Pontic Greek

This article is about the language. For the ethnic group, seePontic Greeks.

Pontic Greek
ποντιακά,pontiaká,понтиакá,Roméika
Region	originally thePontuson theBlack Seacoast;Greece,Russia,Georgia,andTurkey
Ethnicity	Pontic Greeks
Native speakers	778,000 (2009–2015)
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Attic–Ionic Pontic Greek
Dialects	Mariupol Greek(?), Ophitic dialect (Oflídika)
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 theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger(2010)

Pontic Greek(Pontic:Ποντιακόν λαλίαν,romanized:Pontiakón lalíanorΡωμαίικαromanized:Roméika;Greek:Ποντιακή διάλεκτος,romanized:Pontiakí diálektos;Turkish:Rumca) is an endangeredvariety of Modern Greekindigenous to thePontusregion on the southern shores of theBlack Sea,northeasternAnatolia,and the Eastern Turkish/Caucasusregion. Today it is spoken mainly in northernGreece.Its speakers are referred to asPontic Greeksor Pontian Greeks. It is not completely mutually intelligible with modernDemotic Greek.

The linguistic lineage of Pontic Greek stems fromIonic GreekviaKoineandByzantine Greek,and contains influences fromRussian,Turkish,Kartvelian(namelyLazandGeorgian) andArmenian.

Pontic Greek is an endangered dialect ofGreekspoken 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 during the1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.However, it is still spoken in pockets of thePontustoday, mostly byPontic Greek Muslimsin the eastern districts ofTrabzon 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 theGreek 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 anIndo-European,Greek languageof theAttic-Ionicbranch.

Name

Historically, the speakers of Pontic Greek called it simplyRomeyka(orRomeika,Pontic:Ρωμαίικα), which is also a historical and colloquial term for Modern Greek in general. The term clearly refers to Greek as the language of the eastern Roman Empire, thus Roma. 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 languagePontiaká.

Similarly, inTurkish,there is no special name for Pontic Greek; it is calledRumca([ˈɾumd͡ʒa]), derived from the Turkish wordRum,denoting Byzantine Greeks.

Nowadays, Pontic speakers living in Turkey call their languageRomeyka,Urumce,RumcaorRumcika.

History

Similar to most modern Greek dialects, Pontic Greek is mainly derived from Koine Greek, which was spoken in theHellenisticandRomantimes between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD. Following theSeljuk invasion of Asia Minorduring 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 linguistManolis Triantafyllidishas divided the Pontic of Turkey into two groups:

• the Western group (OinountiacorNiotika) aroundOenoe(Turkish Ünye);
• the Eastern group, which is again subdivided into:
  • the coastal subgroup (Trapezountiac) aroundTrebizond(Ancient GreekTrapezous) and
  • the inland subgroup (Chaldiot) inChaldia(aroundArgyroupolis(Gümüşhane) and Kanin in Pontic), its vicinity (Kelkit,Baibourt,etc.), and aroundKotyora(Ordu).

Speakers of Chaldiot were the most numerous. In phonology, some varieties of Pontic are reported to demonstratevowel harmony,a well-known feature of Turkish (Mirambel 1965).

Outside Turkey one can distinguish:

• the Northern group (Mariupol GreekorRumeíka), originally spoken inCrimea,but now principally inMariupol,where the majority of Crimean Pontic Greeks of the Rumaiic subgroup now live. Other Pontic Greeks speakCrimean Tataras 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 theSoviet Union.

Ophitic

The inhabitants of theOf valleywho had converted to Islam in the 17th centuryremained in Turkeyand 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 itRomeika.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) andKöprübaşı(Göneşera). Although less widespread, it is still spoken in some remote villages of the Of district itself. It is also spoken in the westernİkizdere(Dipotamos) district of Rize province. Historically the dialect was spoken in a wider area, stretching further east to the port town ofPazar(Athina).

Ophitic has retained theinfinitive,which is present inAncient Greekbut has been lost in other variants of Modern Greek (exceptItaliot Greek); it has therefore been characterized as "archaic" orconservative(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 ofChristiansfrom the Of valley (especially fromKondu) now living in Greece in the village ofNea Trapezounta, Pieria,Central Macedonia,with about 400 speakers.

Geographic distribution

Though Pontic was originally spoken on the southern shores of theBlack Sea,from the 18th and 19th century and on substantial numbers migrated into the northern and eastern shores, into theRussian Empire.Pontic is still spoken by large numbers of people inUkraine,mainly inMariupol,but also in other parts of Ukraine such as theOdesaandDonetskregion, inRussia(aroundStavropol) andGeorgia.The language enjoyed some use as a literary medium in the 1930s, including a school grammar (Topkharas 1998 [1932]).

