Greek is considered by many scholars to be the first great language of Western civilization. Greek-speaking people moved into the Greek Peninsula and the adjacent Balkan Peninsula more than 4,000 years ago. The language which they spoke evolved into four distinct dialects: Aeolic, Ionic, Arcado-Cyprian, and Doric. About 3,000 years ago, the Greek alphabet emerged, based on the earlier Phoenician writing system. This was the first alphabet in which letters stood for vowels as well as consonants. Today, students of the Greek language may be taught Classical Greek or Modern Greek. Classical Greek is taught as a written language and scholars generally admit that they can only guess what it actually sounded like when spoken. Recent linguistic discoveries, however, are changing this.
During the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, the Greeks began to emerge from what some scholars refer to as the Greek Dark Ages. During this time there was a shift from the use of bronze tools to iron tools, perhaps introduced by Doric invaders. By the end of the 8th century BCE, the Greeks had revived their long-distance trade in the Mediterranean region. By the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, they were establishing colonies along the coast of the Black Sea in what is modern day Turkey. In 756 BCE, Greek traders from Miletus founded Trapezus (now called Trabzon). With the remoteness of the area (Pontus), a distinct dialect of Greek, Pontic, soon developed.
Linguists have identified an isolated and rare dialect of Pontic Greek, Romeyka, being spoken in a handful of villages near the Black sea city of Trabzon in a remote part of northeastern Turkey. Romeyka is grammatically, structurally, and lexically similar to the Greek which would have been spoken by Socrates and Plato.
Ioanna Sitaridou, a lecturer in romance philology at the University of Cambridge, said:
"Romeyka preserves an impressive number of grammatical traits that add an ancient Greek flavour to the dialect's structure, traits that have been completely lost from other modern Greek varieties."
"Use of the infinitive has been lost in all other Greek dialects known today – so speakers of Modern Greek would say 'I wasn't able that I go' instead of 'I wasn't able to go'. But, in Romeyka, not only is the infinitive preserved, but we also find quirky infinitival constructions that have never been observed before – only in the Romance languages are there parallel constructions."
Romeyka does not have a written form. The villagers are isolated and tend to marry within the villages. They play a folk music on a special instrument, called a kemenje in Turkish and Romeyka or lyra as it is called in Greek. The music is distinct and found only among the speakers of Romeyka.
Given the geographic and cultural isolation of the villages, Romeyka-speakers may be descendants of the ancient Greeks who first colonized the Black Sea coast more than 3,500 years ago. The language is currently on the list of the world’s most endangered languages. The expanding reach of the Turkish-language media means that the size and vitality of the Romeyka-speaking community is declining. Romeyka is currently spoken by about 5,000 people.
Many of the world's 6,000 languages are disappearing as once-isolated populations become part of the global economy. Children are failing to learn the language of their grandparents and instead using the dominant language of the majority population.
This diary was originally posted on Street Prophets
In respoonse to the original posting, tecolote provided this link for those who would like to hear the sounds of ancient Greek.