Greek Dialects from a Balkan Linguistic Areal Perspective. A Contact Linguistic Approach

Abstract

Modern Greek is deeply rooted in the Balkans and thus is generally included in the Balkan Sprachbund. However, until recently, it did not attract much attention in the framework of Balkan studies, except its few varieties which had more or less intense contact with other Balkan languages and could demonstrate some typical areal phenomena generally known as Balkanisms. The Atlas of the Balkan linguistic area (ABLA) database offers new opportunities for comparative examination of the languages in the Balkan area on various linguistic levels, from vocabulary to syntax.

In this paper, we analyze both the contribution of (Modern) Greek to the development of linguistic features spread over the Balkan linguistic area and the impact of Balkanisms on Greek. The data for the research is taken from the ABLA and covers seven varieties of Greek: Standard Modern Greek from Thessaloniki, Northern Chiotic, Cypriot, Tsakonian, Greek of Southern Albania (Dropull), Azov Greek and Pontic from South Russia. All these varieties have different histories (including those pertaining to language contact). They are not fully mutually intelligible and some are also spoken outside the Balkan area.

Our analysis has revealed at least two important facts. First, internal development in a language is often supported with parallel structures from “the outside” which may serve as a trigger. In addition, a number of specific Balkan features may also be found far from the Balkans.