Tsakonian or Tsaconian (also Tzakonian or Tsakonic, , η τσακωνική διάλεκτος and Tsakonian: , ) is a highly divergent modern variety of Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. Unlike all other extant varieties of Greek, Tsakonian derives from Doric Greek rather than from the Attic–Ionic branch. Although it is conventionally treated as a dialect of Greek, some compendia treat it as a separate language.
Tsakonian is critically endangered, with only a few hundred or a few thousand, mostly elderly, fluent speakers left.
Etymology
The term Tsakonas or Tzakonas first emerges in the writings of Byzantine chroniclers who derive the ethnonym from a corruption of Lakonas, a Laconian/Lacedaemonian (Spartan)—a reference to the Doric roots of the Tsakonian language.
Geographic distribution
thumb|left|Old ethnic map of [[Peloponnese; Tsakonian-speaking areas in blue]]
Tsakonian is found today in a group of mountain towns and villages slightly inland from the Argolic Gulf, although it was once spoken farther to the south and west as well as on the coasts of Laconia (ancient Sparta).
Geographical barriers to travel and communication kept the Tsakonians relatively isolated from the rest of Greece until the 19th century, although there was some trade between the coastal towns. The rise of mass education and improved travel beginning after the Greek War of Independence meant that fluent Tsakonian speakers were no longer as isolated from the rest of Greece. In addition, during the war, the Turkish army drove the Tsakonians east, and as a result, their de facto capital shifted from Prastos to Leonidio, further making the people significantly less isolated. There began a rapid decline in speaker numbers—from an estimated 200,000 fluent speakers to between 200 and 1,000 by 2007.
Dialects
There are three dialects of Tsakonian: Northern, Southern, and Propontis.
The Propontis dialect was spoken in what was formerly a Tsakonian colony on the Sea of Marmara (or Propontis; two villages near Gönen, Vatika and Havoutsi), whose members were resettled in Greece during the 1924 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Propontis Tsakonian was overall grammatically more conservative, but it was also influenced by the nearby Thracian dialects of Greek which were much closer to Standard Modern Greek. The emergence of the Propontis community is either dated to the 13th century settlement of Tsakonians by Emperor Michael VII, explicitly referenced by Byzantine George Pachymeres or around the time of the 1770 Orlov Revolt. For an example of the standardizing Thracian Greek influence, compare the Northern and Southern word for water, ύο (ýo, derived from Ancient Greek ) to Propontic νερέ and Standard νερό (neré, neró).
Of the two mainland dialects of Tsakonian, Southern Tsakonian is spoken in the villages of Melana, Prastos, Vaskina, Tiros, Leonidio, Pragmateftis and Sapounakeika, while Northern Tsakonian is found in Sitena and Kastanitsa. As early as 1971, it became difficult for researchers in the northern villages to find any informants who could offer more than "a few isolated words". The Northern villages were much more exposed to the rest of Greek society, and as a result, according to linguist Nick Nicholas, Northern Tsakonian experienced much heavier Standard Greek lexical and phonological influence, before it began to die out much faster than Southern Tsakonian. It is generally believed that Northern Tsakonian has been influenced by modern Greek and there are indeed some examples where Northern Tsakonian uses "more modern" vocabulary than its Southern counterpart.
Contact
There has always been contact with Koine Greek speakers and the language was affected by the neighboring Greek dialects. Additionally, there are some lexical borrowings from Arvanitika and Turkish. The core, base vocabulary remains recognizably Doric, although experts disagree on the extent to which other true Doricisms can be found. There are only a few hundred, mainly elderly true native speakers living,
Phonological history
Vowels
- A can appear as a reflex of Doric , in contexts where Attic had η and Modern Greek has : αμέρα "day" corresponding to Modern ημέρα "day", κρέφτα "thief" corresponding to Modern κλέφτης .
- Ε > before vowels: e.g. βασιλλία "king" < βασιλέα . This sound change is absent from Propontis Tsakonian. As a result of this sound change in combination with the prior palatalization of and into and , the palatal allophones became phonemic. Minimal pairs example: εννία "nine" from Ancient Greek ἐννέα VS νία "one fem." from Ancient Greek μία.
- O occasionally > : ου(ι)θί < όφις "snake", τθούμα < στόμα "mouth". Final > after coronals and front vowels: όνος > όνε "donkey", πόρος > πόρε "door", γραφτός > γραφτέ "written", χρέος > χρίε , but λύκος > λιούκο "wolf" and θερμόν > σχομό "food".
