Greek
A language of Greece
| Population | 10,700,000 in Greece (2002 census). Population total all countries: 13,084,490. |
| Region | Widespread, especially in Greek Macedonia. Also in Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Canada, Congo, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Macedonia, Malawi, Mozambique, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation (Europe), Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States. |
| Language map |
Greece and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia |
| Alternate names | Ellinika, Graecae, Grec, Greco, Neo-Hellenic, Romaic |
| Dialects | Katharevousa, Dimotiki, Saracatsan. Katharevousa is an archaic literary dialect, Dimotiki is the spoken literary dialect and now the official dialect. The Saracatsan are nomadic shepherds of northern Greece. The Greek of Italy and that of Corsica are probably separate languages (1992 R. Zamponi). In Cyprus, the dialect is reportedly more similar to Classical Greek [grc] in some vocabulary and grammar than that spoken in Greece, and to have many Arabic and Turkish [tur] loanwords. Lexical similarity: 84%–93% with Greek in Cyprus. |
| Classification | Indo-European, Greek, Attic |
| Language use | Official language. |
| Language development | Fully developed. Bible: 1840–1994. |
| Writing system | Cyrillic script, used in Ukraine. Greek script. |
| Comments | Greeks in the Russian Federation and Ukraine speak either Greek or Turkish and are called ‘Urums’. The Karamanli were Orthodox Christian Turks who came from central Turkey. SVO. |
Also spoken in:
Albania
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 60,000 in Albania (1989). |
| Region | South. |
Cyprus
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 689,000 in Cyprus (2002 census). |
| Region | Nearly all in south Cyprus. |
| Language map |
Cyprus |
| Dialects | Cypriot Greek. |
| Language use | National language. |
| Comments | Christian. |
Egypt
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 42,000 in Egypt (2004). |
| Region | Alexandria. |
| Language map |
Egypt and Libya |
France
| Language name | Greek |
| Region | Cargese, Corsica. |
| Dialects | Cargese. |
| Language use | Shifted to French. |
Italy
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 20,000 in Italy (Vincent 1987). |
| Region | South, east of Reggio; Salento (Colimera, Sternatía, Zollino) and Aspromonte (Bova, Condofuri, Palizzi, Roccoforte, Roghudi). |
| Alternate names | Greco |
| Dialects | Salento, Aspromonte. |
| Language use | Mostly older adults. |
Romania
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 4,150 in Romania (2002 census). |
| Language use | The Karakatchan are Romanian nomadic shepherds who speak Greek. |
Turkey (Europe)
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 4,000 in Turkey (1993). |
| Region | Istanbul City. |
| Comments | Nearly all Greeks emigrated from Turkey. There were 1,500,000 in Turkey in 1900. |
Ukraine
| Language name | Greek |
| Population | 7,210 in Ukraine (1970 census). Ethnic population: 106,909. |
| Region | Donetsk Oblast, Mariupol town. 18 villages. |
| Language map |
Ukraine |
| Dialects | Mariupol Greek (Tavro-Rumeic, Crimeo-Rumeic). |
| Language use | Most ethnic Greeks speak Russian as L1. Some speak Urum [uum] (Podolsky 1985). |
Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:
Academic Publications
ALSOP, John R., editor. 1981. An index to the revised Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich lexicon.
BLACK, Cheryl A.; MARLETT, Stephen A., authors. 1996. On generating the Greek noun phrase.
BODINE, Walter R., author. 1999. Celebration of a discipline: On the study of Hebrew and Greek.
FRIBERG, Timothy, author. 1978. The discourse structure of the Greek text of Galatians.
FRIBERG, Timothy, author. 1982. New Testament Greek word order in light of discourse considerations.
GREENLEE, J. Harold, author. 2000. ‘Oτι’ and ‘Iνα’ content clauses.
HARM, Harry J., author. 1983. "Word order in Jude."
LEVINSOHN, Stephen H., author. 1992. Discourse features of New Testament Greek: a coursebook.
LEVINSOHN, Stephen H., author. 2000. Discourse Features of New Testament Greek: A Coursebook on the Information Structure of New Testament Greek.
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MALONE, Terry, author. 1980. The double accusative in Koine Greek: a syntactic study.
MARLETT, Stephen A., author. 1976. Copy-raising in Koine Greek.
MARLETT, Stephen A., author. 1987. Extraction from complement clauses in Koine Greek.
RADNEY, J. Randolph, author. 1988. "Some factors that influence fronting in Koine clauses."
TRAIL, Ronald L., author. 2003. An exegetical study of Revelation 1-11.
UNSETH, Peter, author. 1981. The structure and rhetorical effect of seven questions in Koiné Greek.
WERNER, John, author. 1985. "When is past not past? (the epistolary aorist)."

