Pontic Greek

The Pontic Dialectus Pontica) is a dialect of Greek originating from Pontus, a historical region that currently corresponds to a large part of the northeast coast of Turkey on the shore of the Black Sea. Currently the majority of its speakers, called Pontic Greeks, are in Greece. Pontic derives from Attic Greek through Koine, and has received strong influences from Turkish, and minor influences from Persian and several Caucasian languages.

Denominations

The pontic has had a large number of historical names; Its speakers usually refer to it as ρωμαίικα (romæika), that is, "Roman" or ποντιακά (pontiaká), "pontic". In Turkish they call it rumca or trabzon rumcasi ("Roman [from Trebizond]"). In some surveys carried out in Turkey it has been called latince (that is, "Latin"), pontosca ("pontic") and even lazca ("laz", due to confusion with the language of the lazes).

History

Although the Greek presence in this area dates back to ancient times (territories that could belong to Pontus are already mentioned in the legend of Jason and the Argonauts), the origins of Pontic, like those of all modern Greek languages/dialects except Tsakonian and, possibly, the Greek dialects of southern Italy, are in koine, the 'common' Greek based on the Athenian dialect and spread by the Hellenistic empire of Alexander the Great. Greek always coexisted with the languages of the area, such as Laz, of Caucasian origin.

During the Middle Ages the area initially belonged to the Byzantine Empire, to become independent under the rule of the Komneni and form the small, but lasting, Empire of Trebizond, whose administrative language was Byzantine Greek. The Trebizond Empire was the last Byzantine Greek state to fall under Ottoman rule, as its capital was conquered in 1461, eight years after Constantinople. In a gradual process that took place mainly between the 16th and 17th centuries, the vast majority of the population of the Black Sea coast converted to Islam. While in the rest of Anatolia linguistic assimilation was greater and faster, the process of adopting Turkish as the majority language was slow in Pontus. Even in the 18th century, the existence of Greek-speaking communities (very diminished) in western areas of the Black Sea is cited.

The population exchange between Greek Orthodox and Turkish Muslims, which took place between 1919 and 1921, and the educational system of the new republic of Turkey, which only admitted Turkish as a vehicular language, weakened Pontic.

Official status

The pontic has no official status. Between 1917 and 1919 it was destined to become the official language of the proposed Republic of Pontus. Historically, it was the de facto language of the Greek minority of the USSR, although at the Πανσυνδεσμιακή Σύσκεψη (Congress of All Associations) of 1926, organized by the Greek intelligentsia, Russian, it was decided that Demotic would be the official language of the community.

Geographic distribution

Although Pontic is native to the southern coasts of the Black Sea, a large number of its speakers migrated to the eastern and northern coasts (within the Russian Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries). Pontic is still spoken in Ukraine, Russia (around Stavropol) and Georgia, and had some use as a literary medium from the 1930s, notably a school grammar. After the Greek genocide, the vast majority of remaining speakers in Asia Minor were subject to the Treaty of Lausanne, and settled in Greece (mainly in the north). The inhabitants of the Of Valley, who had converted to Islam during the XVII century, remained in Turkey. To this day Today they continue to speak Pontic, which they call rumca. The book Pontos Kültürü (1996) by Ömer Asan gives more information about the community of Pontic speakers in Turkey. In Greece, Pontic is currently used more as an emblematic language than as a means of communication.

• Greece ~200,000 Speakers (2001):

mainly in Macedonia (Oriental, Central and Western

• Turkey 4,540 speakers:
  • Tonya: (17 localities)
  • Sürmene: (6 localities)
  • Dernekpazarı: (13 localities)
  • Çaykara: several localities
  • Maçka: without information
  • Torul-ardasa, Yağlıdere-kromni, Santa, Imera: no localities
  • Rize İkizdere: (21 locations)

Pontic is closely related to Cappadocian and the Greek spoken in Mariupolis (and formerly in Crimea, Ukraine).

Dialects

The Greek linguist Manolis Triantafilídis has divided the Pontic into two groups:

• Western Group (Oinountíaco/Niotika) around Oenoe/Ünye.
• Eastern Group
  • Coastal subgroup (Trapezuntíaco) around Trebisonda,
  • inner subgroup (Jaldío) in Jaldía (about Gümüşhane — Kanin in the portico), in the surrounding areas (Kelkit, Bayburt, etc.) and around Ordu.

