| Mariupol Greek | |
|---|---|
| румеку глоса | |
| Native to | Ukraine |
| Region | Northern coast of theSea of Azov |
Native speakers | (20,000 cited 1989 census) 17 villages (2017 estimate)[1] |
| Cyrillic,Greek | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | mari1411 |
| Linguasphere | (?) 56-AAA-ak (?) |
| IETF | pnt-UA |
Mariupol Greek (руме́ку гло́са,IPA:[rʊˈmʲɛkʊˈɣɫosa][3][4]), also known asCrimean Greek andTauro-Romaic[5] (fromGreek:Ρωμαίικα, "Romaic";Ukrainian:Румейська мова,romanized: Rumejska mova), is aGreek variety spoken by theethnic Greeks living along the northern coast of theSea of Azov, in southeastern Ukraine; the community itself is referred to as Azov Greeks.
Although Mariupol Greek, along with theUrum language, remained the main language spoken by the Azov Greeks well into the 20th century, currently it is used by only a small part ofUkraine's ethnic Greeks.[6]
TheCrimean peninsula was Greek-speaking for more than two and a half thousand years as a part of theancient Greek colonies and of theByzantine Empire.Greek city-states began establishingcolonies along theBlack Sea coast ofCrimea in the 7th or 6th century BC.[7] The majority of these colonies were established byIonians from the city ofMiletus inAsia Minor.[8] After theFourth Crusade's sacking ofConstantinople fragmented the Byzantine Empire, Crimea became a principality within the GreekEmpire of Trebizond. When that state, which was centered on the eastern Black Sea coast andPontic Alps of northeasternAnatolia, fell to the Ottomans in 1461, the Crimean Greek principality (Principality of Theodoro) remained independent, becoming subject to the Ottomans in 1475. The beginning of large-scale settlement of Greeks in thesteppe region north of theSea of Azov dates to theRusso-Turkish War (1768–74), whenCatherine the Great of Russia invited Greeks ofCrimea toresettle to recently conquered lands (including foundingMariupol) to escape persecution in the then Muslim-dominated Crimea.[9]
Due to the centuries living underTatar andTurkish rule, many of the Greeks no longer spoke the Greek language; thus the community was divided into the Greek-speakingRumeis and the Turkic-speakingUrums (seeUrum language).
In the 20th century, Mariupol Greek was the Greek dialect used by most Greek-speaking villages in the North Azov Sea Coast region. There are about 17 villages that speak this language today. Modern scholars distinguish five subdialects of the variety according to their similarity to standardModern Greek.
Mariupol Greek is not the only Greek variety spoken in the northern Azov regions: the village ofAnadol speaksPontic proper, being settled from thePontos in 1826.[10]
Mariupol Greek is often described as aPontic dialect. According to modern researchers, the situation is not so simple: arguments can be made for the language's similarity both to Pontic Greek and toNorthern Greek dialects. In the view of Maxim Kisilier, while Mariupol Greek shares some features with both Pontic Greek and Northern Greek dialects, it is better considered on its own terms, as a separate Greek dialect, or even a group of dialects.[10]
In the 1920s, an alphabet based onGreek Alphabet was developed for Mariupol Greek. In many ways, it was similar to thePontic Greek alphabet and had the following form:[11]
| Α α | Β β | Γ γ | Δ δ | Ε ε | Ζ ζ | Θ θ | Ι ι | Κ κ | Λ λ | Μ μ |
| Ν ν | Ο ο | Π π | Ρ ρ | Σ σ,ς | Τ τ | Υ υ | Φ φ | Χ χ |
In 1969A. A. Beletsky developed a new version of the Mariupol Greek alphabet, this time based on the Cyrillic alphabet. In 1973, this alphabet was first used in print and has been regularly used ever since. This alphabet looks as follows:[11]
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гк гк | Д д | Дъ дъ | Е е | Ж ж | Дж дж |
| З з | Дз дз | И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п |
| Р р | С с | Т т | Тъ тъ | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш |
| Ы ы | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
After theOctober Revolution of 1917, a Rumaiic revival occurred in the region. As part of the general policy ofkorenizatsiya, the Soviet administration established a RumaiicMariupol Greek theatre [uk], several magazines and newspaper and a number of Rumaiic language schools. The best Rumaiic poetGeorgis Kostoprav created a Rumaiic poetic language for his work. However, starting in 1926, the Soviet authorities opted to conduct the korenizatsiya more specifically as a policy ofHellenisation, which aimed to transfer the education and cultural life of local Greeks toDimotiki (as used in Greece proper), as opposed to the non-standardised Ukrainian Greek dialects. This approach was controversial and met with difficulties and some resistance.[12] Both of these processes were reversed in 1937 as Kostoprav and many other Rumaiics and Urums were killed as part ofJoseph Stalin's national policies. A large percentage of the population was transported toGulags.[citation needed]
Mariupol Greek became subject of linguistic study in the late 1920s and 1930s, as part of the general program of identifying and describinglanguages of the USSR.[10] However, linguists studying the language became victims of Stalin's repressions by 1937, and the research on the variety did not resume until the 1950s and 1960s.[10]
Scholars of Greek fromKyiv, led byAndriy Biletsky compiled a detailed description of the language and recorded the folklore. As the Azov Greeks had apparently lost literacy in Greek already during the Crimean period of their history, Biletsky developed aCyrillic writing system, based on theRussian andUkrainian Cyrillic for them in 1969.[13][6]
A number of books have been published in the Rumeíka Greek using this Cyrillic orthography. Besides native works, they included translations of theLay of Igor's Campaign and ofTaras Shevchenko'sKobzar.[6]
A new attempt to preserve a sense of ethnic Rumaiic identity started in the mid-1980s. Though a number of writers and poets make use of the Cyrillic alphabet, the population of the region rarely uses it; the majority of self-identified ethnic Greeks of Ukraine now consider Russian their mother language.[6] In early 2000s Mariupol Greek was declining rapidly, most endangered by standard Modern Greek, which is taught in schools and at the local university. Nonetheless, the investigations byAlexandra Gromova demonstrated that there is still hope that elements of the Rumaiic population will continue to use the dialect.[14]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). The work is based on field research in the Greek villages in Mariupolis region. The expeditions were carried out in 2001–2004 and were organised by St. Petersburg State University
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