Cretan Greek - Phonology

Phonology

• Palatalisation. Standard Greek has an allophonic alternation between velar consonants (, ) and palatalised counterparts ((, ) before front vowels (/i/, /e/). In southern dialects, the palatalisation goes further towards affricates (e.g. vs. standard 'and'). Subtypes can be distinguished that have either palato-alveolar (, ) or alveolo-palatal sounds (, ). The former are reported for Cyprus, the latter for Crete, among others.