Benutzer:Frente/Kretischer Dialekt

Wie in ganz Griechenland ist auf Kreta Neugriechisch die offizielle Sprache, die von Einheimischen allerdings in der Variante des kretischen Dialektes gesprochen wird, in ländlichen Gebieten auch noch von der jüngsten Generation. Noch gibt es ältere Menschen, die nur den Dialekt sprechen wohingegen die meisten nach den 1950er Jahren geborenen auch Standardgriechisch sprechen können.

Da die Neugriechische Sprache nicht so stark in verschiedene Dialekte gespalten wie zum Beispiel die englische, deutsche oder italienische stellt dies in Griechenland eine Besonderheit dar, die von Festlandsgriechen gerne auch karikierend aufgegriffen wird (oft mit Bezug auf die Schrulligkeit, Rückständigkeit oder Sturrheit der Kreter). Manche lokale kretische Radiosender strahlen ihr Programm fast komplett auf Kretisch aus (z.B. "Erotokritos"), in der Wiedergabe von Erzählungen oder in Gedicht- und Liedbänden wird sich bemüht, auch die Schreibweise soweit möglich dem Dialekt anzupassen.

Auch Ausländern ohne Griechischkenntnisse fällt der Dialekt durch den Austausch des „k“ vor „i“ oder „e“ durch ein italienisch klingendes „tsch“ leicht auf. Örtlich ist auch der Tausch des griechischen "L"-Lautes durch einen dem englischen "r" ähnlichen Laut auffallend (oli (όλοι, alle) → ouri). Im häufigen weiblichen Personalpronomen tis (‚ihr‘) und Wörtern mit ähnlicher Silbenstruktur tritt ein Lautwechsel zu tsi auf, was vor allem mit der vorangestellten Präposition se (‚in, nach, zu‘) zur schwierigen Konsonantenverbindung stsi führt. Daneben enthält das kretische auch viele Wörter, die im Hochgriechischen gar nicht auftauchen (z.B. epa statt edo für ‚hier‘). Stellenweise weicht der kretische Dialekt auch grammatisch vom Standardgriechischen ab, so wird wesentlich häufiger das Augment in unbetoner Stellung beim Verb in den Vergangenheits-Tempora bewahrt (epígena statt pígena).

Schrieb noch der englische Forscher T.A.B. Spratt in seinem Buch Travels and Reseaches in Crete 1865 davon, dass vor allem die weibliche Bevölkerung nur Kretisch aber nicht Griechisch sprach, hat das Geschlechterverhältnis sich heute umgekehrt: Kaum eine ältere Frau kann kein Standartgriechisch aktiv sprechen, doch viele ältere Männer beherrschen es nur passiv.

Der kretische Dialekt ist stärker als das Standard-Neugriechische durch die archaische dorische Variante des Griechischen geprägt. Seine stärkste Ausprägung erfährt der Dialekt in der Sfakia, der ehemals abgeschiedenen Landschaft der Weißen Berge (Lefka Ori). Auch für griechische Muttersprachler ist der kretische Dialekt oft schwer bis gar nicht verständlich. Im Internet sind diverse griechische Webseiten mit Kretisch-Griechischen Wörterlisten zu finden, auch die oben erwähnte Reisebeschreibung von Spratt enthält im Anhang ein ausführliches Wörterbuch, welches den Sprachstand um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts wiedergibt.

Cretan Greek (Cretan dialect — in Greek, Kritikí diálektos – Κρητική διάλεκτος or Kritiká Κρητικά) is a dialect of the Greek language, spoken by more than half a million people in Crete and many thousands in the diaspora.

The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of the Cretan Greeks in the island of Crete, as well as by several thousands of Cretans who have settled in major Greek cities, notably in Athens. In the major centers of the Greek diaspora, the dialect continues to be used by the Cretans, mainly in the United States, Australia, and Germany. In addition, the descendants of many Cretan Muslims who left the island during the 19th and early 20th century continue to use it. In Turkey, they are called Cretan Turks. There is another grouping of Cretan Muslims in the coastal town of Al Hamidiyah, Syrian, and the neighboring territories of Lebanon.

• Palatalisation. Standard Greek has an allophonic alternation between velar consonants ([k], [ɡ], [x], [ɣ]) and palatalised counterparts (([c], [ɟ], [ç], [ʝ]) before front vowels (/i/, /e/). In southern dialects, the palatalisation goes further towards affricates (e.g. [tʃe] vs. 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, among others.^[1]

• inda? versus ti? In Standard Greek, the interrogative pronoun 'what?' is ti. In most of the Aegean Islands (except at its geographical fringe: Rhodes in the south-east, Lemnos, Thasos and the Sporades in the north; and Andros in the west), it is inda.^[2]

Today the Cretan dialect is rarely used in writing. However, Cretan Greeks usually communicate with each other in this dialect. Cretan is not much different from the Greek dialects or Standard Greek, and has a fairly high level of mutual intelligibility. Many organizations of Cretans aim to preserve their culture, including their dialect, and the dialect does not seem to be in danger of extinction. Some academics speculate that Cretan could have become the basis of Modern Standard Greek, given its flourishing history and achievements. According to them, this process was interrupted by the Ottoman conquest in 1669.Vorlage:Fact

Like all other modern Greek dialects except Tsakonian and, to some extent, Griko, Cretan evolved from Koine. Its structure and vocabulary have preserved different features than standard Greek, due to the distance of Crete from the main Greek centers.

There are also influences from other languages. The conquest of Crete by the Arabs in 824 left mainly toponyms. However, Venetian influence proved to be stronger since the island remained under Venetian control for nearly five centuries. To this day, many toponyms, names and words stem from the Venetian language of early modern times, which came to reinforce the Latin influence from antiquity and the early Byzantine Empire. Following the Ottoman conquest of 1669, Turkish words entered the vocabulary of Cretans as well. Borrowings, as usual, are mainly lexical; Arabic, Turkish, and Venetian had little or no effect on grammar and syntax. With the beginning of the 20th century and the evolution of technology and tourism, English, French and German terms are widely used.

Medieval works suggest that Modern Greek started shaping as early as the 10th century, with one of the first works being the epic poem of Digenis Acritas). However, the first literary activity which was important enough to be identified as "modern Greek literature" was done in the Cretan dialect during the 16th century.

Erotokritos is undoubtedly the masterpiece of the Cretan literature, and perhaps the supreme achievement of modern Greek literature. It 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 Cretan literature (15th-17th centuries) used the spoken Cretan dialect. The tendency to purge the language of foreign elements was above all represented by Chortatsis, Kornaros and the anonymous poets of Voskopoula and the Sacrifice of Abraham, whose works highlight the expressive power of the dialect. As dictated by the pseudo-Aristotelian theory of decorum, the heroes of the works use a vocabulary analogous to their social and educational background. It was thanks to this convention that the Cretan comedies were written in a language that was an amalgam of Italicisms, Latinisms and the local dialect, thereby approximating to the actual language of the middle class of the Cretan towns. The time span separating Antonios Achelis, author of the Siege of Malta (1570), and Chortatsis and Kornaros is too short to allow for the formation, from scratch, of the Cretan dialect we see 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 Turkish capture of the island in the 17th century. The ballads of the klephts, 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 Nikos Kazantzakis who was known for his literary contributions mainly written in standard Greek. This paradigm, overall, has helped Kazantzakis to write significant works such as Zorba the Greek and thus establish for himself recognition in various international circles.

1. ↑ Trudgill 2003: 54.
2. ↑ Kontosopoulos 1999.

• Crete
• Modern Greek literature
• History of Crete
• Greek dialects