Grekelin
| Grekelin | |
|---|---|
| A gnudzsa Grekelenikin | |
| Created by | Aggelos Tselios |
| Date | 2023 |
| Native to | Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia |
| Ethnicity | Greeks |
| Native speakers | approx. 100 thousand (2023) |
Early forms | |
Standard form | Standard Modern Grekelin
|
Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in | Vojvodina |
| Regulated by | Grekelin Language Administration |
Grekelin (Autoglossonym: Grekelenikin, pronounced: [grɛ.kɛ.ˈɫɛ.ni.kin], lit. "The Grekelin language") is a Hellenic language spoken in Vojvodina, Southern Hungary and some isolated villages of Slovakia. Grekelin is a descendant of Medieval Greek, from whom it split in the late 11th century with the mass settlement of Hungary by Greek refugees following the Seljuk Turks' raids. For the largest part of its existence, Grekelin was mostly a spoken language, and the language began systematically being written down around the 19th century (From where it gained it's modern orthography by Catholic priests and scholars). Due to its low social prestige, most of its educated speakers preferred writing in Latin or Hungarian (Also Koine before the Catholicisation of the Grekelin-speaking people) and few texts were written until then in Grekelin, most of which used the Greek script instead (See Old Grekelin), leading to multiple archaisms appearing within the language (Eg. Greek and most Greek dialects use the verb "Φτιάχνω" /ˈftia.xno/ whereas Grekelin uses the verb "Peio" (pʲɪ̯o) from Ancient Greek "ποιέω/ποιώ").
As a related language to Greek, Grekelin shares with Modern Greek and its dialects multiple features and cognates. The language, although officially having a free word order, has become an SOV one (As opposed to most Indo-European languages which are SVO) due to extensive Hungarian influence. It's core vocabulary has remained Greek however many Hungarian words can be found often in the language (Especially those relating to law and government), due to the strong adstratum formed by Hungarian (Though, due to geography, the Slavic dialect got its name from its stronger Slavic influence). Grekelin is the most isolated Hellenic language currently in the entire world, with about 1200 kilometers separating it from the closest Greek speaking territory.
Etymology
Grekelin comes from the Latin word Graeco, which means Greek. The suffix -lin comes from Proto-Grekelin "Hellin" which is the ethnonym for the Greeks. Another legend says that Grekelin was a very old Slavic word to describe the Greeks of the Black Sea, during the Kievan Rus times. It appears that the surname Grekelin exists in Ukrainian and Belarusian (Грекелін).
Phonology
Grekelin's phonology is extensively influenced by Hungarian, and, in the Slavic dialect, by other Slavic languages. The accent varies depending on the location, so this is the standard Grekelin phonology that is used in education and formal speech:
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Place of Articulation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | |
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | |||
| Stop | /b/ /p/ | /d/ /t/ | /c/ /ɟ/ | /ɡ/ /k/ | ||
| Affricate | /ʥ/ /ʨ/ | |||||
| Fricative | /f/ /v/ | /s/ | /ɕ/ /ʑ/ | /ç/ | /x/ | |
| Approximant | /j/ | |||||
| Trill | /r/ | |||||
| Lateral approximant | /l/ /ɫ/ | /ʎ/ | ||||
| Height | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | ||
| High | /i/ | /y/ | /u/ |
| High-mid | (/ø/)* | /o/ | |
| Low-mid | /ɛ/ | ||
| Low | /ɑ/ | ||
* Although it only appears in Hungarian or German loanwords, it is often written down using "ö", so people that write the language consider it a native sound. It is considered more of a marginal phoneme.
Grekelin palatalizes (ʲ) many consonants that would otherwise use a palatal version of themselves. When a fricative is followed by /i/, /e/ or /ø/, the preceding consonant becomes its palatal allophone, referred in Grekelin as "lowering" (katizma). If followed by any other vowel and the consonant is labial, alveolar plosive or alveolo-palatal , the previous consonant is palatalized, eg pano [ˈpʲɑno]. Palatalization is not a contrastive or grammatical feature, but only a feature of the Grekelin accent.
Although Grekelin does have diphthongs, they appear rarely and usually merge into one vowel when realized. Most of these diphthongs are not inherited from Greek directly, but developed on their own over the centuries.
| Written diphthong | Common realization | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ai /ɑi̯/ | [ɑː] | fair [fɑːr̩] (Just person) |
| oi /oi̯/ | [y] | anoigyo [aˈnyɟo] (I open) |
| ui /ui̯/ | [uː] | fui [fuː] (Child) |
| eu /ɛu̯/ | [ɛv] | euckola [ˈevkoɫa] (Easily) |
| au /ɑu̯/ | [ɑv] or [aw] | gaunna [ˈgawna] (Tall mountain) |
Grekelin does not favor consonant clusters, often using metathesis to break them apart. The only exception are affricates since they are considered a single sound in Grekelin.
