TheSlavic dialects of Greece are theEastern South Slavic dialects ofMacedonian andBulgarian spoken byminority groups in the regions ofMacedonia andThrace in northern Greece. Usually, dialects inThrace are classified asBulgarian, while the dialects inMacedonia are classified asMacedonian, with the exception of some eastern dialects which can also be classified asBulgarian. Before World War II, most linguists^[2] considered all of these dialects to beBulgarian dialects.^[3][4][5][6] However, other linguists opposed this view and considered Macedonian dialects as comprising an independent language distinct from both Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

The continuum ofMacedonian andBulgarian is spoken today in the prefectures ofFlorina andPella, and to a lesser extent inKastoria,Imathia,Kilkis,Thessaloniki,Serres andDrama.^[12]

According to Riki van Boeschoten, the Slavic dialects of Greek Macedonia are divided into three main dialects (Eastern, Central and Western), of which theEastern dialect is used in the areas ofSerres andDrama, and is closest toBulgarian, the Western dialect is used inFlorina andKastoria, and is closest toMacedonian, theCentral dialect is used in the area betweenEdessa andSalonica and is an intermediate between Macedonian and Bulgarian.^[13][14] Trudgill classifies certain peripheral dialects in the far east of Greek Macedonia as part of theBulgarian language area and the rest asMacedonian dialects.^[15]Victor Friedman considers thoseMacedonian dialects, particularly those spoken as west asKilkis, to be transitional to the neighbouring South Slavic language.^[16]

Macedonian dialectologistsBožidar Vidoeski andBlaže Koneski considered the easternMacedonian dialects to be transitional toBulgarian, including theMaleševo-Pirin dialect.^[17][18]

Bulgarian dialectologists claim all dialects and do not recognize the Macedonian. They divideBulgarian dialects mainly into Eastern and Western by aseparating isogloss(dyado, byal/dedo, bel "grandpa, white"(m., sg.)) stretching fromSalonica to the meeting point ofIskar andDanube, except for the isolated phenomena of theKorcha dialect as an of Eastern BulgarianRup dialects in the western fringes.^[19]

Thenasal vowels are absent in all Slavic dialects except for the dialects ofMacedonian in Greece and theLechitic dialects (Polabian,Slovincian,Polish andKashubian).^[20] This, along with the preservation of the paroxitonic in theKostur dialect and Polish, is part of a series ofisoglosses shared with the Lechitic dialects, which led to the thesis of agenetic relationship between Proto-Bulgarian and Proto-Macedonian with Proto-Polish and Proto-Kashubian.^[21]

TheOld Church Slavonic language, the earliest recorded Slavic language, was based on theSalonica dialects.^[22] Church Slavonic, long-used as a state language further north in East and West Slavic states and as the only one inWallachia andMoldavia until the 18th century,^[23] influenced other Slavic languages on all levels, includingmorphonology andvocabulary.^[24] 70% of Church Slavonic words are common to all Slavic languages,^[25] the influence of Church Slavonic is especially pronounced inRussian, which today consists of mixed native and Church Slavonicvocabulary.

A series of ethnological and pseudo-linguistic works were published by three Greek teachers, notably Boukouvalas and Tsioulkas, whose publications demonstrate common ideological and methodological similarities. They published etymological lists tracing every single Slavic word toAncient Greek with fictional correlations, and they were ignorant of the dialects and the Slavic languages entirely.^[26] Among them, Boukouvalas promoted an enormous influence of theGreek language on a Bulgarian idiom and a discussion about their probable Greek descent.^[26] Tsioulkas followed him by publishing a large book, where he "proved" through an "etymological" approach, that these idioms are a pureAncient Greek dialect.^[26] A publication of the third teacher followed, Giorgos Georgiades, who presented the language as a mixture of Greek, Turkish and other loanwords, but was incapable of defining the dialects as either Greek or Slav.^[26]

Serbian dialectology does not usually extend the Serbian dialects to Greek Macedonia, but an unconventional classification has been made byAleksandar Belić, a convinced Serbian nationalist, who regarded the dialects asSerbian.^[26] Inhis classification he distinguished three categories of dialects in Greek Macedonia: a Serbo-Macedonian dialect, a Bulgaro-Macedonian territory where Serbian is spoken and a Non-Slavic territory.

After the conclusion of theFirst World War a widespread policy of Hellenisation was implemented in the Greek region of Macedonia.^[27][28][29] Personal and topographic names were forcibly changed to their Greek versions.^[30] Cyrillic inscriptions across Northern Greece were removed from gravestones and churches.^[30][31] Under the regime ofIoannis Metaxas a law was passed banning theBulgarian language.^[32][33] Many people who broke the rule were deported,^[34] or arrested, and beaten.^[28] During theCold War cases of discrimination against people who spoke in local dialects had been reported. In 1959 the inhabitants of three villages adopted a 'language oath', renouncing their Slavic dialect on the initiative of local government officials.^[35] After thefall of Communism the issue has continued. In 1994 report by theHuman Rights Watch, Greece implemented a program, which refuses the teaching of any Slavic language. The Greek state continues to exclude the Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia from operating TV-, or radio-stations in local Slavic.^[36] As result per Christian Voss in the Western and Central areas of Greek Macedonia is visible the typical situation oflanguage shift and decreased proficiency from the Slavic vernacular to Greek as follows: "Households with almost monoglot Slavic-speaking grandparents, bilingual parents, and monoglot Greek-speaking children with a passive knowledge of Slavic." On the other hand, inEastern Macedonia are a symptoms of full assimilation, which led to alanguage death.^[37]

