{{Short description|Greek shift of vowels to the [i] sound}} {{For|the palatalization of certain consonants in Slavic languages|iotation}}
'''Iotacism''' ({{langx|el|ἰωτακισμός}}, ''iotakismos'') or '''itacism''' is the process of vowel shift by which a number of vowels and diphthongs converged towards the pronunciation {{IPAblink|i}} in post-classical Greek and Modern Greek. The term "iotacism" refers to the letter iota, the original sign for {{IPAblink|i}}, with which these vowels came to merge. The alternative term ''itacism'' refers to the new pronunciation of the name of the letter eta as {{IPA|el|ˈita|}} after the change.
==Vowels and diphthongs involved== {{main|Koine Greek phonology}} Ancient Greek had a broader range of vowels (see Ancient Greek phonology) than Modern Greek has. Eta ({{lang|grc|η}}) was a long open-mid front unrounded vowel {{IPA|/ɛː/}}, and upsilon ({{lang|grc|υ}}) was a close front rounded vowel {{IPA|/y/}}. Over the course of time, both vowels came to be pronounced like the close front unrounded vowel iota ({{lang|grc|ι}}) {{IPA|[i]}}. In addition, certain diphthongs merged to the same pronunciation. Specifically, Epsilon-iota ({{lang|grc|ει}}) initially became {{IPA|/eː/}} in Classical Greek before it later raised to ({{lang|grc|ι}}) while, later, omicron-iota ({{lang|grc|οι}}) and upsilon-iota ({{lang|grc|υι}}) merged with upsilon ({{lang|grc|υ}}). As a result of eta and upsilon being affected by iotacism, so were the respective diphthongs.
In Modern Greek, the letters and digraphs {{lang|el|ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι}} (rare) are all pronounced {{IPA|el|i|}}.
==Issues in textual criticism== Iotacism caused some words with originally distinct pronunciations to be pronounced similarly, sometimes the cause of differences between manuscript readings in the New Testament. For example, the upsilon of {{lang|grc|ὑμεῖς, ὑμῶν}} ''hymeis, hymōn'' "ye, your" (second person plural in respectively nominative, genitive) and the eta of {{lang|grc|ἡμεῖς, ἡμῶν}} ''hēmeis, hēmōn'' "we, our" (first person plural in respectively nominative, genitive) could be easily confused if a lector were reading to copyists in a scriptorium. (In fact, Modern Greek had to develop a new second-person plural, {{lang|el|εσείς}}, while the first-person plural's eta was opened to epsilon, {{lang|el|εμείς}}, as a result of apparent attempts to prevent it sounding like the old second-person plural.) As an example of a relatively minor (almost insignificant) source of variant readings, some ancient manuscripts spelled words the way they sounded, such as the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus, which sometimes substitutes a plain iota for the epsilon-iota digraph and sometimes does the reverse.<ref>Jongkind, Dirk (2007). ''Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus'', Gorgias Press LLC, p. 74 ff, 93–94.</ref>
English-speaking textual critics use the word ''itacism'' to refer to the phenomenon and extend it loosely for all inconsistencies of spelling involving vowels.<ref>Greenlee, J. Harold (1964). ''Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism'', Eerdmans, p. 64.</ref>
== History == The first demonstration of the phenomenon was made by the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467–1536) in his treatise {{lang|la|Dialogus de recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione}} (''Dialogue on the correct pronunciation of the Latin and Greek language'', 1528) in which he asserted that in ancient Greek the sound of η should have been /e/, not /i/ (which is why his theory came to be called ''etacism''). In support of this thesis a verse from the Athenian playwright Cratinus, one of the leading exponents of ancient Comedy, is quoted that speaks of a fool in this way: "{{lang|grc|ὁ δ'ἠλίθιος ὥσπερ πρόβατον βῆ λέγων βαδίζει}}" ('the fool walks making the sound "bee bee" like a sheep'); hardly could the verse "bee" be read /vi/, according to the itacistic pronunciation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erasmus of Rotterdam |title=De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione |publisher=Ex Officina Rob. Stephani typographi Regi |year=1528 |edition=1st |pages=68–90 |language=la}}</ref>
Against the "Erasmian" theory came the German humanist Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522), in whose honor the Byzantine Greek pronunciation is also called Reuchlinian.
==See also== *Greek language *Greek alphabet *Ancient Greek phonology *Koine Greek phonology *Medieval Greek *Modern Greek phonology *Vowel shift * Minuscule 541 and Minuscule 543 – manuscripts with an unusual number of itacistic errors
==References== <references/>
Category:Greek language Category:Koine Greek Category:Vowel shifts