Although not written, the final consonant (If the word ends with a consonant) always becomes devoiced in colluquial speech.
Alphabet and Orthography
The Grekelin alphabet consists of 24 letters, six of which are vowels and 18 are consonants.
| Letters of the Grekelin alphabet | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa (/ɑ/) | Bb (/b/) | Cc (/t͡s/) | Dd (/d/) | Ee (/ɛ/) | Ff (/f/) | Gg (/g/) | Hh (/x/) | Yy (/y/)[3] | Ii (/i/) | Kk (/k/) | Ll (/ɫ/) | Mm (/m/) | Nn (/n/) | Οο (/o/) | Pp (/p/) | Rr (/r/) | Ss (/s/) | Jj (/j/) | Tt (/t/) | Uu (/u/) | Vv (/v/) | Zz (/z/) | |
The letters correspond always to their pronunciation. The Grekelin orthography is considered a phonetic, as opposed to deep orthographies like French's. In addition, the following digraphs are used within the language:
| Digraphs in Grekelin orthography | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ei (When behind a consonant or ο, it makes the /ji/ sound) | Chs (Makes the /ks/ sound) | Zs (Makes the /ʑ/ sound) | Sz (Makes the /ɕ/ sound) |
The Grekelin orthography was (yet again) reformed recently, as part of a larger reform within the conlang. As a result, some texts that preexisted on the internet may not comply with the modern form of the language.
Grammar
The grammar of Grekelin is generally very simple and consistent. It is very conservative compared to Greek (Or dialects of it), eg. by retaining the old imperative. The most outstanding feature would probably be that of vowel harmony, which is found at least in both the standard and slavic dialects, and possibly evolved from the extensive Hungarian adstratum.
Articles
Grekelin has both indefinite and definite articles, which are inflected exclusively based on the number and the noun ending.
| Ending | Definite Article | Indefinite Article | Plural Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| -i noun ending | E /ε/ | eni /ˈɛɳi/ | Ek /ek/ |
| Other noun endings | To /to/ | en /ɛɳ/ | Ta |
Cases
Grekelin has 4 cases: Nominative, genitive, accusative and vocative. In the Slavic dialect, another case exists, the dative case. Remember that Grekelin has developed vowel harmony in the language so while the endings here are influenced by the nearby vowels, other words may have different inflections.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | To gnudzsa | Ta gnudzsuk |
| Genitive | Ca gnudzsus | Co gnudzsun |
| Accusative | Ecs gnudzsa | Ecs gnudzsuk |
| Vocative | O gnudzsa | Oh gnudzse |
Nouns ending in -i are slightly different but overall not very hard:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | E kukli | Ek kukliok |
| Genitive | Ci kuklu | Co kuklun |
| Accusative | Ecs kuklí | Ecs kuklun |
| Vocative | Oh kuklí | Oh kuklíe |
Verbs
Verbs in Grekelin have tense, number and voice inflection. For this reason, they are highly irregular yet they carry much more information than English verbs. Here is the verb "peio" (To create, make) inflected by voice and number:
| Singular | Plural | Passive (Singular) | Passive (Plural) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Peió | Peiómen | Epeióme | Epeiómetta |
| 2nd person | Peié | Peiéte | Peióse | Epeiósase |
| 3rd person | Peiei | Peíanda | Peiándande | Epeiándande |
A tense inflection table (Grekelin has 4 tenses: Present, Aorist, and Future. One interesting feature that is inherited all the way from PIE is the ablaut system which is used especially in the past tenses instead of suffixes.
| Present | Aorist | Imperfect | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Peió | Ipeia | Ipeiamane | Enna Peiso |
| 2nd person | Peié | Ipeiate | Ipeiate | Enna Peise |
| 3rd person | Peiei | Ipeiande | Ipeian | Enna Peisei |
| 1st plural person | Peiómen | Ipeiamen | (Same as past perfect) | Enna peiomen |
| 2nd plural person | Peiéte | Ipeiande | (Same as past perfect) | Enna peiete |
| 3rd plural person | Peíen | Ipeiane | (Same as past perfect) | Enna peien |
Additional tenses (Such as the perfect and the pluperfect and many others) are often found especially in colloquial speech, in a way similar to English (Standard Ipeia (I made) vs Colloquial Peio eo (I have made), literally "I made I have").
