Stops

The seventeen consonants are divided into stops (or mutes), spirants, liquids, nasals, and double consonants. They may be arranged according to the degree of tension or slackness of the vocal chords in sounding them, as follows:

a. Voiced (sonant, i.e. sounding) consonants are produced when the vocal chords vibrate. The sounds are represented by the letters β, δ, γ (stops), λ, ρ (liquids), μ, ν, γ-nasal (19 a) (nasals), and ζ. (All the vowels are voiced.) ρ with the rough breathing is voiceless.

b. Voiceless (surd, i.e. hushed) consonants require no exertion of the vocal chords. These are π, τ, κ, φ, θ, χ (stops), ς (spirant or sibilant), and ψ and ξ.

c. Arranged according to the increasing degree of noise, nearest to the vowels are the nasals, in sounding which the air escapes without friction through the nose; next come the semivowels υ̯ and ι̯ (20 a), the liquids, and the spirant ς, in sounding which the air escapes with friction through the cavity of the mouth; next come the stops, which are produced by a removal of an obstruction; and finally the double consonants.

Stops (or mutes). Stopped consonants are so called because in sounding them the breath passage is for a moment completely closed. The stops are divided into three classes (according to the part of the mouth chiefly active in sounding them) and into three orders (according to the degree of force in the expiratory effort).

a. The dentals are sometimes called linguals. The rough stops are also called aspirates (lit. breathed sounds) because they were sounded with a strong emission of breath (26). The smooth stops are thus distinguished from the rough stops by the absence of breathing. ( (h) is also an aspirate. The middle stops owe their name to their position in the above grouping, which is that of the Greek grammarians.

Stops (or mutes). Stopped consonants are so called because in sounding them the breath passage is for a moment completely closed. The stops are divided into three classes (according to the part of the mouth chiefly active in sounding them) and into three orders (according to the degree of force in the expiratory effort).

a. The dentals are sometimes called linguals. The rough stops are also called aspirates (lit. breathed sounds) because they were sounded with a strong emission of breath (26). The smooth stops are thus distinguished from the rough stops by the absence of breathing. ( (h) is also an aspirate. The middle stops owe their name to their position in the above grouping, which is that of the Greek grammarians.

β, γ, δ are not doubled in Attic (cp. 75 D.). In γγ the first γ is nasal (19 a). φ, χ, θ are not doubled in Attic; instead, we have πφ, κχ, τθ as in Σαπφώ Sappho, Βάκχος Bacchus, Ἀτθίς (Atthis) Attic. Cp. 83 a.

A stop with a liquid after a short vowel need not make the preceding syllable long by position. A syllable containing a short vowel before a stop and a liquid is common (either short or long). When short, such syllables are said to have weak position.

Thus, in δάκρυ, πατρός, ὅπλον, τέκνον, τί δρᾷ the first syllable is either long or short as the verse requires. In Homer the syllable before a stop with a liquid is usually long; in Attic it is usually short.

a. The stop and the liquid making weak position must stand in the same word or in the same part of a compound. Thus, in ἐκ-λῡ́ω I release the first syllable is always long, but in ἔ-κλυε he heard it is common.

b. β, γ, δ before μ, or ν, and usually before λ, make the preceding syllable long by position. Thus, ἁγνός (¯˘) pure, βιβλίον (ע˘) book.

N.—‘Common’ quantity has been explained as due to a difference in syllabic division. Thus, in τε̄́κνον, the first syllable is closed (τέκ-νον); while in τέ̆κνον the first syllable is open (τέ-κνον). Cp. 141.

The quantity of most syllables is usually apparent. Thus, syllables

a. with η, ω, or a diphthong, are long.

b. with ε, ο, before a vowel or a single consonant, are short.

c. with ε, ο, before two consonants, or a double consonant, are long.

d. with α, ι, υ, before two consonants, or a double consonant, are long.

N.—But syllables with ε, ο, or α, ι, υ before a stop and a liquid may be short (145). Cp. also 147 c.