro < lat. arbiter) and its family of words could be attributed to dissimilation with the following second /r/ in the word, or could have been borrowed already containing the /lb/ cluster, as this form is attested in Italian dialects such as Venetian. In this connection it should be noted that most of these words are of foreign origin (βούλχας < burrichus, βουλγήσιος < burgensis, βουλγατόριον < purgatorium, βελτόνι < veretone). Note also the proper name Boυλχάρδος in the Alexiad < Burkhard ( , ed. Leib). Interestingly, Portius already had noted that it is foreign words which tend to change /r/ to /l/ in consonant clusters, giving the example of σκλίμα < scrima (Meyer 1889: 10). On the basis of the above, therefore, it can be claimed that the reverse /r/ > /l/ change is not a regular phenomenon of Greek, but a hypercorrection or an imitation of Romance models. Τhe medieval data can be complemented through the evidence of MG dialects, from which a further 22 words presenting the change /l/ > /r/ can be added to the above, bringing the total to 98 (percentage 34 %): ἀδερφοξάδερφοι, ἀδερφοποιτός, ἀδερφότη, ἀδερφούτσικος, ἀρτάνα, ἄρφα, ἀρφαβήτα, ἀνέρπιστος, ἀπερπισιά, ἄσφαρτος, βόφταρμον, βαρσαμώνω, βάρτος, βόρτα, γυναικάδερφος, δερφίνι, ἐξάψαρμος, μαχαιροβγάρτης, μουρσουμανικός, ξώφαρτσος, φταρμός, παρμός. Dissimilation Turning now to the second phenomenon, that of the dissimilation of consecutive rhotic sounds, even a cursory examination shows that it is much less widespread than the first. Thus, of a total of 831 words (in Kriaras Lex. and the data collected by the Medieval Grammar project) that could potentially undergo the change, only 30 of them do, again either in MedG source texts or in MG dialects (percentage 3,61 %): 300

11 ἀλμπιτράτζο, ἄλμπιτρος, ἀποκλισιάριος, ἀλιστερός, γαργαλεών, γαργαλίζω, γλήγορα, γληγοράδα, γληγορεύω, γληγορογύριστος, γλήγορος, γληγοροσύνη, γληγορότητα, γληγορῶ, Γληγόριος, κλιάρι, κρεμαστάλι, κόλιαντρο, κλιθάρι, λυθρινάρι, μαλαθόσπορος, παλαθύρι, πελεγρίνος, πλώρη, πριόλος, Λισάρ <Richard, Φλεβάρης, φλάμουρο, χαλακτήρας, ὀψαρόγαλο. A couple of words seem to have undergone the reverse change, i.e. assimilation of /l/ to a following /r/: ἀρεύριον, καρδινάριος. The change does not seem to operate on compound in compound words, i.e. in which the two /r/ s belong each in different members of the compound, such as: ασπρομαρμαροτράχηλος, μαυρόβουρκος, ακρογυρίζω etc. It seems to have affected to the point of stabilization only a few specific words (mainly the family of γρήγορος). Ιt is an active change in MedG as it has affected loanwords (e.g. αλτιλλερία). A small number of words present an irregular /r/ > /l/ or /l/ to /r/ change in that the liquid constitutes the second member of the cluster, or there is no second liquid in the word. Examples include αχλάδι, ανεμοδούλιο. As far as the distribution in Medieval source texts is concerned, it can be stated that there are no sources where the change appears with complete regularity, meaning both that a) the same lexical item may appear in the same text in both the changed and unchanged form and b) different lexical items, both presenting the proper phonological environment for the change behave differently in the same document, one presenting the change and one not. Interestingly, the same picture is presented by Spanish documents of the same period, exhibiting the same phenomenon of liquid interchange (Fontanella de Weinberg 1984). To give one characteristic example, the notary and professional scribe Μανουήλ Γρηγορόπουλος uses in the 154 wills (dated ) that are available to us today (ed. Mavromatis / Lambakis 2003) always only the unaltered from of his surname (Γρηγορ-); the altered form Γληγορ- appears in these documents only twice: once in the signature of a witness (no. 2 Εγὼ γληγορις γουναλες μαρτυρω τα ανωθεν, p. 6) and once in a written instruction of the duke of Candia to Γρηγορόπουλος himself (ορυζομεν εσε το κυρ Μανουυλ Γλυγοροπουλο το νοδαρο..., p. 65). It is obvious that while the sound change was operating in Crete at the time this notary was writing, he chose not to represent it in the written records he is producing. The key factor which seems to increase or decrease the percentage of changed items is register. Thus, again, documents from Cyprus, which are in a more decidedly dialectal character, present both greater regularity in same words, and a wider variety of words which show the change some of the words in the lists provided above are attested only in Cypriot documents (e.g. απότορμος, φαρτσοσύνη). 301

