Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers

ISBN-13: 9781118785157 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 528 str.

Geoffrey Horrocks

Opis

Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers, Second Edition reveals the trajectory of the Greek language from the Mycenaean period of the second millennium BC to the current day. - Offers a complete linguistic treatment of the history of the Greek language
- Updated second edition features increased coverage of the ancient evidence, as well as the roots and development of diglossia
- Includes maps that clearly illustrate the distribution of ancient dialects and the geographical spread of Greek in the early Middle Ages

Recenzje

"Highly recommended. Lower–division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." (Choice, 1 February 2011)

" one of Horrocks′ greatest achievements is the skill with which he demonstrates the special value of the history of Greek, thinking about the Greek language in terms of breadth and depth that are unusual among linguists working on Greek." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 9 May 2011)

Spis treści

Preface to the First Edition xii

Preface to the Second Edition xv

IPA Chart xvii

The Greek Alphabet xviii

Introduction: The Scope and Purpose of This Book 1

PART I Ancient Greek: From Mycenae to the Roman Empire 7

1 The Ancient Greek Dialects 9

2 Classical Greek: Official and Literary Standards 43

3 The Rise of Attic 67

4 Greek in the Hellenistic World 79

5 Greek in the Roman Empire 124

6 Spoken Koine in the Roman Period 160

PART II Byzantium: From Constantine I to Mehmet the Conqueror 189

7 Historical Prelude 191

8 Greek in the Byzantine Empire: The Major Issues 207

9 Byzantine Belles Lettres 231

10 The Written Koine in Byzantium 244

11 Spoken Greek in the Byzantine Empire: The Principal Developments 273

12 Texts in the Vernacular 325

PART III Modern Greek: From the Ottoman Empire to the European Union 371

13 Ottoman Rule and the War of Independence 373

14 Spoken Greek in the Ottoman Period 379

15 Written Greek in the Turkish Period 413

16 The History of the Modern Greek State 428

17 The Language Question and its Resolution 438

Bibliography 471

Index 493

O autorze

Geoffrey Horrocks is Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St. John′s College. His previous books include Space and Time in Homer (1981), Generative Grammar (1987), Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (1997), and The Blackwell History of the Latin Languge (with J. Clackson, Wiley–Blackwell, 2007).

Blurb

"Highly recommended. Lower–division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." (Choice, 1 February 2011)

" one of Horrocks′ greatest achievements is the skill with which he demonstrates the special value of the history of Greek, thinking about the Greek language in terms of breadth and depth that are unusual among linguists working on Greek." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 9 May 2011)

Horrocks offers an exemplary, and unique, survey of the development of the Greek language from its Mycenaean beginnings to the present day, with a particular emphasis on the reasons for Greek s linguistic conservatism. Widely read and much praised in its first edition, this expanded and revised second edition is to be recommended even more highly to all those interested in Greek of any period.
Elizabeth Jeffreys, University of Oxford

Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers traces the trajectory of the Greek language from the Mycenaean period of the second millennium BC to the current day. Widely celebrated upon its original release, this greatly expanded Second Edition explores the evolution of the Greek language in its regional and social heterogeneity and in both its spoken and written forms.

Beginning in the ancient world with the emergence and dominance of the Attic dialect in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the book goes on to examine the subsequent development of the language during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The text explores the tension between written varieties and evolving forms of the vernacular and the resultant 2000 years of diglossia –– the ever–growing gulf between what was said and what was written, and the linguistic consequences. Other topics addressed include the ancient Greek dialects, epigraphic and literary; the impact of the adoption of Greek by the Macedonians, Romans, and as a lingua franca in the East; the role of Greek in the development of Latin and modern European languages; and the position of different forms of Greek in the medieval Byzantine state. Finally, more recent problems of establishing a standard language and education system in the independent Greek state that emerged in the early 19th century are revealed, as well as the ongoing legacy of diglossia into the 1970s.

Unmatched in breadth of material and scholarly rigor, Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers, Second Edition, remains the essential resource on the development of the Greek language.