Katharevousa

[Magkisa83]

One of the things I love about my boyfriend is that, along with Dimotiki of course, he can speak Katharevousa, the formal Greek that was used in schools, newspapers etc until the 1980's. He told me that this is because of his age (63) but that most people my age (24) and even into their 30's probably can't speak it. So I'm curious. How many of you know Katharevousa fluently? as a sidenote, how many know Koutsavakika (mangiko) beyond the basics. What about a very specific dialect of Greek that most other people can't understand?

[Prokomenos]

I would fall into the category of speaking Dimotika which is what you can call the modern Greek language unless Im mistaken. As for dialects of Greek this is what I found of Wikipedia. Also note since its from Wiki I don't know how accurate the information is. Unfortunately Im not an expert on this subject. Hope this helps.

Spoken dialects

Spoken modern vernacular Greek can be distinguished into various geographical dialects. There are a small number of highly divergent, outlying dialects spoken by relatively isolated communities, and a broader range of mainstream dialects less divergent from each other and from Standard Modern Greek, which cover most of the linguistic area of present-day Greece and Cyprus. Native Greek scholarship traditionally distinguishes between "dialects" proper (διάλεκτος), i.e. strongly marked, distinctive varieties, and mere "idioms" (ιδίωμα), less markedly distinguished sub-varieties of a language. In this sense, the term "dialect" is often reserved to only the main outlying forms listed in the next section (Tsakonian, Southern Italian Greek, Pontic, and Cappadocian), whereas the bulk of mainstream spoken varieties of present-day Greece is classified as "idioms".[

Outlying dialects


Tsakonian

Tsakonian is a highly divergent dialect spoken in a small mountaneous area slightly inland from the east coast of the Peloponese peninsula. It is unique among all other modern dialects in that it is believed to derive not from the ancient Attic-Ionian Koiné, but from Doric. It used to be spoken earlier in a wider area of the Peloponese, including Laconia, the historical home of the Doric Spartans.

Griko


To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Location map of the Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria



Griko refers to the diaspora dialects of Greek spoken in some areas of southern Italy, a historical remnant of the ancient colonisation of Magna Graecia. There are two small Griko-speaking communities today in the Italian regions of Calabria, the southern tip of the Italian peninsula, and in Apulia, its south-easternmost corner. These dialects too are believed to have developed on the basis of an originally Doric ancient dialect, and have preserved some elements of it, though to a lesser extent than Tsakonian.[21] They subsequently adopted influences from ancient Koiné, but became isolated from the rest of the Greek-speaking world after the decline of Byzantine rule in Italy during the middle ages. Among their linguistic peculiarities, besides influences from Italian, is the preservation of the infinitive, which was lost in the modern Greek of the Balkans.

Pontic Greek dialects are those originally spoken along the eastern Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, the historical region of Pontus in Turkey. From there, speakers of Pontic migrated to other areas along the Black Sea coast, in Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. Through the forced population exchange after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) and the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, the Pontic speakers of Turkey were expelled and moved to Greece. Of the Pontic speakers in the ex-Soviet Union, many have emigrated to Greece more recently. The number of Pontic Greeks currently maintaining the dialect is unclear.[22] A small group of Muslim Pontic speakers is reported to be still found in Turkey, although their dialects show heavy structural convergence towards Turkish.[23].

Asia Minor Greek

Asia Minor Greek are now almost extinct, but were spoken until the early 20th century in central Turkey, and especially in Cappadocia, forming a group of dialects influenced by the Turkish language.[24] In this group, linguists include not only the Cappadocian Greek but also the idiom spoken in Pharasa (Develi in Kayseri) and other nearby villages (Afshar-Köy, Çukuri), and the idiom of Sille (near Iconium). In the 1920s Asia Minor Greek speakers were forced to emigrate to Greece, where they were resettled in various locations. [25] In 2005, professors Mark Janse and Dimitris Papazachariou discovered that there are still native speakers of the Mistiot dialect of Cappadocian in Central and Northern Greece.[26]

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Apollyon]

Originally Posted by Magkisa83
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

One of the things I love about my boyfriend is that, along with Dimotiki of course, he can speak Katharevousa, the formal Greek that was used in schools, newspapers etc until the 1980's. He told me that this is because of his age (63) but that most people my age (24) and even into their 30's probably can't speak it. So I'm curious. How many of you know Katharevousa fluently? as a sidenote, how many know Koutsavakika (mangiko) beyond the basics. What about a very specific dialect of Greek that most other people can't understand?

ego kollisa stis ilikies....o boyfriend einai 63 k esy eisai 24????? gia spase kai ksanarikse (koutsavakika)

[Magkisa83]

Den sakouleftika olla. lol Alla nai. Eimai 24 kai o gomenos mou einai 63. Ti eipes peripou Koutsavakika, sta Agglika, se parakalo giati mathaino Ellinika kai den katalabaino olles tis lekses akoma. Agapo ta rempetika para poly etsi mathaino Dimotiki kai ligo Mangiko.

Originally Posted by Apollyon
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

ego kollisa stis ilikies....o boyfriend einai 63 k esy eisai 24????? gia spase kai ksanarikse (koutsavakika)

[Magkisa83]

I don't know why sometimes it lets me reply without a quote and sometimes it only lets me reply with the quote but anyway. thanks for those tidbits. I also found some more at

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

this is about all the different forms of modern Greek and has images of where they're spoken. I know that you got yours from here but it's a bit wider in scope.

