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Tsakonian language

Tsakonian or Tsaconian (also Tzakonian or Tsakonic, Greek: τσακώνικα and Tsakonian: τσακώνικα, α τσακώνικα γρούσσα) is a highly divergent modern variety of Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. Unlike all other extant varieties of Greek, Tsakonian derives from Doric Greek rather than from the Attic-Ionic branch.[2] Although it is conventionally treated as a dialect of Greek,[3][4][5] some compendia treat it as a separate language.[6] Tsakonian is critically endangered, with only a few hundred/thousand, mostly elderly, fluent speakers left.[6] Although Tsakonian and standard Modern Greek are related, they are not mutually intelligible.[7]

Tsakonian

Eastern Peloponnese, around Mount Parnon

2,000–4,000 (2018)[1]

Indo-European
  • Propontis
  • Northern
  • Southern
  • Western?

56-AAA-b

Etymology[edit]

The term Tsakonas or Tzakonas first emerges in the writings of Byzantine chroniclers who derive the ethnonym from a corruption of Lakonas, a Laconian/Lacedaemonian (Spartan)—a reference to the Doric roots of the Tsakonian language.[8]

Morphology[edit]

Another difference between Tsakonian and the common Demotic Greek dialect is its verb system – Tsakonian preserves different archaic forms, such as participial periphrasis for the present tense. Certain complementisers and other adverbial features present in the standard Modern Greek dialect are absent from Tsakonian, with the exception of the Modern που (/pu/) relativiser, which takes the form πφη (/pʰi/) in Tsakonian (note: traditional Tsakonian orthography uses the digraph πφ to represent aspirated /pʰ/). Noun morphology is broadly similar to Standard Modern Greek, although Tsakonian tends to drop the nominative, final (-s) from masculine nouns, thus Tsakonian ο τσχίφτα o tshífta for Standard o τρίφτης o tríftis 'grater'.

Contact[edit]

There has always been contact with Koine Greek speakers and the language was affected by the neighboring Greek dialects. Additionally, there are some lexical borrowings from Arvanitika and Turkish. The core, base vocabulary remains recognizably Doric, although experts disagree on the extent to which other true Doricisms can be found. There are only a few hundred, mainly elderly true native speakers living,[6] although a great many more can speak the language less than fluently.

The voiced-prenasalization of stop consonant sounds of /, t, t͡s, k/ as [ᵐb, ⁿd, ⁿd͡z, ᵑɡ] may also occur within segments. When before front vowels /i, e/, the phonetic sequence [ᵑɡ] is then palatalized as [ᶮɟ].

p

// are heard as palatal sounds [c, cʰ, ç, j] when preceding front vowels /i, e/. /n, l/ may also be heard as [ɲ, ʎ] in this same position.

k, kʰ, x, ɣ

[] may also occur as phonemic among dialects.

t͡ɕ

// may also be heard as [t͡ʃ] among speakers.

t͡ʃʰ

A /a/ can appear as a reflex of Doric /aː/, in contexts where Attic had η [ɛː] and Modern Greek has /i/: αμέρα "day" /aˈmera/ corresponding to Modern ημέρα /iˈmera/ "day", κρέφτα "thief" [ˈkrefta] corresponding to Modern κλέφτης [ˈkleftis].

Ε /e/ > /i/ before vowels: e.g. βασιλλία /vasiˈlia/ "king" < βασιλέα /vasiˈlea/. This sound change is absent from Propontis Tsakonian. As a result of this sound change in combination with the prior palatalization of /mi ni/ and /li/ into [ɲi] and [ʎi], the palatal allophones [ɲ] [ʎ] became phonemic. Minimal pairs example: εννία "nine" /eˈnia/ from Ancient Greek ἐννέα VS νία /eˈɲia/ "one fem." from Ancient Greek μία.

O occasionally [o] > [u]: ου(ι)θί /u(i)ˈθi/ < όφις /ˈopʰis/ "snake", τθούμα [ˈtʰuma] < στόμα /ˈstoma/ "mouth". Final [o] > [e] after coronals and front vowels: όνος [ˈonos] > όνε [ˈone] "donkey", πόρος /ˈporos/ > πόρε /ˈpore/ "door", γραφτός /ɡrafˈtos/ > γραφτέ [ɣrafˈte] "written", χρέος /ˈkʰreos/ > χρίε /ˈxrie/, but λύκος /ˈlykos/ > λιούκο /ˈʎuko/ "wolf" and θερμόν /ˈtʰerˈmon/ > σχομό /ʃoˈmo/ "food".