12 2.2.3 Modern Greek An electronic search of the /l/ + consonant clusters in the Triantaphyllidis dictionary has given a total of 460 words which could potentially undergo the change. Of these, only 19 words appear in changed form in Standard Modern Greek: αδερφάτο, αδερφή, αδερφικός, αδερφοσύνη, αδερφότητα, αδερφός, Αρβανίτης, αρμέγω, άρμη, αρμύρα, αρμυρίκι, αρμυρός, βρυκόλακας, ήρθα/έρθω, ξαρμυρίζω, ξάδερφος, ξαδέρφη, συνάδερφος, συναδερφικός. However, if one turns to the MG dialects, and more specifically to the dialectal archives of the Academy of Athens, an impressive additional 130 words are found, bringing the percentage of SMG words presenting the phenomenon from to 32%, similar to the levels of Medieval Greek: άβαρτος, άβγαρτος, άγαρμα, αγαρματένιος, ακάρτσωτος, αρκόβα, αρμπάνης, αρπακά, αρτάνα, άρφα, αρφαβήτα, αρφάδι, αρφαδιάζω, ανέρπιστος, αξέβγαρτος, απερπίζω, απερπισιά, αποτορμώ, άσφαρτος, αυτάδερφος, βάρτε/βάρθηκα, βάρσι (<βαλς), βάρσαμο, βαρσαμώνω, βάρσιμο, βάρτος, βαρτοτόπι, βγάρσιμο, ζερζεβούλης, βορβός, βόρτα, βουργαρικός, Γοργοθάς, δερφίνι, γκόρφι, όρμιθα (< έλμινς), ερπίδα, ερπίζω, θάρπος, καρκάνι, κάρπη, κάρτσα, καρτσούνι, καρτσώνω, κεφαλαργία, μαχαιροβγάρτης, μορδοβάνος, μουρσουμανικός, μουσουρμάνος, μπαρκόνι, μπορσεβίκος, ντεκορτέ, ντορμάς, ντόρτσο, ξέβγαρμα, ξεκάρτσωτος, ξώφαρτσα, ξώφαρτσος, φταρμός (οφθαλμός), φταρμίζω, παρμός, παρτό, παραγγέρνω, μπερτές (< πελτές), πεντάρφα, πόρκα, πορτός, μπούρμπερη, πρωτοψάρτης, λιβόρβερο (< ρεβόλβερ), λυμουρκό (< ρυμουλκό), σαρβάρι, σάρπα, σαρπάρω, σάρπιγγα, σαρπιγκτής, σαρπίζω, σαρπάρω, σαρταδόρος, σάρτο, σάρτσα, σβέρτα, σβέρτος, σκαρμός, στέρνω, σουρτάνος, σουρτανίνα, στέρνω, σφάρμα, σύρπη (< σύλφη), τόρμη, τορμώ, φαρκόνι, φάρτσος, φέρπα, φιρτισένιος (φιλντισένιος), χαρβάς, χαρδαίος, χαρκάς, χαρκεύω, Χάρκη, Χαρκίτης, χαρκιάς, Χαρκίδα, χάρκινος, χαρκοπράσνους, χαρκός, χάρκωμα, χαρκωματάς, χαρνώ, ψαρμός, ψαρμουία (< ψαλμωδία), ψάρσιμο, ψαρτήρι, ψάρτης, ψαρτικός, ψέρνω Τhis list includes only words which exist in Standard MG, and not purely dialectal words (such as πολπέτα > πορπέτα, σαλμάς > σαρμάς, μαλγάσαπης > μάρσαπης) which would make the total considerably higher. The words that have not undergone the change are almost always either learned new creations or recent loanwords: 302

13 αβελτηρία, αγγειοδιασταλτικός, άλγεβρα, αλγεινός, αλγόριθμος, αλκοόλ, αλδεύδη, αλμανάκ, αλκάλιο, άλμπατρος, αλμπίνο, άλμπουμ, αλπινισμός, αλτ etc. On the basis of the above it is possible to conclude that the change is regular in MG, as well, leaving unaffected only the words belonging to higher registers. It must be noted that the change is still active in the dialects, because even comparatively recent loanwords have undergone it, including: revolver > ρεβόλβερ > αλιβόβερ (Corfu), λιβόρβορο (Eub., Chios), αλιβόρβορο (Cephall.), λιβόρβερο (Pont.), λεβόρβερο (Peloponn.), λιβόρβελο (Ionia), waltz > βαλς > βάρσι (Naxos), bolshevik > μπολσεβίκος > μπορσεβίκος (Karpathos). Although the sampling of the dialectal material available in the Academy of Athens is unequal (i.e. some areas are overrepresented), it is apparent from the distribution of the changed forms that the phenomenon is stronger in southern dialects, such as Cycladic, Cretan and Dodecanesian. As far as the second change is concerned, that of dissimilation of /r/ to /l/ in the presence of a second rhotic, the data are again similar to the medieval ones. That is, the number of words that could potentially undergo the change, as they contain two /r/ s, is very high, about However, in standard MG less than 10 words appear in changed form, a percentage of less than 0,2 %: αλέτρι, γλήγορα, γλήγορος (marginal), κόλιαντρο, πλώρη, φλάμουρο, Φλεβάρης The MG dialects add to this meager number an additional 20 words, which might