- Υ Reflected as in most Modern Greek dialects, this was in Doric and in Attic. In Southern and Northern Tsakonian, that was fronted to , and then backed to again. The palatalization of numerous consonants before front vowels that took place right before the backing of to gives the flawed impression that was diphthongized into . Examples: λύκος νύκτα κρύπτων τύ > > λιούκο "wolf" νιούτθα "night" γκρζιούφου "hide (participle)" εκιού "you". As seen from the following equivalent words, <Υ> was never fronted in Propontis Tsakonian, but rather remained : "wolf, "night", "you". Any minor divergences from this model can be attributed to either internal dialectal borrowings or to borrowings from other Hellenic languages such as Maniot Greek or Standard Modern Greek.
- Ω in Ancient Greek (Severe Doric ), regularly goes to : εζού "I" < Ancient Greek ἐγώ , αού "say (participle)" < λαλών . This shift is absent from Propontis Tsakonian.
Consonants
Tsakonian in some words preserves the pre-classical Greek -sound, represented in archaic Ancient Greek inscriptions by the digamma (ϝ). In Tsakonian, this sound has become a fricative : βάννε , corresponding to Ancient ϝαμνός (Attic ἀμνός).
Tsakonian has extensive changes triggered by palatalisation:
- > : κύριος > τζιούρη , occasionally : κεφάλι > τσουφά
- > : αγγίζων > αντζίχου
- > : πηγάδι > κηγάδι
- > : τυρός > κιουρέ , occasionally : τίποτα > τσίπτα , πίτα > πίτσα
- > : Μιχάλης > Ν(ν)ιχάλη
- > : ανοίγων > ανοίντου
- > : ηλιάζων > λιάζου
- > : ρυάκι > ρζάτζι . This sound appears to have been a fricative trill in the 19th century, and survived latterly only in women's usage in Southern Tsakonian. A similar change occurred with palatalised in Polish and Czech.
Word-initial > : *ράφων > σχάφου
Word-final > , which reflects an earlier process in Laconian (rhotacism); in Tsakonian, it is a liaison phoneme: τίνος > τσούνερ
In Southern Tsakonian, is deleted before back and central vowels: λόγος > Northern λόγo , Southern όγo ; λούζων > Northern λούκχου , Southern ούκχου ;
Occasionally > , which appears to reflect an earlier process in Laconian, but in others is retained though the word is absent in Standard Greek: θυγάτηρ > σάτη , but Ancient θύων (Modern equivalent: σφάζω ) > θύου
Tsakonian avoids clusters, and reduces them to aspirated or prenasalised stops and affricates:
- > : δρύας, άνθρωπος, τράγος > τσχούα, άτσχωπο, τσχάο
- > : σπείρων, ιστός, επιάσθη, ασκός, ίσχων > πφείρου, ιτθέ, εκιάτθε, ακχό, ίκχου
- > : ομφαλός, γρονθία, ρύγχος > απφαλέ, γροτθία, σχούκο
- > : ξερός > τσερέ
- > : δάκτυλο, δεχθώ > δάτθυλε, δετθού
- after consonants often goes to : πλατύ, κλέφτης, γλώσσα, αχλάδες > πρακιού, κρέφτα, γρούσα, αχράε
- > : σκορπίος, άρτος, άρκα, πορδή > κχομπίο, άντε, άγκα, πφούντα
In the common verb ending -ζω, > : φωνάζων > φωνιάντου <!-- Is it 'zd' > 'zð' > 'rð' > 'nd'? How come the reflexes of ζ are so varied (nd, z, x)? -->
are added between vowels: μυία, κυανός > μούζα, κουβάνε
often drop out between vowels: πόδας, τράγος > πούα, τσχάο
Prosody
{|
!Original song in Tsakonian!!Latin transcription!!IPA transcription
|-
|<poem>Πουλάτζι ἔμα ἐχα τθὸ κουιβί τσαὶ μερουτέ νι ἔμα ἐχα
ταχίγα νι ἔμα ζάχαρι ποϊκίχα νι ἔμα μόσκο,
τσαί ἁπό τὸ μόσκο τὸ περσού τσαὶ ἁπὸ τὰ νυρωδία
ἑσκανταλίστε τὁ κουιβί τσ' ἑφύντζε μοι τ' αηδόνι.
