Monotonic orthography

The monotonic orthography ( modern Greek μονοτονικό σύστημα γραφής monotonikó sístima grafís ) is a system of accenting with only one accent for the (new) Greek language. In 1982 it replaced the polytonic orthography (with three accents). Outwardly, this one accent is mostly identical to the old polytonic acute - ὀξεία oxeía . Sometimes, however, a “neutral” tonos ( τόνος tónos ) is also used.

background

In the ancient Greek polytonic orthography there were three accents, as well as two breath symbols ( Spiritus asper and Spiritus lenis ) and a symbol for an i-sound that was already silent in the early days (see article there). In the course of its development, however, the Greek language lost its tonal character - the tonal accent changed to a pure stress accent. In addition, the h sound fell silent, which made the two spiritūs superfluous; the i-sound of the iota subscriptum had already fallen silent. Therefore the polytonic system was seen more and more often as a superfluous learning effort. After a heated debate in the Greek Parliament, it was abolished in 1982 and replaced by the monotonic system.

The different spellings of the individual sounds, also based on etymology, were retained:

ι, η, υ, ει, οι and υι for [ i ]
ο and ω for [ ɔ ]
αι and ε for [ ɛ ]

Emphasis mark

In reforming the old polytonic accents not 1: 1 replaced by Tonos, but today the Tonos marks the accent put inside a word and is therefore usually omitted in monosyllables. In the polytonic system, however, a distinction was made between monosyllabic stressed words (which had an accent mark) and monosyllabic unstressed words ( clitics ; see the example below).

Usage today

Today the monotonic orthography is predominantly used for (new) Greek texts, also for all official texts such as school books, legal texts etc. Modern Greek literature - including new ones - is still often printed polytonically, and some publishers continue to use the polytonic system. It is also still in use by many private individuals, for whom it is the usual way of writing that they learned in their school days.

Example of polytonic and monotonic orthography

**The Lord's Prayer**
polytonic	monotonous
Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου · ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου · γεννηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς · τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον · καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. ἀμήν.	Πάτερ ημών ο εν τοις ουρανοίς αγιασθήτω το όνομά σου · ελθέτω η βασιλεία σου · γεννηθήτω το θέλημά σου, ως εν ουρανώ και επί της γης · τον άρτον ημών τον επιούσιον δος ημίν σήμερον · και άφες ημίν τα οφειλήματα ημών, ως και ημείς αφίεμεν τοις οφειλέταις ημών και μη εισενέγκης ημάς εις πειρασμόν, αλλά ρύσαι ημάς από του πονηρού. αμήν.

Character map

	Alfa	epsilon	Ita	Iota	Omicron	Ypsilon	omega	Alfa	epsilon	Ita	Iota	Omicron	Ypsilon	omega
	Lowercase letter							Capital letter
Pure vowel	α	ε	η	ι	ο	υ	ω	Α	Ε	Η	Ι	Ο	Υ	Ω
With Tonos	ά	έ	ή	ί	ό	ύ	ώ	Ά	Έ	Ή	Ί	Ό	Ύ	Ώ