Geographic Distribution and Demographics
Grekelin today has about 100 thousand speakers, spread out in Hungary, Serbia and a tiny minority in Slovakia. It forms the majority language in villages of North Banat and some spread out parts of Slovakia. It forms a significant language in Hungary (where the standard dialect evolved too). The populations of Serbia and Slovakia speak the Slavic dialect whereas the Hungarian population speaks the Standard dialect, although the dialect does not change by the border.
Evolution
Vowels
Grekelin preserved all Medieval Greek vowels (Thanks to shared phonology with Hungarian). Depending on the dialect, vowel length did evolve (Usually where the stress fell), however Standard Grekelin does not enforce vowel length distinction in any vowel. ('íosz' (son) and 'iosz' (death) are the same except for the first vowel, which is a long one in son).
One of the most common evolutions in both Grekelin and Greek dialects is raising the unstressed [o] into a [u].
Consonants
Many consonants underwent a very regular but much more extensive evolution found in most Greek dialects, called Tsitakismos, where /k/ and /c/ are palatalized. Modern Grekelin further merged many consonants and clusters in words into /d͡ʑ/, such as /ks/, /z/, /n/, /k/ and /ɣ/. /l/ became entirely /ɫ/, something only common in Macedonia then. Finally, in Old Grekelin, if the preceding letter was a consonant, /v/ became /β/. Metathesis is very common in the language too, as consonant clusters are often split apart eg. Greek Αλεύρι vs Grekelin Alevir.
Many fricatives were lost in Grekelin, becoming their plosive counterpart. This is one of the ways to distinguish a Greek and a Grekelin word. Compare the word "generous" in both languages:
Greek: Γενναιόδωρος (/ɣe.ne.ˈo.ðo.ɾos/)
Grekelin: Geneodorra (/gɛ.nɛ.o.ˈdo.ra/)
Grammar
Grekelin melted down much of Greek grammar, including the deletion of genders and moods. In addition, Grekelin is slowly turning from a fusional language to an agglutinative one:
- Greek: Είδα τους ανθρώπους
- Grekelin: Ta leottek ivlia (Literally "The humans I saw")
Words
Numbers
| English | Grekelin | Pronunciation (IPA) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Miden | [miˈdɛn] |
| 1 | Jena | [ˈjɛna] |
| 2 | Djo | [dʲo] |
| 3 | Tria | [ˈtria] |
| 4 | Tessera | [ˈtɛssera] |
| 5 | Pend | [pɛnd] |
| 6 | Jechs | [jɛks] |
| 7 | Jefta | [jɛˈftɑ] |
| 8 | Juhto | [juˈxto] |
| 9 | Enya | [ɛˈɲɑ] |
| 10 | Decka | [ˈdɛcka] |
Conversation
| English (Egzlezikin) | Grekelin (Grekelenikin) | Pronunciation (IPA) |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Ne | /nɛ/ |
| No | Uk | /uk/ |
| Hello! | Dzsóvorzo! (Formal) / Gya! (Informal) | /'d͡ʑovorzo/ /ɟɑː/ |
| Good morning! | Dzso regetti! | /d͡ʑo rɛ.ˈgɛ.ti/ |
| Good night! | Dzso niktrá! | /d͡ʑo nik'trɑ/ |
| Have a nice day! | Eis dzsódοla sei! | /jis 'd͡ʑodolɑ si/ |
| Goodbye! | Visondlataszra | /'visontɭatɑːɕr̩a/ |
| Thank you! | Dzsómmo! | /ˈd͡ʑomo/ |
| Who? | Pkios? | /pki̯os/ |
| What? | Tí? | /ti/ |
| When? | Pónte? | /ˈpo.ndɛ/ |
| Where? | Pe? | /pɛ/ |
| How? | Posz? | /ˈpoɕ/ |
| Why | Dzatti? | /'d͡zɑti/ |
| Again | Urá | /uˈrɑ/ |
| What is your name? | Ti entá a nóma sei? | /ti ɛnˈta ɑ ˈno.mɑ sʲi/ |
| My name is... | A nóma mei entá ...' | /ɑ ˈno.ma mʲi enˈtα/ |
| Do you speak English? | Relalíte eís echslézikin? | /rɛ.ɫɑˈɫ̩ite jis ɛkˈɫɛ.zikiŋ/ |
| I do not understand Grekelin. | Uk nyó a gnúdzsa Grekelénikin. | /uk ɲo ɑ ˈɡnud͡ʑɑ ɡrɛˈkɛ.ɫɛnikin/ |
| Help me! | Woíttya! | /ˈvoˈitʲɑ/ |
| How much is it? | Pószo entá? | /ˈpoɕo ɛnˈtɑ/ |
| The study of Grekelin sharpens the mind. | Mattkiszi ci Grekelenikis peia a essa kovtoérta. | /'matkisi t͡si grɛkɛˈɫɛ.nikis pjɑ α ˈɛ.sɑ kovtoˈɛr.ta/ |
| Where are you from? | Pe éste ecs szÿ? | /pɛ ˈɛste ɛt͡ɕ ɕy/ |
Dialects
Grekelin has three dialects, depending on where each is or was spoken. Every dialect has its own subdialects (See Old Grekelin#Dialects) however these will not be considered since they mostly vary on pronunciation, similar to the English accents.