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Some of theRup dialects of theBulgarian language are spoken by thePomaks inWestern Thrace in Greece. These dialects are native also inBulgaria, and are classified as part of theSmolyan subdialect.^[39] Not all Pomaks speak this dialect as their mother language.^[40] It is generally qualified by Bulgarian researchers as an "archaic dialect" with some conservative features, which bear witness to an intermediate state of transition from Old Bulgarian/Old Church Slavonic to the modern Bulgarian language.^[41]

Under the 1920Treaty of Sèvres, Greece had agreed to open schools for minority-language children. In September 1924 Greece also agreed to aprotocol with Bulgaria to place itsSlavic-speaking minority under the protection of theLeague of Nations asBulgarians. However, theGreek parliament refused to ratify the protocol due to objections from Serbia, and from Greeks who considered the Slavic-speakers to be Greeks rather than Slavic people.^[42] Vasilis Dendramis, the Greek representative in the League of the Nations, stated that the Macedonian Slav language was neither Bulgarian, nor Serbian, but an independent language. The Greek government went ahead with the publication in May 1925 of theAbecedar, described by contemporary Greek writers as a primer for "the children of Slav speakers in Greece ... printed in the Latin script and compiled in the Macedonian dialect."^[43] The book's publication sparked controversy inGreek Macedonia, along withBulgaria andSerbia. The Bulgarians and Serbs objected to the book being printed inLatin alphabet.^[44] In January 1926, the region ofFlorina saw extensive protests by Greek and pro-Greek Slavic speakers campaigning against the primer's publication, demanding the government change its policies on minority education.^[45] As a result, although some books reached villages in Greek Macedonia, it was never used in their schools.^[42]

After theTito–Stalin split in 1948, under the auspices of some Macedonian intellectuals inBucharest, anti-Yugoslav alphabet, grammar, and primer closer to Bulgarian, purported to be "purified" of the Serbo-Croatian loanwords of the "language of Skopje" were created.^[46][47] TheCommunist Party of Greece led byNikos Zahariadis took the side of theCominform. After the defeat of communists in theGreek Civil War in 1949, a hunt forTitoist spies began in the midst of Greek political immigrants - civil war refugees, living in socialist countries in Eastern Europe. As a result, the Greek communist publisher "Nea Ellada" issued a Macedonian grammar (1952) and developed a different alphabet. Between 1952 and 1956, the Macedonian Department of Nea Hellas published a number of issues in this literary standard, officially called "Macedonian language of the Slavomacedonians from Greek or Aegean Macedonia". This failed attempt of codification included the Ъ, Ь, Ю, Я, Й and was proclaimed as "non-serbianised." However, it was merely a form of Bulgarian.^[48] This codification did not gain widespread acceptance.^[49] The Soviet-Yugoslav rapprochement from the mid-1950s probably helped to put this codification to an end.^[47] The grammar was prepared by a team headed by Atanas Peykov.^[50] Atanas Peykov himself came to Romania from Bulgaria, where until 1951 he had worked at theInformbureau ofHellas Press. The Aegean Macedonian norm made some Aegean emigrants unable to adopt the Macedonian standard language in Yugoslavia, where many of them settled.^[47]

The MacedonianGreek Civil War refugees in Australia issued aMakedonska Iskra (Macedonian Spark). It was the first Macedonian newspaper published in Australia, from 1946 to 1957. The Makedonska Iskra was also thrown into confusion by the expulsion of Yugoslavia from theCominform.^[51] The newspaper was printed in theLatin alphabet. Its articles were not in standard Macedonian but in local Slavic dialects of Greece. Some of the Slavic texts were in mixed Bulgaro-Macedonian language or were written inBulgarian language.^[52] A monthly with national distribution, it commenced in Perth and later moved to Melbourne and Sydney.

In Greece, attempts to write thePomak language in formal publications have been criticized because their script, whether it was in Greek or in Latin. Since the 1990s several publications in Pomak dialect have been issued using either script. Some criticisms to these publications were related to their funding sources. For example, by the cases using theGreek script, two volumes of a textbooks were printed in 2004. Their author was Nikos Kokkas and publisherPakethra. Its funding was provided by a Greek businessman and directly through his company. The preface of a Pomak primer presents it as one of the "lesser-spoken languages" of Europe.^[53] The use of Pomak in writing is very limited. It is even not used in the local Pomak newspaper "Zagalisa", that is published in Greek. Recently, the use of Pomak is preferred in a new local newspaper "Natpresh". Pomak is not being actively promoted by either Pomak communities or by Greek authorities. The result is a strong language shift in Greece towards Turkish.^[41]

• Centre for the Macedonian Language in Greece
• Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia
• Eastern South Slavic
• Fallmerayer's Greek theory

• Trudgill P. (2000) "Greece and European Turkey: From Religious to Linguistic Identity" inLanguage and Nationalism in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
• Iakovos D. Michailidis (1996) "Minority Rights and Educational Problems in Greek Interwar Macedonia: The Case of the Primer 'Abecedar'".Journal of Modern Greek Studies 14.2 329–343[2]

• Dialectial dictionary of the Oschima speech of the Lerin dialect

• Bulgarian language
• Macedonian language
• Languages of Greece

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