DIALECTS. Long before the dawn of history Greek comprised a number of dialects, which maintained their individual peculiarities until comparatively late times, although these differ ences were never so great as to prevent easy com munication between the inhabitants of different districts. The study of the Greek dialects has been greatly advanced in recent years by the dis covery and publication of inscriptions. In gen eral, the dialects fall into the two groups of Ionic and non-Ionic, distinguished by a tendency on the part of the Ionic dialects to change orig inal a to 6. Further than this we can distin guish, inside the non-Ionic group, two families of dialects, the lEolic and the Doric, although recent investigation has shown that this twofold division cannot be carried out as strictly as was formerly supposed. The principal characteristics of the Ionic, Doric, and lEolic dialects are as fol lows: Ionic dialect is characterized by (1) a wholesale change of original tl• to C; (2) the early loss of r ; (3) the use of dp =-- Ka, Kg. Two forms must be distinguished: (1) The Ionic of the Asiatic coast and many of the lEgean islands, frequently named simply Ionic. This displays a marked aversion to con traction and admits successive vowel sounds. It includes: (a) Old Ionic, the language of the Homeric poems, and of epic poetry in general, a dialect partly artificial and probably never spoken at any one time.
(b) New Ionic, the spoken language of the Ionian cities, with many local variations, but show ing a preference for K instead of r in pronominal roots (Koios, fribrros = Att. ram, rkos), frequent preference for w instead of au or ov (Oaga, ZY=Att.
o3v),and dislike of aspirates (bropEiv,6eicopai =Att. iipopilv, 3ixopat). This is the language of the early logographers, of Herodotus and Hippocrates.
(2) related to Ionic, but dif fering from it in the retention of a in certain positions (7pdrrio, payta=Ion. rphcraco, aavin), and in a marked tendency to contraction of vowels.
This is the principal literary dialect, used in the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, the dram atists and the orators. It is commonly taken by grammarians as the norm, and the • other dialects are regarded as variants, although there is no historical justification for such a proceed ing.
was spoken on the Isthmus, in the greater part of the Peloponnesus, Corcyra, Magna Grncia, Sicily, Cyrene, Crete, Byzantium, Rhodes, the southwestern corner of Asia Minor, Melos, and some of the other islands of the iEgean. It is, in the main, the language of Pindar and Theocritus. It is characterized by (1) retention of a where the Attic prefers v (actrvp= Att. aVrvp) ; (2) formation of the gen. plu. in av, gen. sing. masc. in a (roXirav, roXtra=- Att. roXtraiv, roXfrou ) ; (3) per, for pep, in first pers. plu., Pri in third pers. (-)Koper, gxovri = Att. 1KNIEY, gX0VCPCI ; (4) formation of the future in 01(0, are; (5) contraction of ae to v. A special group of dialects (sometimes called Northern Doric) is to be recognized in the inscriptions of Phocis, Loeris, and the neighboring districts.
rEotic.—The dialect of lEolis (Northern Asia Minor). With this are commonly grouped the dialects of Bceotia and Thessaly, although they differ from it in many particulars. The poems of Aleceus and Sappho were written in tEolic, as well as three idyls of Theoeritus. The dialect is characterized by (1) an objection to oxytones (ricaos, a6(Pos, aDros= Att. xaX6s, acup6s, cdrr61) ; (2) frequent objection to an. initial rough breath ing (grepos, capes = Att. trepos, bp.e1s) ; (3) in stability of vowel sounds, combined with a fond ness for and v sounds ( irlaupes, 6vvaa - Att. rftrapes, ifvoaa) ; (4) preference for oi instead of ov where both arose from original ov (X1Y017a, TOTS= Att. Xtsracra, roes ) . The closely related group of Arcadian and Cyprian was formerly classified as /Eolic, hut is now placed in a sep arate category by conservative scholars.