Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers / Edition 2

by Geoffrey Horrocks

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405134156
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/08/2010
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Horrocks is Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St. John's College. He is the author of many articles on the history and structure of the Greek language and has co-edited several volumes on themes and issues in modern Greek syntax. 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 James Clackson, 2007).

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Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The only proper history of Greek from the earliest evidence up to the present day, Horrocks’s book is a major achievement and fills a large scholarly and pedagogical gap.”
Joshua T. Katz, Princeton University

"Horrocks has outdone himself. The 1st edition was as good an overview of the entire history of Greek as there is, yet this 2nd edition improves on that, with added material on all periods of Greek. This important work is well-written, informative, and interesting."
Brian D. Joseph, The Ohio State University

“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

Editorial Reviews

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

"The text is likewise to be recommended to individuals interested in the effects of politics, military history, and culture on the history of language. In fact, perhaps 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)

This second takes account of reviews of the first and of the 2006 Greek translation." (Book News Inc, November 2010)

From the Publisher