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Revision as of 01:43, 1 May 2023 by Poursa0 (talk | contribs) (Undid revision 1146498776 by 5.29.177.233 (talk))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Variety of modern Greek This article is about the language. For the ethnic group, see Pontic Greeks.Pontic Greek | |
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ποντιακά, pontiaká, понтиакá, Roméika | |
Region | originally the Pontus on the Black Sea coast; Greece, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey |
Native speakers | 778,000 (2009–2015) |
Language family | Indo-European |
Dialects |
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Writing system | Greek, Latin, Cyrillic |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | pnt |
Glottolog | pont1253 |
ELP | Pontic |
Linguasphere | 56-AAA-aj |
Pontic Greek is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010) | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Pontic Greek (Template:Lang-pnt, romanized: Pontiakón lalían or Ρωμαίικα romanized: Roméika; Template:Lang-el, romanized: Pontiakí diálektos; Template:Lang-tr) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, and the Eastern Turkish/Caucasus region. Today it is spoken mainly in northern Greece. Its speakers are referred to as Pontic Greeks or Pontian Greeks.
The linguistic lineage of Pontic Greek stems from Ionic Greek via Koine and Byzantine Greek, and contains influences from Russian, Turkish, Armenian, and Kurdish.
Pontic Greek is an endangered Indo-European language spoken by about 778,000 people worldwide. Many Pontians live in Greece; however, only 200,000–300,000 of those are considered active Pontic speakers. Although it is mainly spoken in Northern Greece, it is also spoken in Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, as well as by the Pontic diaspora. The language was brought to Greece in the 1920s after the population exchange between the Christian Pontic Greeks and the Turkish Muslims from their homelands during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. However, it is still spoken in pockets of the Pontus today, mostly by Pontic Greek Muslims in the eastern districts of Trabzon Province. Pontic Greek is one of the languages of the Greek (Hellenic) branch separate from Mainland Greek. Pontic Greek and typical demotic, Mainland Greek is generally mutually unintelligible. It is primarily written in the Greek script; in Turkey and Ukraine the Latin script is used more frequently; in Russia and former Soviet countries, the Cyrillic alphabet is used.
Classification
Pontic Greek is classified as an Indo-European, Greek language of the Attic-Ionic branch.
Name
Historically, the speakers of Pontic Greek called it simply Romeyka (or Romeika, Template:Lang-pnt), which is also a historical and colloquial term for Modern Greek in general. The term "Pontic" originated in scholarly usage, but it has been adopted as a mark of identity by Pontic Greeks living in Greece. Pontic Greeks in Greece may call their language Pontiaká.
Similarly, in Turkish, there is no special name for Pontic Greek; it is called Rumca (), derived from the Turkish word Rum, denoting Byzantine Greeks.
Nowadays, Pontic speakers living in Turkey call their language Romeyka, Rumca or Rumcika.
History
Similar to most modern Greek dialects, Pontic Greek is mainly derived from Koine Greek, which was spoken in the Hellenistic and Roman times between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD. Following the Seljuk invasion of Asia Minor during the 11th century AD, Pontus became isolated from many of the regions of the Byzantine Empire. The Pontians remained somewhat isolated from the mainland Greeks, causing Pontic Greek to develop separately and distinctly from the rest of the mainland Greek. However, the language has also been influenced by the nearby Persian, Caucasian, and Turkish languages.
Dialects
Greek linguist Manolis Triantafyllidis has divided the Pontic of Turkey into two groups:
- the Western group (Oinountiac or Niotika) around Oenoe (Turkish Ünye);
- the Eastern group, which is again subdivided into:
Speakers of Chaldiot were the most numerous. In phonology, some varieties of Pontic are reported to demonstrate vowel harmony, a well-known feature of Turkish (Mirambel 1965).
Outside Turkey one can distinguish:
- the Northern group (Mariupol Greek or Rumeíka), originally spoken in Crimea, but now principally in Mariupol, where the majority of Crimean Pontic Greeks of the Rumaiic subgroup now live. Other Pontic Greeks speak Crimean Tatar as their mother tongue, and are classified as "Urums". There are approximately half a dozen dialects of Crimean (Mariupolitan) Pontic Greek spoken.
- Soviet Rumaiic, a Soviet variant of the Pontic Greek language spoken by the Pontic Greek population of the Soviet Union.
