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Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
dialect and often call it ( el, Κατωιταλιώτικα, "Southern Italian") or (), whereas its own speakers call it ( or Calabrian Greek, in Calabria) or (, in Salento). is spoken in Salento while is spoken in Calabria. Griko and
Standard Modern Greek The linguistic varieties of Modern Greek can be classified along two principal dimensions. First, there is a long tradition of sociolectal variation between the natural, popular spoken language on the one hand and archaizing, learned written form ...
are partially
mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...
.


Classification

The most popular hypothesis on the origin of Griko is the one by
Gerhard Rohlfs Gerhard Rohlfs (July 14, 1892 – September 12, 1986) was a German linguist. He taught Romance languages and literature at the universities of Tübingen and Munich. He was described as an "archeologist of words". Biography Rohlfs was born ...
and
Georgios Hatzidakis Georgios Nicolaou Hatzidakis, aka Georgios Nikolaou Chatzidakis ( el, Γεώργιος Νικολάου Χατζιδάκις; , in Myrthios, Ottoman Crete – 28 June 1941, in Athens) was a Greek philologist, who is regarded as the father of ...
, that Griko's roots go as far back in history as the time of the ancient Greek colonies in
Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...
and
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
in the eighth century BC. The Southern Italian dialect is thus considered to be the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed
Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; the ...
. There are, however, competing hypotheses according to which Griko may have preserved some
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
elements, but its structure is otherwise mostly based on
Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
, like almost all other Modern Greek dialects. Thus, Griko should rather be described as a Doric-influenced descendant of
Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...
spoken by those who fled the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
to Italy trying to escape the Turks. The idea of Southern Italy's Greek dialects being historically derived from Medieval Greek was proposed for the first time in the 19th century by Giuseppe Morosi.


Geographic distribution

Two small Italiot Greek-speaking communities survive today in the Italian regions of
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
( Metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria) and
Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...
( Province of Lecce). The Italiot Greek-speaking area of Apulia comprises nine small towns in the Grecìa Salentina region ( Calimera, Martano,
Castrignano de' Greci Castrignano de' Greci (Griko: , ''Kascignàna''; Salentino: ) is a small town and '' comune'' of 4,107 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, southern Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina. The inhabitants of Castrigna ...
, Corigliano d'Otranto, Melpignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Zollino, Martignano), with a total of 40,000 inhabitants. The
Calabrian Greek The Calabrian dialect of Greek, or Bovesia, (including Bova Superiore,
Roghudi Roghudi ( el, label=Calabrian Greek, Ροχούδι, Richùdi, or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Reggio C ...
, Gallicianò, Chorìo di Roghudi and Bova Marina) and four districts in the city of
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
, but its population is significantly smaller, with around only 2000 inhabitants.


Official status

By Law 482 of 1999, the
Italian parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
recognized the Griko communities of Reggio Calabria and Salento as a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established fo ...
and
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
minority. It states that the Republic protects the language and culture of its Albanian,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Germanic,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Slovene and Croat populations and of those who speak
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
, Friulian,
Ladin Ladin may refer to: *Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) *Ladino (disambiguati ...
, Occitan and Sardinian. According to
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
data from 2011, the two dialects of Griko are classified as severely endangered languages.


Culture

There is rich oral tradition and Griko
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...
. Griko songs,
music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
and
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...
are particularly popular in Italy and
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
. Famous music groups from Salento include Ghetonia and Aramirè. Also, influential Greek artists such as Dionysis Savvopoulos and Maria Farantouri have performed in Griko. The Greek musical ensemble Encardia focuses on Griko songs as well as on the musical tradition of Southern Italy at large.


Samples

Sample text from – ("Good night") and , popular Griko songs:


Phonology


See also

*
Hellenic languages Hellenic is the branch of the Indo-European language family whose principal member is Greek. In most classifications, Hellenic consists of Greek alone,Browning (1983), ''Medieval and Modern Greek'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Jose ...
* Calabrian Greek dialect * Griko people


Notes and references


Further reading

* H. F. Tozer. "The Greek-Speaking Population of Southern Italy." '' The Journal of Hellenic Studies.'' Vol. 10 (1889), pp. 11–42.


External links


On the Brink: Griko; A Language of Resistance and Celebration - Cultural Survival

Franco st'AnguriaLo "Schiacúddhi"
Two plays performed in the local Greek dialect of Choriána (Corigliano d'Otranto)
Glossa Grika
o Griko Derentinò (in Griko, Italian, Standard-Greek and French)
Enosi Griko
Coordination of Grecìa Salentina Associations (Italian, Greek and English)
Pos Matome Griko
(in Italian, Greek and English)
Grecìa Salentina
official site (in Italian)
Gaze On The Sea
Salentine Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece (in Italian, Greek and English)


Kalinifta
by Ghetonia
Oria mou rodinedda
folk song of the Griko-speaking communities of southern Italy, by Eleni & Souzana Vougioukli {{Authority control Varieties of Modern Greek Magna Graecia Languages of Apulia Endangered diaspora languages Endangered Indo-European languages Greece–Italy relations