Demotic Greek

Not to be confused withDemotic (Egyptian).

Demotic Greek(Greek:Δημοτική Γλώσσα,Dimotikí Glóssa,[ðimotiˈciˈɣlo.sa],lit. 'language of the people') is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of theGreek language questionin 1976, the official language of Greece."Demotic Greek" (with a capital D) contrasts with the conservativeKatharevousa,which was used in formal settings, during the same period. In that context, Demotic Greek describes the specific non-standardizedvernacularforms of Greek used by the vast majority of Greeks during the 19th and 20th centuries.

As is typical ofdiglossicsituations, Katharevousa and Demotic complemented and influenced each other. Over time, Demotic became standardized. In 1976, it was made the official language of Greece. It continued to evolve and is now calledStandard Modern Greek.The term "demotic Greek" (with a minuscule d) also refers to any variety of theGreek languagewhich has evolved naturally fromAncient Greekand is popularly spoken.

Basic features

Demotic Greek differs in a few ways from Ancient Greek and from subsequent learned forms of Greek. Syntactically, it favorsparataxisoversubordination.It also heavily employsredundancy,such asμικρόκοριτσάκι(small little-girl) andξανακοιμήθηκεπάλι(he-went-back-to-sleep again). Demotic also employs thediminutivewith great frequency,to the point that many Demotic forms are in effectneuterdiminutives of ancient words, especially irregular ones, e.g.νησίfromνήσιον(island) from ancientνῆσος(island).

Greek noun declensions underwent considerable alteration, with irregular and less productive forms being graduallyregularized(e.g. ancientἀνήρbeing replaced byάντρας(man)). Another feature is the merging of classical accusative and nominative forms: They are only distinguished in Demotic by their definite articles, which continued to be declined as in Ancient Greek. This was especially common with nouns of the third declension, such asπατρίς(hometown,fatherland) which became nominativeη πατρίδα,accusativeτην πατρίδαin Demotic.

A result of this regularization of noun forms in Demotic is that most native words end in a vowel,s(ς), orn(ν). Thus, the set of possible word-final sounds is even more restricted than in Ancient Greek. Exceptions are foreign loans likeμπαρ(bar), learned formsύδωρ(from Ancient Greekὕδωρ,water), andexclamationslikeαχ!(ach!,oh!). Many dialects even append the vowel -e(ε) to third-person verb forms:γράφουνεinstead ofγράφουν(they write). Word-finalconsonant clustersare also rare, again mainly occurring in learned discourse and via foreign loans:άνθραξ(coal– scientific) andμποξ(bo xing– sport).

Theindirect objectis usually expressed by prepending the wordσεto theaccusative(where Ancient Greek hadεἰςfor accusative of motion toward)orgenitive(especially with regard to means or instrument).Bareσεis used without the article to express an indefinite duration of time, or contracted with the definite article fordefiniteness(especially with regard to place where or motion toward).Using one noun with an unmarked accusative article-noun phrase followed byσεcontracted with the definite article of a second noun distinguishes between definite direct and indirect objects, whether real or figurative, e.g. «βάζω το χέρι μου στο ευαγγέλιο» or «...στη φωτιά» (lit.I put my hand upon the Gospelor...in the fire,i.e.I swear it's true,I'm sure of it).By contrast, Katharevousa continued to employ the olderεἰςin place ofσε.

The verb system inherited from Ancient Greek gradually evolved. The perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, and past conditional tenses were gradually replaced with conjugated forms of the verbέχω(I have).The future tense and the subjunctive and optative moods, and eventually the infinitive, were replaced by the modal/tense auxiliariesθαandναused with either the simplified or fused future/subjunctive forms.In contrast to this, Katharevousa employed older perfective forms and infinitives that had been mostly lost in the spoken language.However, Katharevousa did sometimes employ the sameaoristor perfective forms as the spoken language, but preferred an archaizing form of the present indicative, e.g.κρύπτωfor Demoticκρύβω(I hide), which both have the same aorist formέκρυψα.

Demotic Greek also borrowed a significant number of words from other languages, including Italian and Turkish, something which Katharevousa avoided.

Demotic and Modern Greek

Demotic as "Standard Modern Greek"

Demotic is commonly used interchangeably with "Standard Modern Greek"(Νέα Ελληνικά). Nonetheless, these terms are not necessarily synonyms. While today's Standard Modern Greek is fundamentally a continuation of earlier Demotic, it also contains—especially in its written form andformal registers—numerous words, grammatical forms, and phonetical features that did not exist in the most "pure" and consistent forms of Demotic during the period of diglossia in Greece. Due to these admixtures, it could even be described as a product of a "merger" between earlier Demotic and Katharevousa.

Furthermore, in a broader sense, the Greek termΔημοτική(Dimotikí) can also describe any naturally evolved colloquial language of the Greeks, not just that of the period of diglossia.

