Greek diacritics  

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Greek orthography has used a variety of diacritics starting in the Hellenistic period. The more complex polytonic orthography (Template:Lang-el), which includes five diacritics, notates Ancient Greek phonology. The simpler monotonic orthography (Template:Lang-el), introduced in 1982, corresponds to Modern Greek phonology, and requires only two diacritics.

Polytonic orthography (Template:Etymology) is the standard system for Ancient Greek and Medieval Greek. The acute accent (´), the circumflex (^), and the grave accent (`) indicate different kinds of pitch accent. The rough breathing (῾) indicates the presence of the Template:IPA sound before a letter, while the smooth breathing (᾿) indicates the absence of Template:IPA.

Since in Modern Greek the pitch accent has been replaced by a dynamic accent (stress), and Template:IPA was lost, most polytonic diacritics have no phonetic significance, and merely reveal the underlying Ancient Greek etymology.

Monotonic orthography (Template:Etymology) is the standard system for Modern Greek. It retains two diacritics: a single accent or tonos (΄) that indicates stress, and the diaeresis ( ¨ ), which usually indicates a hiatus but occasionally indicates a diphthong: compare modern Greek Template:Wikt-lang (Template:IPA, "lamb chops"), with a diphthong, and Template:Wikt-lang (Template:IPA, "little children") with a simple vowel. A tonos and a diaeresis can be combined on a single vowel to indicate a stressed vowel after a hiatus, as in the verb Template:Lang (Template:IPA, "to feed").

Although it is not a diacritic, the hypodiastole (comma) has in a similar way the function of a sound-changing diacritic in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Transliteration, "whatever") from Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Transliteration, "that").

See also

• Acute accent
• Voiceless glottal fricative
• Diaeresis – Synaeresis
• Greek language
• Koine Greek phonology
• Modern Greek grammar
• Greek alphabet
• Greek language question
• Greek ligatures
• Greek braille
• Greek minuscule
• Textual criticism
• Aristarchian symbols
• Obelism
• Dagger (typography)
• Greek numerals
• Attic numerals
• Isopsephy
• Ancient Greek Musical Notation
• Byzantine Musical Symbols