Ophitic
The inhabitants of the Of valley who had converted to Islam in the 17th century remained in Turkey and have partly retained the Pontic language until today. Their dialect, which forms part of the Trapezountiac subgroup, is called "Ophitic" by linguists, but speakers generally call it Romeika. As few as 5,000 people are reported to speak it. There are however estimates that show the real number of the speakers as considerably higher. Speakers of Ophitic/Romeyka are concentrated in the eastern districts of Trabzon province: Çaykara (Katohor), Dernekpazarı (Kondu), Sürmene (Sourmena) and Köprübaşı (Göneşera). Although less widespread, it is still spoken in some remote villages of the Of district itself. It is also spoken in the western İkizdere (Dipotamos) district of Rize province. Historically the dialect was spoken in a wider area, stretching further east to the port town of Pazar (Athina).
Ophitic has retained the infinitive, which is present in Ancient Greek but has been lost in other variants of Modern Greek; it has therefore been characterized as "archaic" or conservative (even in relation to other Pontic dialects) and as the living language that is closest to Ancient Greek. Because a majority of the population of these districts converted to Islam during the 17th to 19th centuries, some Arabic and Turkish loanwords have been adopted in the language. According to Vahit Tursun, writer of the Romeika-Turkish dictionary, loanwords from the neighboring Laz speakers of Rize province are strikingly absent in the Romeika vocabulary of Trabzon natives.
A very similar dialect is spoken by descendants of Christians from the Of valley (especially from Kondu) now living in Greece in the village of Nea Trapezounta, Pieria, Central Macedonia, with about 400 speakers.
Geographic distribution
Though Pontic was originally spoken on the southern shores of the Black Sea, from the 18th and 19th century and on substantial numbers migrated into the northern and eastern shores, into the Russian Empire. Pontic is still spoken by large numbers of people in Ukraine, mainly in Mariupol, but also in other parts of Ukraine such as the Odesa and Donetsk region, in Russia (around Stavropol) and Georgia. The language enjoyed some use as a literary medium in the 1930s, including a school grammar (Topkharas 1998 ).
After the massacres of the 1910s, the majority of speakers remaining in Asia Minor were subject to the Treaty of Lausanne population exchange, and were resettled in Greece (mainly northern Greece). A second wave of migration occurred in the early 1990s, this time from countries of the former Soviet Union.
In urban areas in Greece the language is no longer spoken in daily life but in villages and towns with more homogeneous Pontic population, located mostly in the northern part of country, the language is still in active daily usage. Many radio stations broadcast in the Pontic language, and many associations exist for its safeguard.
- Greece: 400,000 speakers, mostly in Macedonia (East, Central and West) and in Attica
- Turkey: Unknown (certainly more than 5,000), mostly in eastern Black Sea Region and in Istanbul
- Of-dialectical region:
- To the west of Trabzon:
- Maçka: A handful of villages, settled from the Of-Çaykara region
- Tonya: (17 villages)
- Beşikdüzü: 1 village
- Giresun: (3 villages in Bulancak district)
- Gümüşhane: Sparsely in Torul-ardasa, Yağlıdere-kromni, Dumanlı
- Caucasus region
- Kars: Multiple villages and provincial capital.
Official status
Greece
In Greece, Pontic has no official status, like all other Greek dialects.
Soviet Union
Historically, Pontic Greek was the de facto language of the Greek minority in the USSR, although in the Πανσυνδεσμιακή Σύσκεψη (Pansyndesmiakí Sýskepsi, All-Union Conference) of 1926, organised by the Greek–Soviet intelligentsia, it was decided that Demotic should be the official language of the community.
Later revival of Greek identity in the Soviet Union and post-Communist Russia saw a renewed division on the issue of Rumaiic versus Demotic. A new attempt to preserve a sense of ethnic Rumaiic identity started in the mid-1980s. The Ukrainian scholar Andriy Biletsky created a new Slavonic alphabet, but though a number of writers and poets make use of this alphabet, the population of the region rarely uses it.
Culture
The language has a rich oral tradition and folklore and Pontic songs are particularly popular in Greece. There is also some limited production of modern literature in Pontic, including poetry collections (among the most renowned writers is Kostas Diamantidis), novels, and translated Asterix comic albums. The youth often speak standard Greek as their first language. The use of Pontic has been maintained more by speakers in North America than it has in Greece.
Alphabets
Pontic, in Greece, is written in the Greek alphabet, with diacritics: σ̌ ζ̌ ξ̌ ψ̌ for /ʃ ʒ kʃ pʃ/, α̈ ο̈ for (phonological /ia io/). Pontic, in Turkey, is written in the Latin alphabet following Turkish conventions. In Russia, it is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. In early Soviet times, Pontic was written in the Greek alphabet phonetically, as shown below, using digraphs instead of diacritics; were written out as ια, ιο. The Pontic Misplaced Pages uses Greek script: it has adopted εα, εο for these vowels, to avoid clashes with Modern Greek ια, ιο, and uses digraphs from the Soviet system instead of diacritics, but otherwise follows historical orthography.