Slavic Dialect
The Slavic dialect ("Dialekti Slavinki", "/djɑˈɫɛ.kti sɫɑvin/" or Dialekta Slavinci "/dʲaˈlʲektʲa slɑˈvʲint͡ɕi/") can be distinguished by some certain features that aren't present in Standard Grekelin:
- 'i', 'e' and 'a' often palatalize the previous consonant (Similar to Russian's soft and hard consonant system).
- Raising of the unstressed 'e' into 'i': [reˈɟeti] -> [riˈɟʲetʲi]
- Preservation of the Medieval Greek /ɣ/ sound (As an allophone of the previously developed /ħ/ from the same sound)
- Increased amount of Slavic-origin words
The Slavic dialect is used primarily in Vojvodina (Serbia), where it developed from the beginning, though traces of it are found all the way to Ukraine, from the former dialect continuum that existed (See Old Grekelin).
Western (Extinct)
A more archaic and richer dialect is Western Grekelin, which developed out of the Old Grekelin's Western dialect, once spoken near the border with Austria. While not as diversified as the Slavic dialect, it remains a very interesting one for research (Being the only other dialect of Grekelin by that point). The following are the changes to have taken place by the 18th century, excluding all changes in the original Western Old Grekelin:
- Raising /a/ to /y/ in certain conditions
- Preservation of the Medieval Greek /ɣ/ sound ([ɑˈgi.ɑ.sin] -> [ɑˈɣiɑsi])
- Complete loss of /ɕ/ as a sound
- Preservation of the word-final /s/ (Which was lost early in all other Old Grekelin dialects)
- Nasalization of /a/ and its allophone /ɑ/ into /ã/ and /ɑ̃/ respectively, and /i/ to /ĩ/ as well.
- No vowel harmony (The dialect was not as influenced by Hungarian so it never developed vowel harmony like the other dialects)
Example texts
Basic sentence
English
I would like a coffee and biscuits, thank you.
Grekelin
(Go) tílko eni kave kia biszkotek, dzommo.
UN Human Rights Declaration, Article 1
English:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Grekelin:
Padi leleottek leleszterek kia memisek vevortamek eis meltosagi kia jogatek. Demdorizandek mi eszeli kia siníndisi, kiá prépi ná ecsinálamek en eís allila eis en selemi ca adérfiktas.
[ˈpa.di lɛlɛˈo.tɘk lɛˈlɛɕtɛˌrɛk kʲa meˈmiɕɛk vɛˈvortamɛk jis ˈmɛlto.ˌsagi kia ˈjogatɛk ‖ demˈdorizaˌndɛk mi ˈɛɕɛli kʲa sinindisi kʲa prepi na ɛt͡ɕiˈnɑlnamɛk ɛn jis aɫiɫa jis ɛn ˈɕɛlɛmi t͡sa aˈderfiktas]
Lord's prayer
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Notes
- ^ If indeed Cappadocian Greek started out as a dialect of Pontic Greek (Which isn't descended from Koine but directly from Attic-Ionic dialects), then so did Grekelin since they share their urheimat in the south of Anatolia. That would easily explain why Grekelin has /e/ in place of Modern Greek /i/.
- ^ Grekelin and Cappadocian have a common ancestor with the difference that Cappadocian remained spoken in Anatolia whereas Grekelin was brought to it's modern territory by migration and settlement. And, outside of roleplay in the context of this article, it's where most of the study related to Grekelin falls into, because Turkish and Hungarian share many features. However, as you can understand, Cappadocian at that point would've been plain regular Greek (Possibly a dialect of Pontic? See the article for details), hence the question mark.
- ^ Styled after Hungarian, Grekelin often uses "y" to show that the preceding consonant is palatalized. When 'y' is to actually be pronounced as a vowel but it is preceded by a consonant, it takes a dieresis above it: eg. "GŸ gÿ".