Greek writing from Knossos to Homer : a linguistic interpretation of the origin of the Greek alphabet and the continuity of ancient Greek literacy / Roger D. Woodard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Woodard, Roger D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek language--Alphabet.

Greek language.

Written communication--Greece--History.

Written communication.

Language and culture--Greece--History.

Language and culture.

Greek language--Written Greek.

Literacy--Greece--History.

Literacy.

Greek language--Writing.

History.

Greece.

Physical Description:

xiv, 287 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Contents:

1.1 The Greek Syllabaries 4

1.2 Miscellanea 6

2 The Syllabaries 8

2.0 Structure of the Syllabaries 8

2.0.1 Symbol Types 8

2.0.2 Ill-Suited Systems 9

2.0.3 Linear B 10

2.0.4 The Cypriot Syllabary 11

2.0.5 Final Clusters in Linear B 12

2.0.6 Geminate Clusters 13

2.0.7 Word-Initial Clusters 13

2.0.8 Summary of Spelling Strategies 13

2.0.9 Other Orthographic Practices 14

2.1 Previous Accounts 15

2.1.1 Linear B 15

2.1.2 The Cypriot Syllabary 15

3 Syllable-Dependent Approaches 19

3.0 Householder 19

3.1 Beekes 23

3.2 Sampson 29

3.2.1 The Stop + [s] Problem 30

3.2.2 The [s] + Stop Problem 30

3.2.3 A Reformulation 30

3.2.4 A Further Problem 31

3.3 Ancient Tradition 32

3.3.1 Inscriptional Word-Division 32

3.3.2 Greek Grammarian Syllable-Division 35

3.3.3 Morphologically Conditioned Variation 38

3.3.4 An Impasse? 39

3.4 Ruijgh 41

3.5 Morpurgo Davies 43

3.5.1 Scribal Continuity 44

3.5.2 [s] + Stop Again and Other Problems 47

4 Non-Syllable-Dependent Approaches 58

4.0 Tronsky 58

4.0.1 Sonority and the Sonority Hierarchy 58

4.0.2 Tronsky's Analysis 60

4.1 Woodard 62

4.1.1 Data Collection 62

4.1.2 Consonant Clusters in Linear B 62

4.1.3 The Hierarchy of Orthographic Strength 63

4.1.4 Consonant Clusters in Syllabic Cypriot 66

4.1.5 The Sonority Hierarchy Again 75

4.1.6 The Resolution of Recurring Problems 78

4.2 Stephens and Justeson 79

4.3 Viredaz 81

4.3.1 Linear B 81

4.3.2 The Cypriot Syllabary 87

4.3.3 Aperture and the Escalier 90

5 The Hierarchy of Orthographic Strength 112

5.0 Clusters of More Than Two Consonants 112

5.0.1 Cluster-Types 112

5.0.2 The Regular Mode of Spelling 113

5.0.3 A Potential Problem 114

5.1 Word-Final Clusters in Linear B 123

5.1.1 Types of Word-Final Stop + [-s] Representation 123

6 The Alphabet 133

6.0 Phoenician Beginnings 133

6.1 Greek Modifications 135

6.1.1 The Phonemic Inventories 135

6.1.2 The Creation of Vowel Characters 135

6.1.3 Changes in Consonantal Values 136

6.2 The Epichoric Alphabets 140

6.2.1 Blue and Red 140

6.2.2 Green or Primitive 141

6.3 The Greek Letter Xi 147

6.3.1 Greek [ks]? 147

6.3.2 Greek [s]? 149

6.3.4 The Spelling of a greek [s] 153

6.3.5 Conclusions on Greek [s] 155

6.4 The Greek Letter Psi 156

6.4.1 The Distribution of [k] + [s] and [p] + [s] Symbols in the Alphabet-Types 156

6.4.2 Powell on [psi] 159

6.5 The Greek Letter Zeta 161

6.5.1 The Phonetics of Zeta 161

6.5.2 The Phonetic Motivation 167

6.5.3 The Structural Motivation 172

6.6 The Greek Letters Sigma and San 175

6.6.1 The Background of San 175

6.6.2 The Case of Sigma 184

6.6.3 The Names of Sigma and San 184

7 Cyprus and Beyond 205

7.0 More Syllabic Cypriot Influence 205

7.0.1 Stop Consonant Graphemes 205

7.1 Early Alphabetic Traditions in Cyprus 208

7.1.1 [ks] and [ps] Across the Alphabets 208

7.2 Date of the Origin of the Alphabet 217

7.2.1 The Mycenaean Exodus 217

7.2.2 The Cypro-Minoan Scripts 218

7.2.3 Greeks and Phoenicians in Cyprus 218

7.2.4 A Mycenaean Renaissance 219

7.2.5 Carpenter 224

7.2.6 Naveh 225

7.2.7 McCarter 225

7.2.8 Directionality in the Early Alphabet and Cypriot Tradition 227

7.2.9 Letter Stance and the Cypriot Literacy Factor 228

7.3 Other Investigators on Cyprus as the Place of Origin 229

7.3.1 Carpenter 229

7.3.2 Robb, Heubeck, Johnston and Burkert 233

7.4 Other Proposed Sites of Origin 233

7.4.1 Al Mina 233

7.4.2 Crete 235

7.4.3 Rhodes 236

8.0 The Syllabic Predecessors of the Alphabet 246

8.0.1 An Aegean Panini 246

8.0.2 Synopsis 247

8.1 Concerning Vowels 250

8.2 Homer and the Alphabet 253

8.2.1 Powell et al. 253

8.2.2 Hexameter and the Cypriot Script 254

8.2.3 Hexameter and Early Alphabetic Inscriptions 255

8.3 On the Transmission of the Alphabet to the West 256

8.3.1 Scribal Transmission 257

8.3.2 Word-Division Further Considered 258.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-278) and index.

ISBN:

0195105206

OCLC:

34412866