quandary about how omega sounds

[charleshardt]

Okay, I've heard omega sounds like o as in "Moe", "Joe", "snow," and "coal." I've also heard that it sounds like aw as in "awesome," "pawn," "lawn" (not as in "pop" nor "cop").

So which is it?

Eks ou day ta pr-AW-ta, or
Eks ou day ta pr-OA-ta?

[chad]

hi charles, most of the books on ancient pronunciation i've read suggest something like "or" (i.e. like awesome, pawn &c). it could also be like omicron but twice as long in time, like a long "pop", although some books i remember say that the long vowels are more closed than the short ones. i don't think the "moe" sound is right though.

[GlottalGreekGeek]

This doesn't answer your question, but day? If you are referring to line 6 of the Iliad (which I assume you are), shouldn't it be deh as in "red" or "Ed" - or so it says in almost every source I've seen (if you have other sources, I'd like to look at them).. "Day" is the ei dipthong, as in [face=spionic]aeide[/face].

Also, I am sure that "pop" is not omicron (unless you speak a different dialect of English, which is quite possible). I pronouce "pop" as something similar (but not quite like) "pahp". It's one of those weird English (or is it purely American?) vowels that most languages seem not to share.

[Eureka]

Also, I am sure that "pop" is not omicron (unless you speak a different dialect of English, which is quite possible). I pronouce "pop" as something similar (but not quite like) "pahp". It's one of those weird English (or is it purely American?) vowels that most languages seem not to share.

North Americans use a long-a sound where other dialects of English use a short-o. There was a discussion of this recently:

http://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-foru ... php?t=2927

Since most textbooks were written for English high-school students, they assume "pop" is pronounced with an omicron-like sound. There is apparently no equivalent to omicron in the North American dialects.

[GlottalGreekGeek]

What about the word "pope"? I believe I pronounce with an omicron sound.

Also, the American "pop" sound is not a pure ah - at least, not in theatre diction classes. I forgot what it's called, but I think of it as the "honest" sound (becaue it's the first phoneme). It is different from the true ah of father.

Then there are a + liquid, which are "flavored" - calm (from that discussion - and I do pronounce the l) and car (a flavored by r). These are not considered pure ah sounds either, but they are the closest in my dialect of English.

[Eureka]

What about the word "pope"? I believe I pronounce with an omicron sound.

As far as I've heard, the o in "pope" is always pronounced as a diphthong (which sounds identical to the name of the letter o, and is very different from the pronunciation of omicron) regardless of which dialect. I could be wrong; I haven't talked to any Californians about Catholicism.

To hear the proper pronunciation of omicron, click here:

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ancgreek/ ... guide.html