Opinions - Testimonies

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• Jacqueline de Romilly, professor at the Sorbonne (1957), first woman professor at the Collège de France (1973), member of the French Academy (1988), honorary Greek citizen (1995) and Ambassador of Hellenism (2000):
  
  Dear Sir, I strongly wish that accents be preserved... read it
• ✝Peter Fraser, emeritus lecturer at Oxford University:
  
  I was glad to hear about your Movement for the reintroduction of the polytonic system of accentuation... read it
• Alain Segonds, directeur de recherche du CNRS, directeur général des Éditions Les Belles Lettres:
  
  Cher ami, j'avais longuement traîné à vous écrire sur cette délicate question [des accents], non que... read it
• Gregorios Sifakis, prof. emeritus of classical Greek philology at the University of Thessaloniki and New York University:
  
  Why do I insist on the polytonic accentuation system? A short—as well as precise—answer would be:... read it
• Zyranna Zateli, writer:
  
  I use accents and breathings in my writing because, first of all, I like them and love them... read it
• Vangelis Hadzigiannidis, writer:
  
  I remember I was in the swimming pool for my weekly hydrotherapy session, when... read it
• Yorgos Brounias, writer:
  
  I would say, now that I’m asked about it—because before I considered it as a fact without too many explanations—... read it
• Carlos Steel, professor of ancient philosophy, University of Leuven:
  
  I am a scholar in ancient Greek philosophy and an editor of ancient Greek texts in numerous prestigious international series... read it
• Concetta Luna, researcher at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy):
  
  Like millions of other Italians who went through the Classical Lyceum (high school), I learned ancient Greek... read it
• Philippe Brunet, professor of ancient Greek at Rouen university:
  
  The decision to switch from the polytonic to the monotonic system belongs to the Greeks and I have no right to interfere into their choices, but I can... read it
• François Patte, mathematician-sanskritist, professor at Paris V University:
  
  Some years ago I went to see a greek newspaper and was very astonished: many accents and breathings—comparing to the ancient Greek studies I have done—had disappeared from the script. This is in that way that I became aware of a governmental reform of the Greek script.

  I did not learn to speak modern Greek but I cannot figure out that all the polytonic inflections of the spoken Greek language had suddenly vanished and that the diacritical marks in the script became of no use to read a Greek text!

  Moreover, I am still wondering if the homonymy problems created if you suppress the accents from a Greek word are no more existing. This was pointed out by all my Greek professors with a great stress: “be careful, do not confuse: ἡ, feminine definite article, with: ἥ, feminine relative pronoun, with: ἤ, or, better than, with: ἦ, I was. Do not confuse: εἶναι, to be and: εἷναι, to have been sent (from ἵημι); ἰέναι, to go and: ἱέναι, to send.” The list could be longer! Do similar examples have totally desappeared in modern Greek? I doubt!

  Diacritical marks were made to help the reading and everything made for this purpose is very useful. The French Academy pointed out once that, contrary to a legend, capital letters also were to be accented in French to help the reading; you must write “École” and not “Ecole”!

  But diacritical marks are not only for the reading, they are also the memory of the language: long long time ago some letters have disappeared from the Greek script but they have left some marks to the words; for instance οἵδα (I knew) stands for a former ϝοίδα which makes clear that this word is the “same” as the Sanskrit veda. I cannot imagine that some accents, the effect of which is almost imperceptible in the French spoken language, could vanish one day, for they are the mark of a disappeared letter like in “hôtel” or “hôpital” where the circumflex accent stands for an old “s” which you still can find in French words like “hospitalité”, “hospice”, etc. And how to explain now “rhododendron”, if you write ρόδος and not ῥόδος? Greek is not only the language for Greek people, it is also a big part of the European culture!

  I went to become a sanskritist and learnt the texts of the Indian culture. In the ancient times, old wise men declared that a script must reflect all the possible phonems of a language to be a suitable script. And they built alphabetic scripts for Indian languages—they probably built the alphabets for all languages from South East Asia—: around fifty letters and rules to combine them with ligatures in order to accomplish what they had decreed. Still nowaday, Indian languages use these scripts and you can often read on the shop signs some transliterated words from english: while reading, you can hear all the characteristics of the Indian people accent when they speak English! The aim of the old wise men has been fulfilled and nobody complain against the fifty letters and ligature rules...

• Vernon E. Kooy, Retired Philosopher and Font Designer - Hastings, Nebraska, USA:
  
  By legislating in favor of the monotonic system, Greek has been “dummied down” short and simple... read it
• Phidias N. Bourlas, computer engineer:
  
  Twenty years later I found my beloved, lost, polytonic system again!... read it
• Chrissostomos Papaspyrou, chemist/linguist, educator at the Athens Special Lyceum for the Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing:
  
  I’m deaf. When I was three years old, I permanently lost my hearing. I don’t remember anymore... read it
• Nikos Dimitriadis, classical scholar:
  
  The goal of the Organization for the Internationalization of Greek Language is to widespread... read it
• Dimitrios Filippou, engineer:
  
  First of all I have to say that I am not a follower of the polytonic system, but... read it
• Nikolaos Ventouras, computer engineer:
  
  The arguments of both the (so-called) progressists as of the (so-called) rightists all start from... read it
• Yannis Gekas, private sector employee:
  
  I was born after the establishment of the monotonic system and so I was taught polytonic... read it
• Andreas Stalidis, mathematician - analyst:
  
  I will not speak about the reasons why the polytonic system should be re-introduced. There are well-argumented analyses on that, by worthy people... read it
• Yorgos Valsamis, director of ellopos.net:
  
  The wealth of the Greek language grown through all the periods of Greek history, doesn’t mean just a larger amount of words... read it
• Katerina Sokratidou, employee in a shipping agency:
  
  When the monotonic system was introduced I was in secondary school, which means that I have already been taught accents for about 7 years. At start... read it
• Nikos Theodorou, mathematician:
  
  I got acquainted with the polytonic system very young, in primary school, when my mother... read it
• Jacob J. Adams, high school student:
  
  Our world is one of many choices.  We choose what to eat and what to wear.  We choose our careers and hobbies.... read it
• Hadjinikolaou Dimitrios, teacher of English language:
  
  Why I do not approve of monotonous, spiritless spelling. ... read it
• Avgoustinos Tsirimokos, reporter:
  
  ... read it
• Nikolaos Papadopoulos, sports teacher:
  
  ... read it
• Archimidis Anagnostou, (doctor, microbiologist):
  
  ... read it
• Ioannis Vamvakas:
  
  EN1... read it
• Dimitris Tabaoglou Computer engineer:
  
  EN1... read it
• Maria Kontarini, employee in the private sector, retired:
  
  EN1... read it
• Dimitris Armaos, Philologist, poet, essayist:
  
  EN1... read it
• Yannis Flytzanis, Student in Law:
  
  ... read it
• Athina Antoniadou, Conservation of antiquities:
  
  ... read it