The pronunciation guide shows that the IPA symbol for υ, υι, and οι is /y/ like a rounded "ee" sound. I'm struggling with this sound, I've spent some time learning french and the french "u" also has an IPA symbol of /y/ but it's closer to the u in "cute" or "ew" than the "ee" sound. So I guess there's two questions. How should I be pronouncing these vowels and diphthongs, and how do you pronounce it when there's two identical vowel sounds in a row like in υιοι. Thanks!
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Hi, Benjamin (Ben?) - I have the same question as Kyle. I do appreciate the distinction between the y / yi and how they are both perhaps valid, but think my question - and perhaps Kyle's question - still remains. The υ is really difficult to pronounce. Do you make it by 1) just pronouncing "ee" then pulling your lips together inward, or 2) with more of a 'u' sound present as we would imagine that sound in English - as Kyle put it, more like the u in "cute"? As I'm trying to figure out how to pronounce this, I have settled on the first approach, based on what I think I'm hearing in your BLC beta course that I'm going through. But I'm not sure. This remains a very difficult sound for me and I'd appreciate more guidance.
Good questions Kyle! There was actually variation with words like υἱός and υἱοί in the Koine period as well.
The evidence suggests that the below pronunciations were all valid:
υἱός = [yˈo̞s], [yiˈo̞s]
υἱοί = [yˈy], [yiˈy]
We know this from spellings like υος and υειος, the first showing the contraction with the [i] vowel and the latter showing the preservation of the [i] vowel.
Hope this helps!