The Aeolic dialect shows many archaisms, in comparison to the other Greek dialects (i.e. Ionian-Attic, Doric, Northwestern and Arcado-Cypriot), as well as many innovations.
Aeolic Greek is most widely known for being the language of the writings of Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene. Aeolic poetry, the most famous example of which being the works of Sappho, mostly uses four classical meters known as the Aeolics, which are: Glyconic (the most basic form of Aeolic line), Hendecasyllabic verse, Sapphic stanza and Alcaic stanza (the latter two so named after Sappho and Alcaeus respectively).
In Protagoras (dialogue)
341c[1] of Plato, Prodicus labelled the Aeolic dialect as barbarian, while referring to Pittacus of Mytilene
The Aeolic dialect might, in the time of Socrates and Plato, sound so strange to the Athenians, as to be termed, from an exclusive pride in the Attic literary style, barbaros[2].
The original proto-Indo-European (and Proto-Greek) labiovelar, *, turned into p everywhere, whereas the Attic-Ionic, Arcadocyprian and Doric dialects have t before e and i (e.g. Attic , Ionic , Doric ~ Lesbian , Boeotian "four" < PIE *). This treatment of the labiovelar finds its exact counterpart in the so-called P-Celtic languages and in the Sabellic languages.
The Proto-Greek long ? was retained everywhere, in contrast to the Attic-Ionic dialect, which turned it into a long open ? (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Aeolic "mother" < IE *).
The Aeolic dialect made extensive use of the so-called "athematic" verb conjugation, i.e. the conjugation ending in -mi (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Aeolic "love"). The same is also found in Irish, where this selection has been generalized, i.e -im.
In the Lesbian dialect, the tonic accent of all words appears recessive ("barytonesis"), as is typical only in the verbs of other dialects (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Lesbian "river").
The athematicinfinitive ending of the Aeolic dialect is -men (Lesbian also -menai) as in the Doric dialects, whereas Attic-Ionic has -(e)nai (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Lesbian , Thessalian, Boeotian ). In the Lesbian dialect this ending also extends to the thematic conjugation (e.g. ).
In Lesbian Aeolic, the phenomenon of "psilosis" occurred, as in the Ionic dialect; this is the absence of the aspiration of initial vowels, frequently the result of the loss of sigma or digamma (e.g. Attic ~ Ionic , Lesbian "sun" < Proto-Greek *h?welios < PIE *).
In Thessalian and Boeotian, the proto-Indo-European (and Proto-Greek) semi-vowel w ("digamma") was retained word-initially, as it was in the Doric dialect (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Boeotian, Doric "word, epic" < PIE , cf. Latin v?x).
In Boeotian, the vowel-system was, in many cases, changed in a way reminiscent of the modern Greek pronunciation: Attic-Ionic ~ Boeotian ~ Modern Greek ; Attic-Ionic ~ Boeotian ~ Modern Greek ; Attic-Ionic ~ Boeotian ~ Modern Greek .
The original Indo-European consonant clusters * were assimilated to . The Attic-Ionic and Doric dialects have a short nasal / liquid and compensatory lengthening instead (e.g. Attic-Ionic ~ Aeolic < PIE *).
First and second declension nouns use -???/-??? endings for acc. pl. and -????(?)/-????(?) for dat. pl. Masculine 1st aorist participle is -??? (e.g. ??????, not ?????).
Aioliônes (Attic Aeoleis Aeolians)(aiolizô speak Aeolic , aiolisti ,compose in the Aeolian mode , trick out with false words Sophocles.Fr.912 ) (aioleô vary,adorn,diversify (aiolos quick-moving,glittering,shifty)
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