After themassacres of the 1910s,the majority of speakers remaining inAsia Minorwere subject to theTreaty of Lausannepopulation exchange,and were resettled in Greece (mainly northern Greece). A second wave of migration occurred in the early 1990s, this time from countries of theformer 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 inMacedonia(East,CentralandWest) and inAttica
• Turkey:Unknown (certainly more than 5,000), mostly in easternBlack Sea Regionand inIstanbul
  • Of-dialectical region:
    • Of:multiple villages
    • Çaykara:(24–70 villages)
    • Dernekpazarı:(13 villages)
    • Köprübaşı:(5 villages)
    • Sürmene:(31 villages)
    • Rize:(21 villages, mostly inİkizderedistrict)
  • 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 inBulancakdistrict)
    • Gümüşhane:Sparsely inTorul-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 thede factolanguage of the Greek minority in theUSSR,although in theΠανσυνδεσμιακή Σύσκεψη(Pansyndesmiakí Sýskepsi,All-Union Conference) of 1926, organised by the Greek–Sovietintelligentsia,it was decided thatDemoticshould 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 ofRumaiicversus Demotic. A new attempt to preserve a sense of ethnic Rumaiic identity started in the mid-1980s. The Ukrainian scholarAndriy Biletskycreated 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, includingpoetry collections(among the most renowned writers isKostas Diamantidis), novels, and translatedAsterixcomic 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 theGreek alphabet,with diacritics:σ̌ ζ̌ ξ̌ ψ̌for/ʃʒkʃpʃ/,α̈ ο̈for[æø](phonological/iaio/). Pontic, in Turkey, is written in theLatin alphabetfollowing Turkish conventions. In Russia, it is written in theCyrillic alphabet.In early Soviet times, Pontic was written in the Greek alphabet phonetically, as shown below, using digraphs instead of diacritics;[æø]were written out asια,ιο.ThePontic Wikipediauses 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
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
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
Ο ο	O o	O o	О о	[o̞]	τ'εμέτερον, themeteron, þeméteron, ҭеметерон
Π π	P p	Pp	П п	[p]	εγάπεσα, eğapesa, egápesa, егапеса
Ρ ρ	R r	R r	Р р	[ɾ]	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]	κεμεντζ̌έ, 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

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

• The vowel "η" sometimes merged with "ε" rather than "ι" (κέπιν = κήπιον, κλέφτες = κλέπτης, συνέλικος = συνήλικος, νύφε = νύ(μ)φη, έγκα = ἤνεγκον, έτον = ἦτον, έκουσα = ἤκουσα etc.).
• The vowel "ω" merged with "o" even in those cases where Koine Greek received it as "ου" (ζωμίν = ζουμί, καρβώνι, ρωθώνι etc.).
• Preservation of theIonicconsonant pair "σπ"instead of Koine"σφ"(σποντύλιν, σπίγγω, σπιντόνα).

Declension of nouns and adjectives

• Preservation of the ancientnominativesuffix "-ν"in neuter diminutive nouns from Ancient Greek" -ίον"(παιδίον, χωρίον;Ponticπαιδίν, χωρίν).
• Preservation of the termination of feminine compound adjectives in-ος (η άλαλος, η άνοστος, η έμορφος).
• The declension of masculine nouns from singular, nominative termination "-ον"togenitive"-ονος" (ο νέον → τη νέονος, ο πάππον → τη πάππονος, ο λύκον → τη λύκονος, ο Τούρκον → τη Τούρκονος etc.).
• The ancient accenting of nouns invocativeform:άδελφε, Νίκολα, Μάρια.

Conjugation of verbs

• The secondaoristform in-ον (ανάμνον, μείνον, κόψον, πίσον, ράψον, σβήσον).
• Themiddle voiceverb termination in-ούμαι (ανακατούμαι, σκοτούμαι, στεφανούμαι).
• Thepassive voiceaorist termination in-θα(anc.-θην):εγαπέθα, εκοιμέθα, εστάθαetc.
• Theimperativeform of passive aorist in-θετε(anc-θητι): εγαπέθετε, εκοιμέθετε, εστάθετε.
• The sporadic use ofinfinitives(εποθανείναι, μαθείναι, κόψ'ναι, ράψ'ναι, χαρίσ'ναι, αγαπέθειν, κοιμεθείν).
• Ponticen( "is" ) from Koine idiomatic formenesti(standard Ancient Greekesti), compare the Biblical formeni( "there is" ), Modern Greekine(είναι)

Lexicology

• The sporadic use ofαςin the place ofνα:δός με ας τρόω.
• Ponticτεμέτερον(temeteron;"ours" ) from Ancient Greekτῶν ἡμετέρων (ton hemeteron)in contrast to Modern Greekτων […] μας (ton […] mas.)