Modern features that did not exist in Demotic

The following examples are intended to demonstrate Katharevousa features in Modern Greek. They were not present in traditional Demotic and only entered the modern language through Katharevousa (sometimes asneologisms), where they are used mostly in writing (for instance, in newspapers), but also orally, especially words and fixed expressions are both understood and actively used also by non-educated speakers. In some cases, the Demotic form is used for literal or practical meanings, while theKatharevousais used for figurative or specialized meanings: e.g.φτερόfor the wing or feather of a bird, butπτέρυξfor the wing of a building or airplane or arm of an organisation.

Words and fixed expressions

• ενδιαφέρων(interesting)
• τουλάχιστον(at least)
• τηναπήγαγε(he abducted her)
• είναιγεγονόςότι... (it is a fact that...)
• προςτοπαρόν(for now)
• νίπτω τας χείρας μου(figurative,I wash my hands[of him, her, it]); adapted from the Ancient Greek phrase describingPontius Pilatewashing his hands atMatthew27:24; for actual hand-washing, the Demotic phrase isπλένωταχέριαμου.

Special dative forms:

• δόξα τω Θεώ(thank God)
• εν ονόματι...(in the name [of]...)
• τοις μετρητοίς(in cash)
• εν συνεχεία(following)
• εν τω μεταξύ(meanwhile)
• εν αγνοία(in ignorance [of])
• συν τοις άλλοις(moreover)
• επί τω έργω(working,literallyon the deed)
• τοις εκατό(percent,literallyin a hundred)
• ιδίοις χερσί(with [one's] own hands)

Grammatical (morphological) features

• Adjectives ending in-ων,-ουσα,-ον(e.g.ενδιαφέρωνinteresting) or in-ων,-ων,-ον(e.g.σώφρωνthoughtful) - mostly in written language.
• Declinableaoristparticiple, e.g.παραδώσας(having delivered),γεννηθείς([having been] born) - mostly in written language.
• Reduplication in the perfect. E.g.προσκεκλημένος(invited),πεπαλαιωμένος(obsolete)

Phonological features

Modern Greek features many letter combinations that were avoided in traditional Demotic:

• -πτ-(e.g.πταίσμα"misdemeanor" ); Demotic preferred-φτ-(e.g.φταίω"to err; to be guilty" )
• -κτ-(e.g.κτίσμα"building, structure" ); Demotic preferred-χτ-[e.g.χτίστης"(stone)mason" ]
• -ευδ-(e.g.ψεύδος"falsity, lie" ); Demotic preferred-ευτ-(e.g.ψεύτης"liar" )
• -σθ-(e.g.ηρκέσθην/αρκέσθηκα"I was sufficed / satisfied" ); Demotic preferred-στ-(e.g.αρκέστηκα)
• -χθ-(e.g.(ε)χθές"yesterday" ); Demotic preferred-χτ-[e.g.(ε)χτές]
• etc.

Native Greek speakers, depending upon their level of education, may often make mistakes in these "educated" aspects of their language; one can often see mistakes likeπροήχθηinstead ofπροήχθην(I've been promoted),λόγου του ότι/λόγο το ότιinstead ofλόγω του ότι(due to the fact that),τον ενδιαφέρον άνθρωποinstead ofτον ενδιαφέροντα άνθρωπο(the interesting person),οι ενδιαφέροντες γυναίκεςinstead ofοι ενδιαφέρουσες γυναίκες(the interesting women),ο ψήφοςinstead ofη ψήφος(the vote).

Radical demoticism

One of the most radical proponents of a language that was to be cleansed of all "educated" elements wasGiannis Psycharis,who lived in France and gained fame through his workMy Voyage(Το ταξίδι μου,1888). Not only did Psycharis propagate the exclusive use of the naturally grown colloquial language, but he actually opted for simplifying the morphology ofKatharevousaformsprescription.

For instance, Psycharis proposed changing the form of the neuter noun "light"το φως(gen.του φωτός) intoτο φώτο(gen.του φώτου). Such radical forms had occasional precedent in Renaissance attempts to write in Demotic, and reflected Psycharis' linguistic training as aNeogrammarian,mistrusting the possibility of exceptions in linguistic evolution. Moreover, Psycharis also advocated spelling reform, which would have meant abolishing most of the six different ways to write the vowel/i/and all instances of double consonants. Therefore, he wrote his own name asΓιάνης,instead ofΓιάννης.

As written and spoken Demotic became standardized over the next few decades, many compromises were made withKatharevousa(as is reflected in contemporarystandard Greek) despite the loud objections of Psycharis and the radical "psycharist" (ψυχαρικοί) camp within the proponents of Demotic's use. Eventually these ideas of radical demoticism were largely marginalized and when a standardized Demotic was made the official language of the Greek state in 1976, the legislation stated that it would be used "without dialectal and extremist forms" —an explicit rejection of Psycharis' ideals.