| Languages of Greece | |
|---|---|
| Official | Greek (Demotic) |
| Regional | Cretan,Cappadocian,Pontic,Maniot,Thracian,Tsakonian,Yevanic |
| Minority | Albanian,Turkish,Russian,Romani,Bulgarian,Macedonian,Armenian,Aromanian |
| Foreign | English (51%)[1] Italian (23%) German (8.5%) French (8%) |
| Signed | Greek Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | Greek keyboard  |
| Source | European Commission[2] |
The official language ofGreece isGreek, spoken by 99% of the population. In addition, a number of non-official, minority languages and some Greek dialects are spoken as well. The most common foreign languages learned by Greeks are English, German, French and Italian.
Modern Greek language (Νεοελληνική γλώσσα) is the only official language of the Hellenic Republic, and is spoken by some 99.5% of the population — about 11,100,000 people[3] (though not necessarily as a first language).Standard Modern Greek is the officially used standard, but there are several non-official dialects and distinctHellenic languages spoken as well. Regional spoken dialects exist side by side with learned, archaic written forms. All surviving forms of modern Greek, except theTsakonian language, are descendants of the common supra-regional (koiné) as it was spoken in late antiquity. As such, they can ultimately be classified as descendants ofAttic Greek, the dialect spoken in and aroundAthens in the classical era. Tsakonian, an isolated dialect spoken today by a dwindling community in thePeloponnese, is a descendant of the ancientDoric dialect. Some other dialects have preserved elements of various ancient non-Attic dialects, but Attic Koine is nevertheless regarded by most scholars as the principal source of all of them.
Cappadocian Greek (Καππαδοκικά) is aHellenic language originally spoken inCappadocia and since the 1920s spoken in Greece. It has very few speakers and was previously thought to be extinct. The Cappadocians rapidly shifted to Standard Modern Greek and their language was thought to be extinct since the 1960s.
Cretan Greek is spoken by more than 500,000 people on the island ofCrete, as well as in theGreek Diaspora. It is rarely used in written language, and differs much less from Standard Greek than other varieties. The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of theCretan Greeks on the island of Crete, as well as by several thousand Cretans who have settled in major Greek cities, notably in Athens, and in areas settled by Ottoman-era CretanGreek Muslims (the so-calledCretan Turks), such as the town ofAl-Hamidiyah inSyria.
Cypriot Greek (Κυπριακή διάλεκτος) is spoken byGreek Cypriots. In Cyprus about 659,115 (in 2011) spoke the language, and many of them settled in Greek cities. The language is prevalent in many other parts of the world including Australia, Canada and the Americas. The total speakers are about 1.20 million people.
TheManiot Greek dialect (Μανιάτικη διάλεκτος) of the local area ofMani.
Pontic Greek (Ποντιακή διάλεκτος) is aHellenic language originally spoken inPontus and byCaucasus Greeks in theSouth Caucasus region, although now mostly spoken in Greece by some 500,000 people. The linguistic lineage of Pontic Greek stems fromIonic Greek viaKoine andByzantine Greek
TheThracian Greek dialect is spoken mainly inWestern Thrace and by the Greek minority in other areas ofThrace outside theGreek borders, and by greek refugees who came from East Thrace in Macedonia mainly
An archaic dialect of Greek spoken by theSarakatsani ofGreek Macedonia and elsewhere inNorthern Greece, a traditionally transhument, clan-based community of mountain shepherds.
The little-spokenTsakonian language (Τσακωνική διάλεκτος) is used by some in theTsakonia region ofPeloponnese. The language is split into three dialects: Northern, Southern, and Propontis. The language is spoken by 1,200 people.
AJewish dialect of Greek (Ρωμανιώτικη διάλεκτος) spoken by theRomaniotes,Yevanic is almost completely extinct today. There are a total of roughly 50 speakers, around 35 of whom now reside inIsrael. The language may still be used by some elderly Romaniotes inIoannina.
Greek Sign Language (Ελληνική Νοηματική Γλώσσα) is the sign language of the Greek deaf community. It has been legally recognised as the official language of the Deaf Community in Greece and is estimated to be used by about 42,000 signers (12,000 children and 30,000 active adult users) in 1986.
Since the 1990s, large numbers of Albanian immigrants have arrived in Greece, forming the largest immigrant group (443,550 in the 2001 census). Due to immigration, Albanian is considered as one of the widely spoken foreign languages in the country.