Jaldío speakers were the most numerous. In phonology, some varieties of Pontic seem to show vowel harmony, a characteristic of Turkish.

Writing systems

The pontic is written in Greece with the historical Greek orthography, with the diacritics: σ̌ ζ̌ ξ̌ ψ̌ for /ʃ ʒ kʃ pʃ/ and α̈ ο̈ for [æ ø] (phonologically /ia io/). Pontic is written in Turkey with the Latin alphabet following Turkish conventions, and in Russia with the Cyrillic alphabet. In the early days of the USSR, Pontic was written phonetically with the Greek alphabet, as shown below, using digraphs instead of diacritics; [æ ø] were written as ια, ιο. The Pontic Wikipedia uses the Greek alphabet: it has adopted the forms εα, εο for those vowels to avoid conflicts with the ια, ιο endings of modern Greek, and uses the diagraphs of the Soviet system instead of diacritics, but otherwise follows historical spelling.

Alphabet Greek	Alphabet Turkish	Alphabet Cyrillic	AFI	Example
α	A	AA	[a]	ρομεικα, romeyika, ромейик♪
VAL β	V	В в	[v]	κατιβενο, kativEno, кативено
γ γ	ğ	Г г	[ []]	γανεβο, ğanevo, г♪
Δ δ	DH dh	DID	[ð]	δοντι, dhonti, д♪
Ε ε	E	!	[e]	εγαπεςα, eğapesa, е♪
φ ה	Z	.	[z]	γαντος, zantos, ♪антос
أعربي م م م م م م م ك م م م م ك م م م ك م ك	J	..	[	πυρ¢ας, burjgrapes..!
θ	THOUGHT	С с, Ф ф, Т т	[θ]	θεκο, theko, теко
ONE	İ i	.	[i]	τος.τοπον, tospitopon, toppитопон
Κ κ	K	К к	[k]	καλαεμαν, kAlaceman, калачеман
λ	L	MIL	[l]	λαλια, lalia, ll♪
M μ	M	М	[m]	μανα, mana, м♪
No.	N	Н н	[n]	ολιγο., oliğоn..
WOMAN:	Or	О	[o]	τεμετερ?ν, temeterorn, теметер♪.
π	P	П п	[p]	εγαπεςα, eğapThat one..еса
	R r	Р р	[ worship]	ρομεικα, romeyika, ромейка
σ ς	S	С с	[s]	καλαεπ.ον, kalacepson,с♪
σ ς	Ş ş	♫	[CHUCKLES]	.ερι, şeri, шери
Τ Δ	T	Т т	[t]	I'll see you.Διμεςα, nos nos nos nostimesa, ностимеса
Τ margin ÇA ÇA	C	Ч	[]]	καλαΔεμαν, kalaceman.чеман
Τσ τς	Ç ç	.	[tpit]	μανιτςα, maniça, маниц♪
YES	U	ру	[u]	.♫ς, nuYeah.ус
φ	F	Ф ф	[f]	εμορφα, emorfa, эморф♪
χ	H, KH (sert H)	CHA	[x]	χαςον, hason, х.

Features

The Pontic is characterized by its strong archaism. It is the only modern Greek dialect that retains the negative prefix "u". Additionally in some words, the ancient /e:/, transcribed as η is pronounced as /e/, and not as /i/, which is the common pronunciation in all other modern Greek dialects; and in some words the old /ü/, represented by υ, is pronounced as /u/, and not as /i/, as in the other dialects, except the old Athenian dialect, still spoken by some elders in Megara.

Likewise, it has been very permeable to the influence of neighboring languages such as Turkish and Laz (a Caucasian language spoken in the same area); Apart from adopting their own phonemes, it has taken a large amount of vocabulary, in addition to influencing these languages even in their syntax.

It should be noted that, in Pontic Turkey, most numbers, especially the highest ones, are said in Turkish. This fact can be explained by the illiteracy that formerly reigned in the villages.