Τσ' ἁφέγκι νι ἔκει τσυνηγού μὲ τὸ κουιβί τθὸ χέρε.
Ἔα πουλί τθὸν τόπο ντι ἔα τθα καϊκοιτζίαι,
να ἄτσου τὰ κουδούνια ντι νἁ βάλου ἄβα τσαινούρτζα.</poem>
|<poem>Poulátzi éma ékha tʰo kouiví tse merouté ni éma ékha
takhíga ni éma zákhari poïkíkha ni éma mósko
tse apó to mósko to persoú tse apó ta nirodía
eskantalíste to kouiví ts' efíntze mi t' aïdóni.
Ts' aféngi ni éki tsinigoú me to kouiví tʰo khére.
Éa poulí tʰon tópo nti, éa tʰa kaïkitzíe
na átsou ta koudoúnia nti na válou áva tsenoúrtza.</poem>
|<poem></poem>
|}
{|
! Modern Greek!!Latin transcription||IPA transcription (see Modern Greek phonology)
|-
|<poem>Πουλάκι είχα στο κλουβί και μερομένο το είχα.
το τάιζα ζάχαρη και το πότιζα μόσχο
και από τον πολύ τον μόσχο και την μυρωδιά του
εσκανταλίστη και το κλουβί και μου έφυγε τ' αηδόνι
Κι' ο αφέντης το κυνηγάει με το κλουβί στο χέρι:
Έλα πουλί στον τόπο σου, έλα στην κατοικία σου
ν' αλλάξω τα κουδούνια σου να βάλω άλλα καινούργια</poem>
|<poem>Pouláki íkha sto klouví ke meroméno to íkha
to táïza zákhari ke to pótiza móskho
ke apó ton polí ton móskho ke tin mirodiá tou
eskantalísti ke to klouví ke mou éfige t' aïdóni.
Ki' o aféntis to kinigáï me to klouví sto khéri
Éla poulí ston tópo sou, éla stin katikía sou
n' allákso ta koudoúnia sou na válo álla kenoúrgia.</poem>
|<poem></poem>
|}
;English translation
<poem>I had a bird in a cage and I kept it happy
I gave it sugar and wine-grapes
and from the great amount of grapes and their essence,
the nightingale got naughty [possibly means it got drunk] and escaped.
And its master now runs after it with the cage in his hands:
Come my bird back where you belong, come to your house
I will remove your old bells and buy you new ones.</poem>
Phonotactics
Tsakonian avoids consonant clusters, as seen, and drops final and ; as a result, syllable structure tends more to CV than in Standard Modern Greek. (The use of digraphs in tradition spelling tends to obscure this). For instance, ancient "hard" goes to Tsakonian , where can be considered a single phoneme; it is written traditionally with a trigraph as ατσχέ (=atskhe).
Writing system
Traditionally, Tsakonian used the standard Greek alphabet, along with digraphs to represent certain sounds that either do not occur in Demotic Greek, or that do not commonly occur in combination with the same sounds as they do in Tsakonian. For example, the sound, which does not occur in standard Greek, occurs in Tsakonian, and is spelled as σχ (much like German sch). Another sound recalls Czech ř. Thanasis Costakis invented an orthography using dots, spiritus asper, and caron for use in his works, which has been used in his grammar and several other works. That is more like the Czech usage of the háček (such as š). Lastly, unpalatalized n and l before a front vowel can be written double to contrast with a palatalised single letter; essentially the opposite of Spanish ñ and ll (e.g. in Southern Tsakonian ένει "I am", έννι "he is" – the former corresponds to Northern Tsakonian έμι and Standard Greek είμαι ).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="3" s | Transcribing Tsakonian
|-
!Digraphs
!Costakis
!IPA
|-
|σχ
|
|
|-
|τσχ
|
|
|-
|ρζ
|ρζ
|
|-
|τθ
|
|
|-
|κχ
|
|
|-
|πφ
|
|
|-
|τζ
|(Κ) τζ̌ – τζ & τρζ̌ — τρζ<br>(Λ) τζ̌ – τζ
|(K) <br>(L)
|-
|νν
|
|n (not )
|-
|λλ
|λ̣
|l (not )
|-
|}
:Note: (K) is for the northern dialect of Kastanitsa and Sitaina, (Λ) and (L) for the southern which is spoken around Leonidio and Tyros.
Grammar
Tsakonian has undergone considerable morphological changes: there is minimal case inflection.
