[Lexicog] IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)

[William Poser]

The Greek aspirated stops were certainly aspirates, not fricatives,
into the Hellenistic period, and probably into Koine. Since Coptic
clearly reflects aspirates. In Coptic, the Greek aspirates are
written as C-h sequences (and Coptic phonology shows that these
are true sequences, not an orthographic convention). Furthermore,
there is at least one case of reanalysis in which the C and the h
are split. Coptic has the nominal prefixes p- masculine sg. definite article,
t- feminine sg definite article, n- common plural definite article, and
u- indefinite article. "the ocean" is thalassa, which to the naive
eye looks just like the Greek. But note the "the". That's the form with
the definite article. The stem of "ocean" in Coptic is -halassa, as
in uhalassa "an ocean". 

What isn't so clear is what stage of Greek is reflected in the Coptic
orthography. It is certainly post-Homeric, almost certainly Hellenistic,
very likely Koine.

Bill


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