Unlike the recent immigrants from Albania, theArvanites are a centuries-old local Albanian-speaking Greek community living in parts of Greece especially in the south. Their language, now in danger of extinction, is known asArvanitika. Their number has been estimated as between 30,000 and 140,000.
Of the 35,000Armenians in Greece today, some 20,000 speak the language.[citation needed][year needed]
TheAromanians, also known asVlachs, are a population group linguistically related toRomanians.Aromanian is anEastern Romance language. It is spoken by the around 250,000Aromanians in Greece.
Megleno-Romanian is aRomance language spoken in Greece andNorth Macedonia. There are roughly 2,500 speakers in Greece.
In Greece,Slavic dialectsheteronomous with standard Bulgarian andMacedonian are spoken; however, the speakers do not all identify their language with their national identity. Some historians consider the local Macedonian dialect as a Bulgarian dialect.[5] Some prefer to identify asdopii and their dialect asdopia which meanlocal orindigenous in Greek.
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 used in the areas ofSerres andDrama is closer toBulgarian, while theCentral dialect used in the area betweenEdessa andSalonica is an intermediate between Macedonian and Bulgarian.[6] In addition, there are an estimated 30,000 native speakers ofBulgarian inWestern Thrace according toEthnologue,[7] where it is referred to asPomak.
Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language, was traditionally spoken by theSephardic community in Greece, particularly in the city ofThessaloniki, where, at their peak percentage, they made up 56% of the population.[8] However, many of Greece's Jews were murdered in World War II, and a large number emigrated to Israel after 1948. It is maintained today by between 2,000 and 8,000 people in Greece.
In the population of 200,000 to 300,000Roma, or Gypsy, people in Greece today, theRomani language is spoken widely. Romani is anIndo-Aryan language similar to many Indian languages, due to the origins of the Roma people in northernIndia. The dialect spoken in Greece (as well as inBulgaria,Albania,North Macedonia,Moldova,Montenegro,Serbia,Romania, parts ofTurkey, andUkraine) is known asBalkan Romani. There are 160,000 Romani speakers in Greece today (90% of the Roma population).[9]
Russian has become widely spoken in Greece, particularly inGreek Macedonia and other parts ofNorthern Greece, mainly by wealthy Russians settled in Greece and Russian speaking economic migrants who went there in the 1990s. Russian is also spoken as a second or third language by manyGeorgians andPontic Greeks fromGeorgia,Ukraine, andRussia who settled in Greece in large numbers in the same period. The older generation ofCaucasus Greeks settled mainly inSalonika,Kilkis and elsewhere inCentral Macedonia in circa 1920 also speak Russian as a second language, as do most Greeks who had settled inCzechoslovakia, theUSSR, and otherEastern Bloc states following theGreek Civil War, returning to Greece mainly in the early 1990s.
Turkish is one of the most widely spoken minority languages in Greece today, with approximately 50,000 to 60,000 speakers. Turkish sources claim that as many as 128,000 people consist the minority group, but this is unlikely. According toEthnologue, in 2014 there were 40,000 Turkish speakers in Greece, including 9,700 native speakers.[10]
These are usually defined asWestern Thrace Turks. Traditionally, there were many more Turkish speakers in Greece, due to thelong period of Ottoman rule. But after theexchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, a much smaller number remain, with even Turkish-speakingGreek Muslims forcibly expatriated to Turkey in 1923. The Turkish-speaking population of Greece is mainly concentrated in the region ofEast Macedonia and Thrace. Turkish speakers also make up a large part of Greece'sMuslim minority.
This refers to the hybrid Greco-Turkish dialect spoken by the so-calledUrums or those who define themselves as Greek from theTsalka (mainlyPontians) region of centralGeorgia and also to the Greco-Tatar dialect spoken by ethnicGreeks in Ukraine and theCrimea. Most speakers of Urum now live in mainlyNorthern Greece, having left Georgia in the 1990s the sold tons of rum, although many of those from Crimea and southeasternUkraine are still living in these areas.[citation needed]
Georgian is widely spoken particularly inThessaloniki and other parts ofGreek Macedonia by economic migrants who settled in Greece in the 1990s. As well as ethnicGeorgians, these include those defined asCaucasus Greeks or ethnicGreeks in Georgia, from especially the south of the country and theTsalka region in the centre.[citation needed]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook (2006 ed.).CIA.
| Official language | |
|---|---|
| Greek varieties | |
| Sign languages | |
| Other languages | |