Originally Posted by Prokomenos
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I would fall into the category of speaking Dimotika which is what you can call the modern Greek language unless Im mistaken. As for dialects of Greek this is what I found of Wikipedia. Also note since its from Wiki I don't know how accurate the information is. Unfortunately Im not an expert on this subject. Hope this helps.

Spoken dialects

Spoken modern vernacular Greek can be distinguished into various geographical dialects. There are a small number of highly divergent, outlying dialects spoken by relatively isolated communities, and a broader range of mainstream dialects less divergent from each other and from Standard Modern Greek, which cover most of the linguistic area of present-day Greece and Cyprus. Native Greek scholarship traditionally distinguishes between "dialects" proper (διάλεκτος), i.e. strongly marked, distinctive varieties, and mere "idioms" (ιδίωμα), less markedly distinguished sub-varieties of a language. In this sense, the term "dialect" is often reserved to only the main outlying forms listed in the next section (Tsakonian, Southern Italian Greek, Pontic, and Cappadocian), whereas the bulk of mainstream spoken varieties of present-day Greece is classified as "idioms".[

Outlying dialects


Tsakonian

Tsakonian is a highly divergent dialect spoken in a small mountaneous area slightly inland from the east coast of the Peloponese peninsula. It is unique among all other modern dialects in that it is believed to derive not from the ancient Attic-Ionian Koiné, but from Doric. It used to be spoken earlier in a wider area of the Peloponese, including Laconia, the historical home of the Doric Spartans.

Griko


To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Location map of the Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria



Griko refers to the diaspora dialects of Greek spoken in some areas of southern Italy, a historical remnant of the ancient colonisation of Magna Graecia. There are two small Griko-speaking communities today in the Italian regions of Calabria, the southern tip of the Italian peninsula, and in Apulia, its south-easternmost corner. These dialects too are believed to have developed on the basis of an originally Doric ancient dialect, and have preserved some elements of it, though to a lesser extent than Tsakonian.[21] They subsequently adopted influences from ancient Koiné, but became isolated from the rest of the Greek-speaking world after the decline of Byzantine rule in Italy during the middle ages. Among their linguistic peculiarities, besides influences from Italian, is the preservation of the infinitive, which was lost in the modern Greek of the Balkans.

Pontic Greek dialects are those originally spoken along the eastern Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, the historical region of Pontus in Turkey. From there, speakers of Pontic migrated to other areas along the Black Sea coast, in Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. Through the forced population exchange after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) and the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, the Pontic speakers of Turkey were expelled and moved to Greece. Of the Pontic speakers in the ex-Soviet Union, many have emigrated to Greece more recently. The number of Pontic Greeks currently maintaining the dialect is unclear.[22] A small group of Muslim Pontic speakers is reported to be still found in Turkey, although their dialects show heavy structural convergence towards Turkish.[23].

Asia Minor Greek

Asia Minor Greek are now almost extinct, but were spoken until the early 20th century in central Turkey, and especially in Cappadocia, forming a group of dialects influenced by the Turkish language.[24] In this group, linguists include not only the Cappadocian Greek but also the idiom spoken in Pharasa (Develi in Kayseri) and other nearby villages (Afshar-Köy, Çukuri), and the idiom of Sille (near Iconium). In the 1920s Asia Minor Greek speakers were forced to emigrate to Greece, where they were resettled in various locations. [25] In 2005, professors Mark Janse and Dimitris Papazachariou discovered that there are still native speakers of the Mistiot dialect of Cappadocian in Central and Northern Greece.[26]

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Prokomenos]

Yes I saw that one yesterday on wiki but left it be. Its amazing on how their are different dialects spoken but yet they are all related to the mother tongue.

[Apollyon]

Originally Posted by Magkisa83
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Den sakouleftika olla. lol Alla nai. Eimai 24 kai o gomenos mou einai 63. Ti eipes peripou Koutsavakika, sta Agglika, se parakalo giati mathaino Ellinika kai den katalabaino olles tis lekses akoma. Agapo ta rempetika para poly etsi mathaino Dimotiki kai ligo Mangiko.

The phrase Spase kai ksanarikse , or Break and throw again ... is used in the backgammon game ( tavli) , when the player moves his pawns or whatever they are called and throws again the dices....
generally is used when someone talks to you and you dont understand what he means ,so in that case you say to him to repeat it..... Spase kai ksanarikse

[Magkisa83]

Thanks. I love learning new words and phraises. I'd also love to learn how to play tavli but I have to braille out my board and I'm too lazy for that. lol

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by Magkisa83
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

One of the things I love about my boyfriend is that, along with Dimotiki of course, he can speak Katharevousa, the formal Greek that was used in schools, newspapers etc until the 1980's. He told me that this is because of his age (63) but that most people my age (24) and even into their 30's probably can't speak it. So I'm curious. How many of you know Katharevousa fluently? as a sidenote, how many know Koutsavakika (mangiko) beyond the basics. What about a very specific dialect of Greek that most other people can't understand?

Every Greek can understand Katharevousa largely when reading it/hearing it, but the ones who can form correct sentences are limited nowadays. Mostly older people of high education.

They are a lot of dialects that have many differences from Demotic and most Greeks who have Demotic as mother language can't understand when hearing them. Pontian and Tsakonian are examples.

[Magkisa83]

My boyfriend comes from Kerkira (Korfu) and said they have their own dialect. He also can't understand Cypriot, except a few words. That's interesting about being able to understand something but not speak it. Mom's kind of like that with Croatian and I'm a little like that with a northern dialect of Italian, just through hearing it spoken for many years. But i can answer in English. lol