The present and imperfect indicative in Tsakonian are formed with participles, like English but unlike the rest of Greek: Tsakonian ενεί αού, έμα αού "I am saying, I was saying" ≈ Greek ειμί λαλών, ήμην λαλών.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" | Tsakonian !! rowspan="2" | English
|-
! Masculine !! Feminine !! Neuter
|-
| colspan="3" | Ένει Ení || I am
|-
| colspan="3" | Έσει Esí || you are
|-
| colspan="3" | Έννι Éni || he/she/it is
|-
| colspan="3" | Έμε Éme || we are
|-
| colspan="3" | Έτθε Éthe || you are
|-
| colspan="3" | Είνι Íni || they are
|-
| colspan="3" | Έμα Éma || I was
|-
| colspan="3" | Έσα Ésa || you were
|-
| colspan="3" | Έκη Éki || he/she/it was
|-
| colspan="3" | Έμαϊ Émaï || we were
|-
| colspan="3" | Έτθαϊ Éthaï || you were
|-
| colspan="3" | Ήγκιαϊ Ígiaï || they were
|-
| ένει φερήκχου feríkhou || ένει φερήκχα feríkha || ένει φερήκχουντα ferikhouda || I bring
|-
| έσει φερήκχου feríkhou || έσει φερήκχα feríkha || έσει φερήκχουντα ferikhouda || you bring
|-
| έννι φερήκχου feríkhou || έννι φερήκχα feríkha || έννι φερήκχουντα ferikhouda || he/she/it brings
|-
| colspan="2" | έμε φερήκχουντε feríkhude || έμε φερήκχουντα feríkhuda || we bring
|-
| colspan="2" | έτθε φερήκχουντε feríkhude || έτθε φερήκχουντα feríkhuda || you bring
|-
| colspan="2" | είνι φερήκχουντε feríkhude || έμε φερήκχουντα feríkhuda || they bring
|}
Note that participles change according to the gender of the subject of the sentence.
Tsakonian has preserved the original inflection of the aorist indicative.
{| class="wikitable"
! Tsakonian !! English
|-
|ενέγκα enéga || I brought
|-
|ενέντζερε enédzere || you brought
|-
|ενέντζε enédze || he/she/it brought
|-
|ενέγκαμε enégame || we brought
|-
|ενέγκατε enégate || you brought
|-
|ενέγκαϊ enégaï || they brought
|}
This aorist is the only monolectic tense in Tsakonian. However, Propontis Tsakonian frequently used a periphrasis with the active past participle in place of the aorist. For example, Propontis aγapikó ma meant 'I loved'.
Morphology
Another difference between Tsakonian and the common Demotic Greek dialect is its verb system – Tsakonian preserves different archaic forms, such as participial periphrasis for the present tense. Certain complementisers and other adverbial features present in the standard Modern Greek dialect are absent from Tsakonian, with the exception of the Modern () relativiser, which takes the form () in Tsakonian (note: traditional Tsakonian orthography uses the digraph to represent aspirated ). Noun morphology is broadly similar to Standard Modern Greek, although Tsakonian tends to drop the nominative, final () from masculine nouns, thus Tsakonian for Standard .
Sample texts
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | English
! scope="col" | Modern Greek
! scope="col" | Tsakonian (Greek alphabet)
! scope="col" | Tsakonian (Latin script)
! scope="col" | Tsakonian (Costakis Notation)
|-
|Where is his/her/its room? || Πού είναι το δωμάτιό του/της; || Κιά έννι το όντα σι; || Kiá éni to óda si? ||
|-
|Where is the beach? || Πού είναι η παραλία; || Κιά έννι το περιγιάλλι; || Kiá éni to perigiáli? ||
|-
|Where is the bar? || Πού είναι το μπαρ; || Κιά έννι το μπαρ; || Kiá éni to bar? ||
|-
|Don't touch me there! || Μη μ' αγγίζεις εκεί! || Μη' μ' αντζίζερε όρπα! || Mi m' andzízere órpa! ||
|}
See also
- Tsakonia
Notes
References
Further reading
- Blažek, Václav. "Glottochronological analysis of the Greek lexicon: Modern, Tsakonian, Old and Mycenaean Greek. In: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2010, vol. 15, iss. 1, pp. 17–35.
External links
- Projet Homere (text sample and audio files)
- Tsakonian Bibliography
- The Lord's Prayer in Tsakonian (text sample)
- Church Service in Tsakonian (RealAudio)