Greek Y

[Aemilius]

Is it true that modern Greek doesn't make a distinction between Y and I?
How do you pronounce words like lyrical in modern Greek?

[Grigoris]

Is it true that modern Greek doesn't make a distinction between Y and I?
How do you pronounce words like lyrical in modern Greek?

There are five ways to write "ee" in Greek: Υ/υ, Η/η, Ι/ι, ει, οι.

In general:

Η/η at the end of a word denotes a female.

ει at the end of a word denotes a verb.

οι at the end of a word denotes a plural.

Ι/ι and Υ/υ at the end of a word denotes a neutral subject.

In general this makes understanding written Greek easier.

Now each of the "ee" has/had a slightly different pronunciation and this pronunciation was accented by a poly-tonal diacritical system. The poly-tonal system was officially abolished from the educational system less than a decade ago and replaced with a mono-tonal diacritical system.

Truth is that the overabundance of "ee" is a left-over from Ancient Greek, which had a sing-song melodic character and placed a much greater emphasis on the nuances of pronunciation.

[Grigoris]

PS "Lyrical" is one of the Greek words that uses all three basic "ee": Λυρική

[Aemilius]

Thanks!
I have understood that in ancient times the Ypsilon was pronounced like the Y in presentday Nordic languages, where it is still a common everyday sound. But it has disappeared from Greek, where you have to make a choice between ee and u.
http://www.sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypsilon
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon