Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Cappadocian Cheimarriotika Cretan Cypriot Demotic Griko Katharevousa Pontic Tsakonian Maniot Yevanic This box: view talk

*Dates (beginning with Ancient Greek) from Wallace D. B. (1996). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p. 12. ISBN 0310218950. 

Pontic Greek is a form of the Greek language originally spoken in the Pontus area on the southern shores of the Black Sea and today mainly in Greece. Its speakers are referred to as Pontic Greeks or Pontian Greeks.

Pontic's linguistic lineage stems from Ionic Greek via Koine and Byzantine Greek and contains influences from Turkish and to a lesser extent Persian and various Caucasian languages. Contents 1 Dialects 2 Geographic distribution 3 Official status 4 Culture 5 Pontic alphabets 6 Archaisms 6.1 Comparison with Ancient Greek 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Bibliography 10 External links Dialects

Greek linguist Manolis Triantafyllides has divided Pontic into two groups: Western group (Oinountiac/Niotika) around Oenoe/nye. Eastern group Coastal sub-group (Trapezountiac) around Trebizond/Trapezus Inland sub-group (Chaldiot) in Chaldia (around Argyroupolis/Gmhane Kanin in Pontic) in its vicinity (Kelkit Baibourt/Bayburt etc.) and around Kotyora/Ordu.

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). Geographic distribution Distribution of Greek dialects of the Byzantine Empire between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.    Koin    Pontic Greek    Cappadocian Greek

Though Pontic was originally spoken on the southern shores of the Black Sea substantial numbers migrated into the northern and eastern shores (into the Russian Empire of the 18th and 19th century); Pontic is still spoken by large numbers of people in Ukraine Russia (around Stavropol') and Georgia and the language enjoyed some use as a literary medium in the 1930s including a school grammar (Topkhara 1998 1932). 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 the former Soviet Union.1

The inhabitants of the Of valley who had converted to Islam in the 17th century remained in Turkey. They speak Pontic (or Rumca as they call it from Romeika a colloquial term for the Modern Greek language) to this day;2 a 1996 book (entitled Pontos Kltr) by mer Asan contains further details about the current Pontic-speaking community of Turkey. An isolated community near Trabzon has been found to speak a variety of Greek that has parallels both structurally as in its vocabulary to Ancient Greek not present in other varieties.34 As few as 5000 people speak the dialect but linguists believe that it is the closest living language to ancient Greek. Speakers generally call their language Romeyka an historical and colloquial term for the modern Greek language as a whole.

