Cretan Greek

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Cretan Greek
Κρητική Διάλεκτος
Pronunciation	kritiˈci ðiˈalektos
Native to	Greece
Region	Crete
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Greek Attic–Ionic Demotic Greek Southern dialects Cretan Greek
Writing system	Greek alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	cret1244
Linguasphere	56-AAA-ag
IETF	el-u-sd-grm

Cretan Greek, or the Cretan dialect (Greek: Κρητική Διάλεκτος, [kritiˈci ðiˈalektos]), is a variety of Modern Greek spoken in Crete and by the Cretan diaspora.

Geographic distribution

The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of the Cretan Greeks on the island of Crete, as well as by several thousands of Cretans who have settled in major Greek cities, most notably in Athens. The dialect also survives in the major centers of the Greek diaspora in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

In addition, the descendants of many

Phonology

Standard Greek has an allophonic alternation between velar consonants ([k], [ɡ], [x], [ɣ]) and palatalized counterparts ([c], [ɟ], [ç], [ʝ]) before front vowels (/i/, /e/). In southern dialects, the palatalization goes further towards affricates; for example, [tɕe] is used instead of standard [ce] 'and'). Subtypes can be distinguished that have either palato-alveolar ([tʃ], [dʒ], [ʃ], [ʒ]) or alveolo-palatal sounds ([tɕ], [dʑ], [ɕ], [ʑ]). The former are reported for Cyprus, the latter for Crete and elsewhere.^[3]

Grammar

In Standard Greek, the

.

Usage and settings

Today, the Cretan dialect is rarely used in writing. However, Cretan Greeks normally communicate with each other in speech using this dialect. Cretan does not differ greatly from the other Greek dialects or from Standard Greek, leading to a fairly high level of mutual intelligibility. Many organisations of Cretans aim to preserve their culture, including their dialect; as such, the dialect does not seem to be in danger of extinction.

History

Like all other modern Greek dialects (except

. Its structure and vocabulary have preserved some features that distinguish it from standard Greek, owing to the distance of Crete from other main Greek centers.

Cretan Greek also shows influences from other languages. The

terms became widely used.

Literature

Medieval works suggest that

" comes from the 16th century.

Erotokritos is a romantic work written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). In over 10,000 lines of rhyming fifteen-syllable couplets, the poet relates the trials and tribulations suffered by two young lovers, Erotokritos and Aretousa, daughter of Heracles, King of Athens. It was a tale that enjoyed enormous popularity among its Greek readership.

The poets of the period of

(1570), and Chortatsis and Kornaros is too short to allow for the formation, from scratch, of the Cretan dialect that is seen in the texts of the latter two. The only explanation, therefore, is that the poets at the end of the sixteenth century were consciously employing a particular linguistic preference – they were aiming at a pure style of language for their literature and, via that language, a separate identity for the Greek literary production of their homeland.

The flourishing Cretan school was all but terminated by the

, however, survive from the 18th century; these are the songs of the Greek mountain fighters who carried on guerrilla warfare against the Turks.

Many Greek authors have integrated Cretan literary elements in their respective works. Among these authors were

– set in 19th-century Crete – is notable for using many Cretan Greek words and idioms; the book's popularity making them widely known to other Greeks.

See also

• Modern Greek literature
• History of Crete

References