Akustyka, mimetyka, estetyka, artykulacja: Grecy o głoskach języka
Acoustics, Mimesis, Aesthetics, Articulation: Ancient Greeks on Phones

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to characterize the criteria applied by ancient Greeks for describing, defining and classifying the phones of the language. The analysis of the appropriate passages shows that at the first, philosophical stage of Greek linguistics (Plato, Aristotle) both acoustic and articulatory features were referred to, while within the framework of the later, the grammatical tradition of (Techne grammatike attributed to Dionysius Thrax) articulatory properties was no longer taken into consideration, whereas acoustic features were associated with specific aesthetic appraisal. Although the Greek grammarians finally succeeded in distinguishing all essential groups of phones, relinquishing the articulatory criteria, on one hand, and identifying phones with definite phonetic values of letters on the other made it impossible for them to correctly recognize the whole set of Greek phones and to describe them in the correct way.

• Details
• Contents