In Greece Pontic is now used mainly emblematically rather than as a medium of communicationcitation needed. Greece: 200000 speakers (2001) mostly in Macedonia (East Central and West) Turkey: 4000 speakers Tonya: (17 villages) Srmene: (6 villages) Dernekpazar: (13 villages) aykara: Multiple villages Maka: No information Torul-ardasa Yaldere-kromni Santa Imera: (no village) Rize kizdere: (21 villages) Pontic is most closely related to Cappadocian Greek and the Greek spoken in Mariupolis (and formerly in Crimea Ukraine) (see Mariupolitan Greek). Official status Pontic has no official status. During the late 1910s 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 in the USSR despite the fact that in the (All-Union Conference) of 1926 organized by the Greek-Russian intelligentsia it was decided that demotic should be the official language of the community.5 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. Pontic alphabets Pontic in Greece is written in historical Greek orthography with diacritics: for / k p/ for (phonological /ia io/). Pontic in Turkey is written in Latin script following Turkish conventions and Pontic in Russia is written in Cyrillic. In early Soviet times Pontic was written in the Greek script phonetically as shown below using digraphs instead of diacritics; were written out as . The Pontic Wikipedia uses Greek script: it has adopted for these vowels to avoid clashes with Modern Greek and uses digraphs from the Soviet system instead of diacritics but otherwise follows historical orthography. Greek alphabet Turkish alphabet Russian alphabet IPA Example A a a romeyika V v v kativeno anevo DH dh dhonti E e e eapesa Z z z zantos J j burjuvas TH th theko i i tospitopon K k k kalaceman L l l lalia M m m mana N n n olin O o o temeteron P p p eapesa R r romeyika S s s kalacepson eri T t t nostimesa C c d kalaceman t mania U u u nus F f f emorfa H KH (sert H) x hason Archaisms This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (September 2009) Preservation of the ancient pronunciation of '' as '' ( () etc). Preservation of the ancient pronunciation '' as 'o' where Koine Greek received it as '' ( etc). Preservation of the ancient nominative suffix of neuter diminutive nouns in '' ( ). Preservation of the Ionic consonant pair '' instead of Koine '' ( ). Preservation of the termination of feminine compound adjectives in - ( ). The declension of male nouns from singular nominative termination '-on' to genitive '-' ( -> -> -> -> etc). The aorist ordering form in - ( ). The middle voice verb termination in - ( ). The passive voice aorist termination in - (anc. -): etc. The imperative form of passive aorist in - (anc -): . The sporadic use of infinitives ( ' ' ' ). The ancient accenting of nouns in vocative form: . The sporadic use of '' in the place of '': . Comparison with Ancient Greek Example 1: Pontic en (is) Ancient Greek esti Koine idiomatic form enesti Biblical form eni Modern Greek ine Example 2: Pontic temeteron (ours) Ancient Greek to(n) hemeteron Modern Greek to(n) * mas Example 3: Pontic pedhin (child) Ancient Greek paidion Standard Greek pedhi Example 4 (combining 2 and 3): Pontic temeteron to pedin (our child) Ancient Greek/Koine to hemeteron paidion Modern Greek to pedi mas 1. Attachment of the /e/ sound to the ancient infinitive suffix (in Trapezountiac Pontic) PONTIC ANCIENT ipne pathne apothanne pine ine fine evrne kamne fane mathne erthane menne 2. Similar infinitive suffix - PONTIC ANCIENT anevne katevine embine evjine epieavine kimethine xtipethine evrethine vrasine raine 3. Ancient first aorist infinitive suffix - has been replaced by second aorist suffix - PONTIC ANCIENT 4. Attachment of the /e/ sound to the ancient aorist infinitive suffix 5. Same aorist suffix ka (ka was also the regular perfect suffix) PONTIC ANCIENT eoka enoka epika efika ethika 6. Ancient Greek ein (-) infinitive > Pontic Greek eane (-) infinitive PONTIC ANCIENT erthane See also Mariupolitan Greek Notes Selm Joanne van (2003). The Refugee Convention at fifty: a view from forced migration studies. Lexington Mass: Lexington Books. p. 72. ISBN 0-7391-0565-5. 1 Mackridge 1987. Jason and the argot: land where Greek's ancient language survives The Independent Monday 3 January 2011 Against all odds: archaic Greek in a modern world University of Cambridge " ". http://www.elemedu.upatras.gr/eriande/synedria/synedrio3/praltika%2011/malkidis-karatzas.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-15. (Greek) Bibliography Georges Drettas Aspects pontiques ARP 1997 ISBN 2-9510349-0-3. "... marks the beginning of a new era in Greek dialectology. Not only is it the first comprehensive grammar of Pontic not written in Greek but it is also the first self-contained grammar of any Greek dialect written in the words of Bloomfield in terms of its own structure." (Janse) zhan ztrk Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Szlk. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yaynclk. stanbul 2005. ISBN 975-6121-00-9 Mackridge P. 1987. Greek-Speaking Moslems of North-East Turkey: Prolegomena to Study of the Ophitic Sub-Dialect of Pontic. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 11: 115137. .. 1988. . : . (Tompaidis D.E. 1988. The Pontic Dialect. Athens: Archeion Pontou.) .. .. 2002. .. . : . (Tompaidis D.E. and Simeonidis C.P. 2002. Additions to the Historical Lexicon of the Pontic Dialect of A.A. Papadopoulos. Athens: Archeion Pontou.) .. 1955. . : . (Papadopoulos A.A. 1955. Historical Grammar of the Pontic Dialect. Athens: Committee for Pontian Studies.) .. 195861. . 2 . : . (Papadopoulos A.A. 195861. Historical Lexicon of the Pontic Dialect. 2 volumes. Athens: Mirtidis.) .. 1958. . : . (Oikonomidis D.I. 1958. Grammar of the Greek Dialect of Pontos. Athens: Athens Academy.) . 1998 1932. : . : . (Topcharas K. 1998 1932. The Grammar of Pontic. Thessaloniki: Afoi Kiriakidi.) External links Pontic Greek edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Mark Janse "Aspects of Pontic grammar" a Review Article of Drettas (1997). The paper summarizes the high points of the book. Ethnologue report for Pontic Committee for Pontian Studies ( ) Trebizond Greek: A language without a tongue Info about Pontians Pontic Greek: A cost of a language The Pontic Dialect Argonautai Komninoi Association Pontic Greek - English Dictionary Development of the Pontic Greek Dialect Archaic Greek in a modern world video from Cambridge University on You Tube