Evolutionary traits

Pontic has several evolutionary features of its own in relation to classical Greek, both phonetic, morphological and syntax. The following is a brief list that compares and contrasts pontic and classical forms. The Pontic examples are mostly written in the Latin alphabet and should be read according to Turkish conventions, while the classical forms should be read according to classical Greek conventions:

• 1. Adding the sound /e/ to the classic infinitive suffix –ειν (in trapezuntíque post)

POLICY	CLASS
ipíne	επειν
pathíne	παθεκ
apothaníne	φποθανειν
piíne	πιείι
iδíne	επδεκν
fiíne	φυγειν
evríne	εланики
kamíne	καμεκ
faíne	φαγεγν
mathíne	μαθεκ
erthéane	/25070/λθεκν
Mine	μ

• 2. Infinitive suffix similar to classic - Cristianναι

POLICY	CLASS
anevίne	φναβ receptorναι
katevine	καταβ substituteναι
embryo	.
evjine	.
epiδeavine	φποδιαβ substituteναι
kimethine	κοιμηθ
xtipethine	κτυπι
evrethine	ε interfereι
vrasine	βραχ excluded
raine	αγ receptorναι

• 3. The first classic aoristo suffix -αι has been replaced by the second aoristo suffix - marginναι

POLICY	CLASS
κρειν	κράφαι
μεθŭσειν	μεθσαι

• 4. Adding sound /e/ to classic passive infinitive suffix –σειν

ράψεινε, κράξεινε, μεθύσεινε, καλέσεινε, λαλήσεινε, κτυπήσεινε, καθί σεινε

• 5. Conservation of aoristo-ka suffix (-ka was also the perfect suffix)

POLICY	CLASS
eδoka	δωκα
enδoka	/25070/δωκα
epika	κα
efika	・φ agreedκα
ethika	θλα

• 6. Evolution of the classic infinitive in -είν al infinitivo póntico en –eane (- Muerteανε)

POLICY	CLASS
erthéane	/25070/λθεκν

Culture

The language has a rich oral tradition and extensive folklore. Pontic songs are particularly popular in Greece. There is also a limited production of modern literature in Pontic, ranging from poetry (among the most famous authors is Kostas Diamantidis), novels, and translations of the Asterix comics.

Examples

The following four verses are a Pontic song that researcher Ömer Asan collected in Of-Erenköy, transmitted by Fuat Keskin (written with Turkish spelling, read the "c" as the English "j"

E patsi nto nistazis
Mel ce vutero stazis
Ela as horevume
Ise ti manas patsis

The Spanish translation is:

Hey girl, you are sleeping
you pour the honey and butter.
Come and let's dance,
You are your mother's daughter.

Bibliography and references

• Drettas, Georges (1997). Aspects pontiques (in French). ARP. ISBN 2-9510349-0-3.
• Janse, Mark (1997). Aspects of Pontic grammar: a Review Article of Drettas (pdf) (in English). Archived from the original on 25 February 2006. Consultation on 1 December 2009.
• Öztürk, Özhan (2005). Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık (in Turkish). İstanbul. ISBN 975-6121-00-9.
• κονομίδης, Δ.Η (1958). ↓λλικος Διαματικου του του τοντου εου εου εου εου εου εου εου εου του του εου του του του του του του εου εου ου εου εου εου ου εου εου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου ου (in modern Greek). Àθιραα: Íκαδημαί Íθικνεν.
• παπαδόπουλος, Í.Y (1955). στορικος Δραμματικος τικοντικος Διαλικλκτου (in modern Greek)..θικα: Επιτροπ κοντιακεελείν.
• καπαδόπουλος, Í.Y (1958–1961). στορικόν Δεκόν τικον τοντικος Διαλ (in modern Greek). 2 tomos. ¢θινα: Μυρτδης.
• Τομπα).δης, Δ.Ε (1988). Η σοντιακ Διάλεκτος (in modern Greek)..θιρχεον κόντου.
• Τομπα.δης, Δ.Ε; συμεωνίδις, φ.γ (2002). συμπλγρωμα στο στορικόν Δείικόν τικοντικος Διαλθουτου του του του. παποπουλουλου λου λου λου που λου λου που που λου που που λου λου που που εου εου εου εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον ον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον εον (in modern Greek)..θιρχεον κόντου.