| Languages of Greece | |
|---|---|
| Official language(s) | Greek |
| Regional language(s) | Pontic Greek, Tsakonian language, Yevanic language |
| Minority language(s) | Turkish, Macedonian Slavic, Albanian (Arvanitika), Romany, Bulgarian, Armenian language and Aromanian language |
| Main foreign language(s) | English (48%) German (9%) French (8%) |
| Sign language(s) | Greek Sign Language |
| Common keyboard layout(s) |
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| Source | European Commission[1] |
The official language of Greece is Greek. In addition, a number of non-official, minority languages and some Greek dialects are spoken as well. The most common foreign languages learned by Greeks are English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.
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Standard Greek is the only official language of the Hellenic Republic, and is spoken by some 99% of the population[3] (though not necessarily as a first language). Modern Greek is the officially used standard, but there are several non-official dialects and distinct Hellenic languages spoken as well.
Cappadocian Greek is a Hellenic language originally spoken in Cappadocia and since the 1920s spoken in Greece. It has very few speakers and was previously thought to be extinct.
Cretan Greek is spoken by upwards of half a million people on the island of Crete, as well as in the Greek Diaspora. It is rarely used in written speech, and differs much less from Standard Greek than other varieties.
Pontic Greek is a Hellenic language originally spoken in Pontus and the Caucasus, though now mostly spoken in Greece.
The little-spoken Tsakonian language is used by some in the Tsakonia region of Peloponnese. The language is split into three dialects: Northern, Southern, and Propontis. The language is spoken by only 1,200 people.
A Jewish dialect of Greek spoken by the Romaniotes, Yevanic is almost completely extinct today. There are a total of roughly 50 speakers, around 35 of whom now reside in Israel. The language may still be used by some elderly Romaniotes in Ioannina.
Since the 1990s, large numbers of Albanian immigrants have arrived in Greece, forming the largest immigrant group (443,550 in the 2001 census).[4]
Unlike the recent immigrants from Albania, the Arvanites are a centuries-old local Albanian-speaking community in parts of Greece, especially in the south. Their language, now in danger of extinction, is known as Arvanitika. They are fully integrated into Greek society and are considered ethnic Greeks, not Albanians. Their number has been estimated to between 30,000 and 140,000.
The Cham Albanians were a mainly Muslim Albanian group who traditionally lived in Epirus, in northern Greece. Most of them were expelled during the Second World War. Some have returned after the opening of the Albanian borders.
The Aromanians, also known as Vlachs, are a population group linguistically related to Romanians. The Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language, is spoken by the some 40,000 Aromanians in Greece.
In Greece, Slavic dialects heteronomous with standard Macedonian Slavic or Bulgarian are spoken; however, the speakers do not all identify their language with their national identity. The 1951 census recorded 41,017 Slavic-speaking Greek citizens (most of them bilingual). These Slavic-speakers in Greece vary on how they describe their language - most describe it as Slavic and proclaim a Greek national identity, although there are smaller groups, some of which describe it as Macedonian and espouse an ethnic Macedonian national identity, and some who describe it as Bulgarian and espouse a Bulgarian national identity.[5] Some prefer to identify as dopii and their dialect as dopia which mean local or indigenous in Greek . Ethnologue estimates 180,000 Slavic speakers, primarily in the Western Macedonia area.[6]
In addition to the above, there are an estimated 30,000 native speakers of Bulgarian in Western Thrace according to Ethnologue,[7] where it is referred to as Pomak.
Of the 35,000 Armenians in Greece today, some 20,000 speak the language.
In the population of 200,000 to 300,000 Roma, or Gypsy, people in Greece today, the Romani language is spoken widely. Romani is an Indo-Aryan language similar to many Indian languages, due to the origins of the Roma people in northern India. The dialect spoken in Greece (as well as in Bulgaria, Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, parts of Turkey, and Ukraine) is known as Balkan Romani. There are 160,000 Romani speakers in Greece today (90% of the Roma population).[8]
Turkish is one of the most widely spoken minority languages in Greece today, with a speaker population of 128,380 people.[9] Traditionally, there were many more Turkish speakers in Greece, due to the long period of rule by the Ottoman Empire, but after the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, a much smaller number remain. The Turkish-speaking population of Greece is mainly concentrated in some parts of the regions of Thrace. Turkish speakers also make up a large part of Greece's Muslim minority.
Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language, was traditionally spoken by the Sephardic community in Greece, particularly in the city of Thessaloniki, where, at their peak percentage, they made up 56% of the population.[10] However, many of Greece's Jews were murdered in the Second World War, and a large number emigrated to Israel after 1948. It is maintained today by between 2,000 and 8,000 people in Greece.
Megleno-Romanian is a Romance language spoken in Greece and Macedonia. There are roughly 2,500 speakers in Greece.
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".
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