What is interesting in the recordings linked to in Apostolos' post is that this pronunciation sounds strongly Cypriot.
Other than the sharp t's, I wouldn't say there is anything particularly Cypriot about it.
It's the aspirated t, your (I mean English and Germanic in general) way of pronouncing the letter t (in International Phonetic Alphabet it's written as [tʰ]), e.g the English word time is pronounced as [tʰaɪm] by a native English speaker, while a Greek pronounces it as [taim], t is never aspirated in Greek. The reader is a native English speaker (obviously)
It just seems to me that in Modern Greek, words like ἡ, ἧ, ἤ, ἥ, οἱ would be pronounced exactly the same which could lead to confusion or at the very least ambiguity. Not to mention the previously mentioned problems with ἡμεῖς and ὑμεῖς (which, thanks to Apostolos, I realise didn't occur until the 13th-14th century AD).
But the same can be said for the Hellenistic pronunciation of ἡμεῖς and ὑμεῖς: the former was (probably) pronounced as [himis] (i is short), while the latter was [hʉmis] (ʉ is a high central rounded vowel, like the French u or German ü). So in rapid speak even a native, hypothetically speaking, could have had experienced difficulties understanding the speaker (the problem was solved in later times when the ὑμεῖς was replaced by the σεῖς which is simply the plural of σὺ: 2nd person personal pronoun in singular; Eng. thou (sing.)=Gr. σὺ, Εng. you (pl.)=Classic/Helenistic ὑμεῖς, Βyz./Modern σεῖς
Based on all these ambiguous sounds, is it possible for a person who can read and write Koine / Byzantine Greek fluently to be able to attend an Orthodox Liturgy in Greek and understand everything just from listening?
Yes it is
Thanks for all the replies.
One last question: is γ (gamma) coming before ε, η or υ generally pronounced as a 'g' (as in Erasmian pronunciation) or a 'y' (as in modern pronunciation)? I've heard both.
Do you generally say monogeni or monoyeni in the Creed? Agios o Theos or Ayios o Theos?
γ before consonants and a, o, ou is a fricative, similar in pronunciation with the Arabic غ (a back-to-the-throat gargle as akimori makoto so eloquently put it)
γ before e, i, is always palatalized and becomes [ʝ] pronounced like the y in yes.
So, Αγία Γραφή is ayía γrafí
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός is áyios o theós
Thanks for all the replies.
One last question: is γ (gamma) coming before ε, η or υ generally pronounced as a 'g' (as in Erasmian pronunciation) or a 'y' (as in modern pronunciation)? I've heard both.
Do you generally say monogeni or monoyeni in the Creed? Agios o Theos or Ayios o Theos?
Gamma is never equivalent to English "g"
It is after /n/. For instance, /an-ge-los/.
My dear Isa, there is no n in the Greek word for angel. The Greek is άγγελος (double gamma is always pronounced as a hard g), not άνγελος.
Both γγ and γκ are pronounced [ng] before consonants and a, o, ou, but...
...before e and i are palatalized and pronounced [ɲɟ] ([ɲ] is similar in pronunciation with the Spanish ñ; [ɟ] is somewhat similar with the g in ar
gue, like there's a tiny i after the g (arg
iue), so ἄγγελος is more of an ἄνγκ
ιελος than άνγελος