Comparison with Ancient Greek

1. Attachment of the /e/ sound to the ancient infinitive suffix–εῖν, -ειν(in Trapezountiac Pontic)

Pontic	Ancient
ειπείνε	εἰπεῖν
παθείνε	παθεῖν
αποθανείνε	ἀποθανεῖν
πιείνε	πιεῖν
ειδείνε	εἰδεῖν
φυείνε	φυγεῖν
ευρείνε	εὑρεῖν
καμείνε	καμεῖν
φαείνε	φαγεῖν
μαθείνε	μαθεῖν
ερθέανε	ἐλθεῖν
μενείνε	μένειν

2. Preservation of the Ancient infinitive suffix-ῆναι

Pontic	Ancient
ανεβήναι	ἀναβῆναι
κατεβήναι	καταβῆναι
εμπήναι	ἐμβῆναι
εβγήναι	ἐκβῆναι
επιδεαβήναι	ἀποδιαβῆναι
κοιμεθήναι	κοιμηθῆναι
χτυπεθήναι	κτυπηθῆναι
ευρεθήναι	εὑρεθῆναι
βρασήναι	βραχῆναι
ραήναι	ῥαγῆναι

3. Ancientfirst aoristinfinitive suffix -αι has been replaced bysecond aoristsuffix -ειν

Pontic	Ancient
κράξειν	κράξαι
μεθύσειν	μεθύσαι

4. Attachment of the /e/ sound to the ancient aorist infinitive suffix–ειν

ράψεινε, κράξεινε, μεθύσεινε, καλέσεινε, λαλήσεινε, κτυπήσεινε, καθίσεινε

5. Same aorist suffix–κα (–καwas also the regular perfect suffix)

Pontic	Ancient
εδώκα	ἔδωκα
εντώκα	ἐνέδωκα
εποίκα	ἐποίηκα
εφήκα	ἀφῆκα
εθήκα	ἔθηκα

6. Ancient Greek–ein(-εῖν)infinitive > Pontic Greek–eane(-έανε)infinitive

Pontic	Ancient
ερθέανε	ἐλθεῖν

See also

• Mariupolitan Greek
• Caucasus Greeks
• Cappadocian Greek
• Italiot Greek

Further reading

• Armostis, Spyros and Voniati, Louiza and Drosos, Konstantinos and Tafiadis, Dionysios (2022). "Trapezountian Pontic Greek in Etoloakarnania". Illustrations of the IPA.Journal of the International Phonetic Association.52(2): 328–340.doi:10.1017/S0025100320000201{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link),with supplementary sound recordings.

Bibliography

• Berikashvili, Svetlana. 2017. Morphological aspects of Pontic Greek spoken in Georgia. LINCOM GmbH.ISBN978-3862888528
• Özhan Öztürk,Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık. İstanbul, 2005.ISBN975-6121-00-9
• Τομπαΐδης, Δ.Ε. 1988. Η Ποντιακή Διάλεκτος. Αθήνα: Αρχείον Πόντου. (Tompaidis, D.E. 1988. The Pontic Dialect. Athens: Archeion Pontou.)
• Τομπαΐδης, Δ.Ε. ϗ Συμεωνίδης, Χ.Π. 2002. Συμπλήρωμα στο Ιστορικόν Λεξικόν της Ποντικής Διαλέκτου του Α.Α. Παπαδόπουλου. Αθήνα: Αρχείον Πόντου. (Tompaidis, D.E. and Simeonidis, C.P. 2002. Additions to the Historical Lexicon of the Pontic Dialect of A.A. Papadopoulos. Athens: Archeion Pontou.)
• Παπαδόπουλος, Α.Α. 1955. Ιστορική Γραμματική της Ποντικής Διαλέκτου. Αθήνα: Επιτροπή Ποντιακών Μελετών. (Papadopoulos, A.A. 1955. Historical Grammar of the Pontic Dialect. Athens: Committee for Pontian Studies.)
• Παπαδόπουλος, Α.Α. 1958–61. Ιστορικόν Λεξικόν της Ποντικής Διαλέκτου. 2 τόμ. Αθήνα: Μυρτίδης. (Papadopoulos, A.A. 1958–61. Historical Lexicon of the Pontic Dialect. 2 volumes. Athens: Mirtidis.)
• Οικονομίδης, Δ.Η. 1958. Γραμματική της Ελληνικής Διαλέκτου του Πόντου. Αθήνα: Ακαδημία Αθηνών. (Oikonomidis, D.I. 1958. Grammar of the Greek Dialect of Pontos. Athens: Athens Academy.)
• Τοπχαράς, Κονσταντίνος. 1998 [1932]. Η Γραμματική της Ποντιακής: Ι Γραματικι τι Ρομεικυ τι Ποντεικυ τι Γλοςας. Θεσσαλονίκη: Αφοί Κυριακίδη. (Topcharas, K. 1998 [1932]. The Grammar of Pontic. Thessaloniki: Afoi Kiriakidi.)

External links

• Mark Janse,"Aspects of Pontic grammar",a Review Article of Drettas (1997). Thepapersummarizes the high points of the book.
• Committee for Pontian Studies (Επιτροπή Ποντιακών Μελετών)
• Trebizond Greek: A language without a tongue
• Pontic Greek: A cost of a language
• The Pontic Dialect
• Argonautai Komninoi Association
• Pontic Greek - English Dictionary
• Development of the Pontic Greek Dialect
• Austrian Academy of Sciences: Vanishing Languages and Cultural Heritage - Pontic Greek video collection
• Archaic Greek in a modern worldvideo from Cambridge University, on YouTube
• Hakan Özkan (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität),The language of the mountains - the Rumca dialect of Sürmene(Conference, 8 December 2010)