Υ Reflected as /i/ in most Modern Greek dialects, this was [u] in Doric and [y] in Attic. In Southern and Northern Tsakonian, that /u/ was fronted to [y], and then backed to /u/ again. The palatalization of numerous consonants before front vowels that took place right before the backing of /y/ to /u/ gives the flawed impression that /y/ was diphthongized into /ju/. Examples: λύκος /ˈlykos/ νύκτα /ˈnykta/ κρύπτων /ˈkryptoːn/ τύ /ˈty/> /ˈʎyko/ /ˈɲytʰa/ /ˈkrʲyfu/ /eˈcy/> λιούκο /ˈʎuko/ "wolf" νιούτθα /ˈɲutʰa/ "night" γκρζιούφου /ˈɡʒufu/ "hide (participle)" εκιού /eˈcu/ "you". As seen from the following equivalent words, <Υ> was never fronted in Propontis Tsakonian, but rather remained /u/: /ˈukʰo/ "wolf, /ˈnutʰa/ "night", /eˈtu/ "you". Any minor divergences from this model can be attributed to either internal dialectal borrowings or to borrowings from other Hellenic languages such as or Standard Modern Greek.

Maniot Greek

Ω /ɔː/ in Ancient Greek (Severe Doric /oː/), regularly goes to /u/: εζού /eˈzu/ "I" Ancient Greek ἐγώ /eɡɔː/, αού [au] "say (participle)" < λαλών /laˈlɔːn/. This shift is absent from Propontis Tsakonian.

Ένει (Ení)=I am

Έσει (Esí)=you are

Έννι (Éni)=he/she/it is

Έμε (Éme)=we are

Έτθε (Éthe)=you are

Είνι (Íni)=they are

Έμα (Éma)=I was

Έσα (Ésa)=you were

Έκη (Éki)=he/she/it was

Έμαϊ (Émaï)=we were

Έτθαϊ (Éthaï)=you were

Ήγκιαϊ (Ígiaï)=they were

ένει φερήκχου (masculine) ένει φερήκχα (feminine) ένει φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhou/feríkha/ferikhouda)=I bring

έσει φερήκχου (masculine) έσει φερήκχα (feminine) έσει φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhou/feríkha/ferikhouda)=you bring

έννι φερήκχου (masculine) έννι φερήκχα (feminine) έννι φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhou/feríkha/ferikhouda)=he/she/it brings

έμε φερήκχουντε (masculine, feminine) έμε φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhude/feríkhuda)=we bring

έτθε φερήκχουντε (masculine, feminine) έτθε φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhude/feríkhuda)=you bring

είνι φερήκχουντε (masculine, feminine) έμε φερήκχουντα (neuter) (feríkhude/feríkhuda)=they bring

Tsakonian has undergone considerable morphological changes: there is minimal case inflection.


The present and imperfect indicative in Tsakonian are formed with participles, like English but unlike the rest of Greek: Tsakonian ενεί αού, έμα αού "I am saying, I was saying" ≈ Greek ειμί λαλών, ήμην λαλών.


Note: Participles change according to the gender of the subject of the sentence


Tsakonian has preserved the original inflection of the aorist indicative.

Tsakonia

Costakis, Athanasios (Thanasis) P. (1951). . Athens: Institut Français d'Athènes.

Σύντομη Γραμματική της Τσακωνικής Διαλέκτου (Brief Grammar of the Tsakonian Dialect)

Horrocks, Geoffrey (2014). Greek: A history of the language and its speakers, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.  978-1-118-78515-7.

ISBN

Nicholas, Nick (1999). . Final. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

"The Story of pu: The grammaticalisation in space and time of a Modern Greek complementiser"

Pernot, Hubert (1934). Introduction à l'étude du dialecte tsakonien. Paris: .

Les Belles Lettres

Nicholas, Nick (2019). . Journal of Applied Linguistics and Lexicography. 1 (1): 18–68. doi:10.33910/2687-0215-2019-1-1-18-68.

"A critical lexicostatistical examination of Ancient and Modern Greek and Tsakonian"

Blažek, Václav. ". In: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2010, vol. 15, iss. 1, pp. 17–35. ISSN 2336-4424

Glottochronological analysis of the Greek lexicon: Modern, Tsakonian, Old and Mycenaean Greek

(text sample and audio files)

Projet Homere

Tsakonian Bibliography

(text sample)

The Lord's Prayer in Tsakonian

Archived 2006-07-13 at the Wayback Machine (RealAudio)

Church Service in Tsakonian