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 mon opinion soit le moins du monde en doute, mais je me demandais bien quelle autorité je pourrais avoir. Outre le fait que j'ai toujours lu le grec accentué traditionnellement et que ce tout petit savoir m'a tant de fois sauvé de l'erreur, il m'est revenu un mot que nous disait le P. Festugière, dont j'ose me réclamer.,

  Il disait : « Dieu est caché dans les accents grecs », voulant dire que notre amour de la langue grecque devait aller au moindre détail de cette langue. Au risque de blesser Dieu qui y avait établi sa demeure.

  Pour moi, c'est un mot qui me revient sans cesse lorsque je corrige des épreuves grecques. Pas de faute dans les accents !

• 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... read it
• 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. A century ago there were entrance examinations in Classical Greek for the prestigious universities in the USA. Today one need not know a foreign language at all in order to graduate with a university education. We call that phenomenon “dummy-ing down” and it pervades our entire culture. I am reminded of the question Euripides asks Ἕλληνες ὄντες βαρβάροις δουλεύσομεν; The question is not so much whether Greeks should serve outsiders (barbarians), but whether Greeks should serve the rabble (dummy down).

  I am not a native speaker of Modern Greek. However, I have always been a lover of everything Greek. Greek I believe, though changed over time, has a long historical linguistic continuity from Homer to writers in Modern Greek (demotic). My father was for many years a professor of Hellenistic Greek in a Protestant Theological School. I was amazed in high school to discover that the New Testament of my Latin teacher (an English speaker, but also a native Greek speaker) was exactly the same edition of the New Testament on my father's desk (Nestle-Aland). During my short formal training in Attic Greek in college, the young man who sat next to me in class was a Greek/English speaker studying the language of Xenophon and Plato enthusiastically, with an obvious pride in his inherited culture. After College learning Greek was up to me and I taught myself sufficiently to pass the PhD language examinations in Philosophy for Greek, but that only began the process, for the research for my dissertation required me to learn to read Greek in the Renaissance style by learning the many ligatures which that involved. In recent years I have become interested in Paleography and have developed a modest competence in reading Medieval Miniscule.

  As a Philosopher, I believe that it is vaguely true that the meaning of a word is its use. But that does not entail that the misuse of a word allows it to have a new meaning. If anything the meaning of a word ought to be its correct or proper use. Mistakes in usage are just exactly that - mistakes, so also with diacritics. One ought not to mistake mistakes in accentuation with need for a simplification of the language and its diacritics. It may seem elitist to think that the polytonic system is the correct system, but for historical continuity it is essential. Frankly, my knowledge of Modern Greek is limited, but I am delighted to find that there is a movement to restore the polytonic system, because to this writer who reads Greek without pronouncing it, as Modern Greeks might, the grapheme is more important than the phoneme. It is utterly amazing that politicians can legislate the writing of a language. They in fact do, but I find it frankly immoral to destroy a linguistic heritage by simply legislating a preference, in the name of democratization.

  Fundamentally the monotonic-polytonic issue is a problem of education. The Greeks are not alone in this. English speakers experience similar problems, though not quite as dramatic. The great strength of the Greek Language is its overall historical continuity. One finds oneself impoverished to find another language with more than two millennia of continuity. The essential purpose of any language is communication. This is not a matter of communicating what we say, but what we mean, and quite frankly, we cannot mean what we say unless we say what we mean. Diacritics and hence the polytonic system give the language a subtlety and nuance which the monotonic does not. We all need to educate the populace and resist the temptation to yield nuance and subtlety of language to the vagaries and vulgarisms of common speech. Writing and speech are and ought to be different things. Because a person speaks incorrectly or with a measure of vagary does not entail that one ought to write as one speaks. ‘Can’ does not imply ‘Ought’. But, ‘Ought’ implies ‘Can’. We can speak and write incorrectly, but we ought to speak and write correctly and properly. It is my hope that the promoters of a restoration of the polytonic system are successful in their endeavor.

  Ἐλπὶς ἐν ἀνθρώποις μούνη θεὸς ἐσθλὴ ἔνεστιν. — Theognis

• 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