Grekelin
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| 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 Grekelin
|
Dialects |
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| Official status | |
Official language in | Csongrád-Csanád |
| Regulated by | Grekelin Language Administration |
Grekelin (Autoglossonym: A gnudzsa Grekelenikin, pronounced: /a ˈɡnʊd͡ʑɑ grːɛkɛˈlɛnikin/, lit. "The Grekelin language") is a Hellenic language spoken in Vojvodina, southern Hungary and small parts of Slovakia. Grekelin split from Medieval Greek around the 11th century with the mass settlement of Hungary by Greek refugees, and has since then split for more than 10 centuries from (Demotic) Greek. For the largest part of its existence, Grekelin was mostly a spoken language, and the language began being systematically written down around the 19th century (Where it gained it's modern orthography). Due to its low prestige, most of its educated speakers preferred writing in Koine, Latin or Hungarian and few texts were written until then in Grekelin, most of which used the Greek script instead (See Proto-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 Greek multiple features and cognates. However the language has become an SOV one (As opposed to most Indo-European languages which are SVO) due to extensive Hungarian influence. It's vocabulary has almost mostly remained Greek however Hungarian words can be found often in the language, 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 of language seperation.
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).
Alphabet and Orthography
The Grekelin alphabet consists of 24 letters, four of which are vowels, two semivowels 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/)* | 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/) | |
* Between consonants, 'y' always collapses to /j/ (eg. Baharya [bə.ˈxɑ.rja], "Spice")
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 /kz/ 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).
Articles
Grekelin has both indefinite and definite articles, which are inflected exclusively based on the number and the noun ending. Unlike most Indo-European languages or Hungarian, articles can be omitted in some cases entirely.
| Ending | Definite Article | Indefinite Article | Plural Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| -i noun ending | e /ε/ | eni /ˈɛɳi/ | ei /ji/ |
| Other noun endings | a /ɑ/ | en /ɛɳ/ | - |
Cases
- Grekelin has 4 cases: Nominative, genitive, accusative and vocative. In the Slavic dialect, another case exists, the dative case.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | (A) gnúdzsa | (A) gnúdzsek |
| Genitive | Ca gnúdzsas | Ca gnudzses |
| Accusative | Ecs gnúdzsa | Ecs gnúdzsek |
| Vocative | Oh gnújzae | Oh gnújze |
Nouns ending in -i are slightly different but overall not very hard:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | (E) kuklí | (Ei) kuklí |
| Genitive | Ci kuklí | Ci kukliók |
| Accusative | Ecs kuklí | Ecs kuklíok |
| 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 | Peiá | Peíanda | Peiándande | Epeiándande |
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 and is also spoken in Greece, primarily from migrants. The populations of Serbia and Slovakia speak the Slavic dialect whereas the Hungarian population speaks the Standard dialect.
Stress
Grekelin does not have any rules on the stress placement. The stress may go on any position unless the final vowel is a long one, where the stress is automatically passed there. However, like it's ancestor Greek, Grekelin maintains most words' stress in one of the three syllables in the end, with the highest frequency being the 2nd one.
Evolution
Vowels
Grekelin preserved all Medieval Greek vowels (Thanks to shared phonology with Hungarian). Depending on the dialect, vowel length does persist, 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 Proto-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: Ei leottek ego ivloi
Words
Conversation
| English (Egzlezikin) | Grekelin (Grekelenikin) | Pronunciation (IPA) |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Ne | /nɛ/ |
| No | u | /u/ |
| Hello! | Dzsóvorzo! (Formal) / Gya! (Informal) | /'d͡ʑoβorzo/ /ɟɑː/ |
| Good morning! | Dzso regzétti! | /d͡ʑo rɛ'ɟkʰɛːti/ |
| Good night! | Dzso niktrá! | /d͡ʑo nik'trɑ/ |
| Have a nice day! | Eis jódila sei! | /jis 'd͡ʒodilɑ si/ |
| Goodbye! | Visondlataszra | /'visontɭatɑːɕr̩a/ |
| Thank you! | Dzsómmo! | /ˈd͡ʒomo/ |
| Who? | Pkios? | /pkjoːs/ |
| What? | Tí? | /ti/ |
| When? | Pónte? | /ˈpo.ntɛ/ |
| Where? | Pé? | /pɛ/ |
| How? | Pósz? | /ˈpoɕ/ |
| Why | Jzátti? | /'d͡ʑɑti/ |
| Again | Urá | /uˈrɑ/ |
| What is your name? | Ti entá a nóma sei? | /ti ɛnˈta ɑ ˈno.mɑ si/ |
| My name is... | A nóma mei entá ...' | /ɑ ˈno.ma mi enˈtα/ |
| Do you speak English? | Relalíte eís echslézikin? | /rɛ.ɫɑˈɫ̩ite jis ɛkˈɫɛ.zikiŋ/ |
| I do not understand Grekelin. | U nyó a gnújza Grekelénikin. | /u 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 szy? | /pɛ ˈɛste ɛt͡ɕ ɕy/ |
Dialects
Grekelin has three dialects, depending on where each is or was spoken.
Slavic
The Slavic ("Dialékti Slávin", "/djɑˈɫɛ.kti sɫɑvin/" or "/diaˈɫʲekta sɫɑvʲin/") dialect can be distinguished by some certain features that aren't present in Standard Grekelin:
- Skipping of the verb "to be" (énta) in the present tense (Dáwto énta egy wlemíni -> Dáwto egy wlemíni), if the subject can be assumed.
- The letter "u" represents the /ɨ/ sound instead of the /u/ one, when unstressed.
- Borrow of Slavic words instead of using Grekelin ones (A kárka -> A sztúlla).
The Slavic dialect is spoken fluently in the Vojvodina region of Serbia, where it is flourishing as a local language. It is also spoken by a tiny community living in Slovakia.
Urlogrockae
The Urlogrockae ("Urlegrekelin" dialect is the one used as the standard language. It's closer to Hungarian when it comes to phonetics but closer to Greek when it comes to orthography. Key features of this dialect, compared to the Slavic one and mainly to (Medieval) Greek are:
- Skipping the final vowel in pronounciation, if it's a short one (y or i).
- "E" does not use the Proto-Grekelin "/eː/" sound but the Urlogrok "/ε/".
- /k/ has replaced /s/ in many grammatical rules: Greek "Οι λέοντες" vs Grekelin "E keléontek".
- Higher effect of soft and hard Tsitakismos (/j/, /i/ become /d͡ʒ/, /k/ becomes /t͡s/, etc), similar to multiple Greek dialects.
- Rarely, voiced consonants become voiceless when unstressed
Western (Extinct)
A more archaic and richer dialect is Western Grekelin. While not as diversified as the Slavic dialect, it remains a very interesting dialect. Some features include:
- /o/ becomes /u/ when unstressed
- Softening of /s/ and /k/ into /ʃ/ and /x/ respectively
- Preservation of the final /s/ (Which was lost in the other dialects) as a softer /ʃ/, except for the plural: Standard /oˈr̩ɑˑnɑ/ (αυράνα) and Western /oˈr̩ɑˑɳoʃ/ (αυράνοs)
- Preservation of the dative case (Different from the one in Slavic Grekelin). The dative case of this dialect remains from Attic Greek whereas Slavic Grekelin invented it due to excessive Slavic influence.
This dialect went extinct in the 18th century, being replaced by Standard Grekelin.
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 ecsinálnamek 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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