Greek alphabet |
Turkish alphabet |
Latin-English alphabet |
Cyrillic alphabet |
IPA | Example | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Α α | A a | A a | А а | [ä] | ρωμαίικα, romeyika, romejika, ромейика | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Β β | V v | Bb/Vv/Ww | В в | [v] | κατηβαίνω, kativeno, katibënô, кативено | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Γ γ | Ğ ğ | G g | Г г | [ɣ] [ʝ] | γανεύω, ğanevo, ganeyô, ганево | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Δ δ | DH dh | D d | Д д | [ð] | δόντι, dhonti, dónti, донти | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ε ε | E e | E e | Е е | [e̞] | εγάπεσα, eğapesa, egápesa, егапеса | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ζ ζ | Z z | Z z | З з | [z] | ζαντός, zantos, zantóſ, зантос | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Η η | İ i | I i | И и | [e] | ήορές, iores, ,iores ,иорс | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Θ θ | TH th | Þ þ | С с, Ф ф, Т т | [θ] | θέκω, theko, þékô, теко | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ι ι | İ i | I i | И и | [i] | οσπιτόπον, ospitopon, ospitópon, оспитопон | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Κ κ | K k | K k | К к | [k] | καλάτσ̌εμαν, kalaçeman, kalácheman, калачеман | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Λ λ | L l | L l | Л л | [l] | λαλία, lalia, lalía, лалиа | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Μ μ | M m | M m | М м | [m] | μάνα, mana, mána, мана | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ν ν | N n | N n | Н н | [n] | ολίγον, oliğоn, olígon, олигон | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ξ ξ | Ks ks | Ks ks | Кс кс | Error using {{IPA symbol}}: "ks" not found in list | ξокк λ, ksokk l, ksokk l, ксокк | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ο ο | O o | O o | О о | [o̞] | τ'εμέτερον, themeteron, þeméteron, ҭеметерон | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Π π | P p | Pp/Ph | П п | [p] | εγάπεσα, eğapesa, egápesa, егапеса | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ρ ρ | R r | R r | Р р | Error using {{IPA symbol}}: "ɾ or r" not found in list | ρωμαίικα, romeyika, romejika, ромейка | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Σ ς | S s | S s | С с | [s] | ασπαλώ, aspalo, aspalō, аспalо | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Χ̌ χ̌ | Ş ş | SH sh | Ш ш | [ʃ] | χ̌έριν, şerin, shérin, шерин | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Τ τ | T t | T t | Т т | [t] | νόστιμεσσα, nostimesa, nóstimesa, ностимеса | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ΤΖ̌ τζ̌ | C c | C c | Ц ц | [d͡ʒ] | κεμεντζ̌ έ, kemence, kemencé, кemenце | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ΤΣ τς | Ç ç | CH ch | Ч ч | [t͡ʃ] | μανίτσα, maniça, manícha, манича | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Υ υ | U u | Uu/Yy | У у | [u] | υίαν, uian, uían, уи́aн | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Φ φ | F f | F f | Ф ф | [f] | έμορφα, emorfa, émopfa,.эморфа | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Χ χ | Hh, KHkh | Hh/Xx | Х х | [x] | χάσον, hason, háson, хасон | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ψ ψ | Ps ps | Ps ps | Пс пс | Error using {{IPA symbol}}: "ps or ψ" not found in list | ψοτς!, psoch!, psoch!, псоч! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ω ω | O o | O o | О о | [o] | ρωμαίικα, romeyika, romejika, ромейика}
Archaisms
The following are features of Pontic Greek which have been retained from early forms of Greek, in contrast to the developments of Modern Greek. Phonology
Declension of nouns and adjectives
Conjugation of verbs
Lexicology
Comparison with Ancient Greek
See alsoFurther reading
Notes
Bibliography
External links
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- Pontic Greeks
- Varieties of Modern Greek
- Languages of Greece
- Languages of Turkey
- Languages of Georgia (country)
- Languages of Abkhazia
- Languages of Azerbaijan
- Languages of Cyprus
- Languages of Russia
- Languages of Ukraine
- Languages of Armenia
- Languages of Kazakhstan
- Languages of Uzbekistan
- Languages of the Balkans
- Endangered Indo-European languages
- Pontic Greek culture