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Heracliotic Greek: Difference between revisions
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In the age of Greek colonies, or perhaps later than the age in which most colonies were established, some enterprising Greeks passed the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) and settled an island in the Atlantic, which they named ''Ἡράκλεια'' Heraclia. | Heracliotic Greek (''Irallódiga''), also known as Heracleiotic, Irallian, or Atlantic Greek, is a Hellenic language spoken on the island of Heraclia in the northeast Atlantic, near the Canary Islands. | ||
Their descendants still speak a | |||
In the age of Greek colonies, or perhaps later than the age in which most colonies were established, some enterprising Greeks passed the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) and settled an island in the Atlantic, which they named ''Ἡράκλεια'' Heraclia. Their descendants still speak a language derived from Aeolic rather than the Attic Greek that gave rise to all modern Greek other than [[w:Tsakonian]]. Their language split off from the rest of Greek after diphthongs had been smoothed and voiced stops changed to fricatives, but before voiceless aspirates became fricatives. | |||
Consequently, while their language is not free from the common observation that Greek resembles Spanish, they arrived at that situation from a slightly different direction, and lack the /θ/ sound. | Consequently, while their language is not free from the common observation that Greek resembles Spanish, they arrived at that situation from a slightly different direction, and lack the /θ/ sound. | ||
The island was conquered by the Spanish around the same time as the Canary Islands, but failed to transition to being an island of Spaniards due to having a large Greek population and Catholic Christianity already having been introduced to the Heracliotes independently, although much later than most of Europe had been Christianised. | The island was conquered by the Spanish around the same time as the Canary Islands, but failed to transition to being an island of Spaniards due to having a large Greek population and Catholic Christianity already having been introduced to the Heracliotes independently, although much later than most of Europe had been Christianised. | ||
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The indigenous name for the island is Iralla, and the Spanish name is Ílagra, showing the same metathesis as ''palabra'' and ''árbol''. Folk etymology often asumes the Spanish name is a corruption of ''Isla Griega'' "Greek Island". | The indigenous name for the island is Iralla, and the Spanish name is Ílagra, showing the same metathesis as ''palabra'' and ''árbol''. Folk etymology often asumes the Spanish name is a corruption of ''Isla Griega'' "Greek Island". | ||
From the 16th century onwards, educated people on the island have also spoken Spanish, and Franquismo discouraged the language in the 20th century. | From the 16th century onwards, educated people on the island have also spoken Spanish, and Franquismo discouraged the language in the 20th century. | ||
The language strongly affects how | The language strongly affects how Heracliotes speak Spanish; their habit of aspirating voiceless plosives and devoicing voiced ones has led to the stereotype that they say ''dotado'' as ''tostado'' /d̥otʰaðo/. | ||
==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||