increase if we investigate dialectal material more thoroughly: αλμπαρόζα (< erba rosa, αρμπαρόριζα), αργυλένιος, αλιστερά, αλιστερός, αλμάρι, καλδερίνα, κλησάρα, κλιθάρι, κλιάρι, αλισμαρί (< ροσμαρί), λακαριό (< ρακαριό), λαντουρώ (< ραντουρώ), λαπόρτο < ραπόρτο, λεσπέρης < rençper, λυμουρκό < ρυμουλκό, λιβόρβερο < ρεβόλβερ, παλεθύρι, πελιστέρι, πλοχωρώ, χαλακτήρας. Again, the presence of comparatively recent lexical items which have undergone the change (e.g. λιβόρβερο) shows that the change is still active in MG. As far as one can tell from the examination of the items which have not undergone the change, the limitation to non-learned high register vocabulary is not sufficient here. The change is not apparent also in the following contexts: 303

14 a) when the word is a compound. For example, none of the hundreds of compounds in αγριο-, ακρο-, ασπρο-, μαυρο- displays the change. Τhe Greek phenomenon operates in a different way from the grammaticalised suffix interchanges seen in other languages. b) when the change would create a consonant cluster disallowed or dispreferred by the phonotactics of Greek, e.g. δροσερός > *δλοσερός, βαρβάτος >?βαλβάτος 3. Conclusions We have investigated two different sound changes in the diachrony of Greek. Both of them involve liquids, the first in consonant clusters and the second in dissimilatory contexts. It has been shown that the detailed examination of the data, with the help of electronic research tools, can help us draw clearer conclusions as to the behaviour of sound changes in Greek: both changes are active for a very extensive period of time (about 2000 years), something that requires explanation. Also, they are both cross-linguistically well-attested changes which can be explained on the basis of known phonological processes. However, in their distribution they are widely dissimilar: while the first change is a potentially regular change, spreading to about one third of the vocabulary of any given period, and arrested primarily in lexical items of higher registers, the second change is a sporadic one, affecting less than 1% of the vocabulary. We hope to have shown that a) the specific change investigated here can provide a useful case study for research on the diffusion of sound change in general and b) the methodology followed for the present research can, and should, be applied to all other sound changes affecting Medieval and Modern Greek. References Academy of Athens, (1933-). Ἱστορικόν Λεξικόν τῆς Νέας Ὲλληνικῆς, τῆς τε κοινῶς ὁμιλουμένης καὶ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων. Athens. Αcademy of Athens, (2001). Λεξικογραφικόν Δελτίον 23 - Το πρόγραμμα «ΑΜΗΤΟΣ». Achil. O = Smith O. L., (1990). The Oxford Version of the ACHILLEID [Opuscula graecolatina, 32], Copenhagen. Alexoulis, A., (1892). Δύο σημειώματα ἐκ χειρογράφων, ΔΙΕΕΕ 4 (1892) Apok. V = Vejleskov P., (2005). APOKOPOS. A fifteenth century Greek (Veneto-Cretan) catabasis in the vernacular. Synoptic edition with an introduction, commentary and Index verborum, Cologne: Romiosini. Bompaire J., (1964). Actes de Xéropotamou. Édition diplomatique, Paris. Chron. Mor. = Schmitt J., (1904). The Chronicle of Morea, Τὸ Χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως. A History in Political Verse [...], London 1904, repr. Groningen 1967, Athens 2003 Chron. Toc. = Schirò G., (1975). Cronaca dei Tocco di Cefalonia di anonimo: prolegomeni, testo critico e traduzione, a cura di G. Schirò, Rome Cohn A., (1992). The Consequences of Dissimilation in Sundanese. Phonology 9, Colantoni L. & J. Steele (2005). Liquid asymmetries in French and Spanish. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 24, Cusa S., (1868/82). I diplomi greci ed arabi di Sicilia, Palermo vol. 1. part 1, 1868, vol. 1. part 2, 1882, repr. Cologne Vienna: Böhlau Dieterich K., (1898). Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der griechischen Sprache von den hellenistischen Zeit bis zum 10. Jahrh. n.chr. Leipzig: Teubner. Dig. G = Jeffreys Ε. Μ., (1998). Digenis Akritis. The Grottaferrata and Escorial Versions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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