https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57458
--- Comment #5 from Michael <[email protected]> --- Thanks for all the help. I am happy to help out, but I have a very tight deadline, so I will get back to this in a few days. For now, I can say that as you know, Greek grammar can be a little complex and although a native Greek speaker like myself may be aware of the rules or simply applies them instinctively, it is not always easy to explain them in a mechanistic way. Also, often it is not clear if an issue should be dealt with as a grammar or spelling issue. The double-stresses issue I mentioned earlier is difficult to explain as a grammar rule, but probably easier to detect as a spelling mistake (more on this later). I really think a Greek language professional (teacher, proofreader etc) should be involved. I will try to think about this one when I come up for air. I am a native Greek speaker and I take languages skills seriously because as an academic I consider language my tool, even if my English lets me down at times. However, I am based in the UK and I am not involved in teaching the Greek language or anything to do with linguistics, so my usefulness might be limited. I do have a Greek grammar book though :) Also, I should emphasise again that these improvements would be a unique advantage. It is shocking really there has been this gap in the market for so long, considering eg the resources Microsoft throws at its Office suite. The peculiar result is that the rules changed informally, ie they are often ignored even by professionals! But those who do care (often including opinion leaders), appreciate good grammar when they see it. I am sure I can find more rules when I have the time, but for now let me explain the rules I mentioned. 1. "ό,τι", "Ό,τι", "Ο,ΤΙ" are correct versions of the same word. This word actually exists and is very common. It translates as 'what' as in 'What(ever) we said...'. It is often confused (even by many Greeks and all word processors) with "ότι", "Ότι", "ΟΤΙ", which means "that" as in "they said that...". 2. As I said earlier, (fully) capitalised words never get a stress (eg "ΌΠΩΣ" is wrong). But if only the first letter is capitalised they do get a stress. Eg "Όπως" and "Αφού" get a stress. Note that in "Όπως", the initial capitalised letter gets a stress (there is a stress on "O" in case you missed it). 3. Certain words ending in "ν" (specifically: τον (as an article), την, έναν, αυτήν, την, δεν, μην) lose that "ν" when the following word begins with γ, β, δ, χ, φ, θ, μ, ν, λ, ρ, σ, ζ. They don't lose it when the following word begins with anything else really (a vowel, κ, π, τ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ). The tricky point: "τον" (as an article) loses it as above, but "τον" as a personal pronoun doesn't. That's the only exception mentioned in my grammar book. All these letters must be memorised by the writer! Most people remember only the obvious ones. Books and newspapers are now full of mistakes because word processors don't know the rule. 4. Nouns with a stress on the third syllable from the end, get a second stress on the last syllable when (and only when) followed by certain words. In Greek the equivalent of a possessive pronoun follows the noun. Because nouns and these words are linked together when pronounced, the stress shifts from the trailing word to the last syllable of the noun because it sounds better. Eg "η παράγραφος" and "η παράγραφός μου" -- both are correct. The trick here is that "μου" in this example may not be a possessive pronoun, so "η παράγραφoς μου" (pronounced as two separate words this time) means something different and can also be correct. I can't think of a way to distinguish the two cases that doesn't involve understanding the actual meaning. This also applies to the exception in rule 3 above. Unless an engine is developed that understands meaning or more complex patterns, I suppose one way is to speculate. So, a spellchecker could accept both "η παράγραφός μου" and "η παράγραφoς μου" as potentially correct (or flag them up as potentially wrong as in "user beware"). That's it for now. I hope all this makes sense. Let me know if you need any help. I think Roman's contribution would be important because he can probably see patterns I can't. Being a native Greek speaker blinds, I can't easily distance myself and see the language as a non-Greek does. Michael -- You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.
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