Dr Eleni Markou Coordinator of Less Taught Languages Modern Language Centre

1. GREEK FROM CLASSICAL TO MODERN Dr Eleni Markou Coordinator of Less Taught Languages Modern Language Centre

2. Historical Background • The Greek language is the oldest continuously recorded language in Europe • The oldest records, written in the Mycenaean script known as Linear B, go back to about 1400 B.C. • For the sake of scholarly analysis, the Greek language is conventionally divided into Ancient Greek, Medieval and Modern Greek. • It’s impossible to say when “Modern Greek” began, because there was never a break in the continuity of the Greek language. • It could be said that the linguistic features that are characteristic of Modern Greek (as opposed to Ancient Greek) began as soon as the Classical period had come to an end (about 4th century B.C.). • However, “Modern Greek” typically refers to the period since 1800.

3. Greek & Indo-European Greek is the only language on the so-called Hellenic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Other branches of the Indo-European family include •  Italic • Germanic • Slavic • Celtic • Albanian • Indo-Iranian  

4. Greek and English Both are Indo-European languages and there are many genetic connections between them in terms of vocabulary. For instance: • Ancient Greek [AG] and Modern Greek [MG] όνομαonoma : English name • AG and MG με me : English me • AG and MG ένα (AG hena, MG ena) : English one

5. Greek and English • Since ancient times, Greek has only lost one case, namely the dative, which was used for the indirect object (‘I gave the book to John’). • English still has traces of the old Indo-European case system: • Nominative (subjective): I, he, she, we, they • Accusative (objective): me, him, her, us, them • Genitive (possessive): his, your, their, John’s

6. Ancient & Modern Greek Modern Greek is very close to Ancient Greek – closer than Italian is to Latin, for example. A lot of basic Modern Greek words are more or less exactly the same as they were in ancient times.

7. Ancient & Modern Greek Modern Greek still retains a complex system of noun declension and verb conjugation. For instance, as in Ancient Greek, each noun in Modern Greek is assigned to one of three genders (masculine, feminine or neuter).

8. Ancient & Modern Greek In addition, as in Ancient Greek, a Modern Greek noun changes its ending according to its number (singular or plural) and its case. All adjectives and other words (such as articles) modifying a noun must be in the same gender and the same case as the noun.

9. The Greek language controversy End of the 18th century, the time when Greek intellectuals began to be influenced by the French Enlightenment. This led some intellectuals to challenge the authority of tradition by writing about serious scholarly subjects in a more colloquial kind of Greek. The problem was that these intellectuals disagreed with each other about what was the “proper” form of Modern Greek to be used in scholarly writing and in education.

10. Once the Revolution broke out (1821), the language controversy calmed down. Most people compromised between colloquial Modern and Ancient Greek: Mainly declensions and conjugations of Ancient Greek but sentence structure of Modern Greek. For vocabulary, efforts to avoid using words of foreign origin, preferring either the ancient equivalent or a new word constructed on the basis of ancient roots.

11. By the 1850s the normal written language – the compromise between Ancient and Modern Greek – came to be known as katharevousa, which literally means “[language] tending towards purity”. At the same time, a small minority of writers were writing a version of the spoken language, which came to be known as “demotic” (literally “[language] of the people”).

12. In the 1880s the language controversy began to become more heated again. • 1901 and 1903 demonstrators (against translations of the Gospels and ancient Greek tragedy into demotic) were killed in the streets and governments that defended the freedom of speech fell from power. • This led the government in 1911, for the first time, to introduce a clause into the Greek Constitution specifying that the official language of the state was that in which the Constitution was written (i.e. katharevousa, though the language wasn’t actually named).

13. Demotic was introduced into primary schools in 1917. But, as far as education went, demotic was still confined to primary school, until a period of short-lived reforms in 1964-7, which were overturned by the military dictatorship of the “Colonels” (1967-74). Once the military regime fell in 1974, the way was open for katharevousa to be abolished and for “Modern Greek (demotic)” to be introduced as the sole official language of education and of the Greek state as a whole. The language problem was resolved in 1976 (Law 306/1976), when Demotic was declared the official language of Greece.

14. The present-day language It’s preferable to describe it not as “demotic” but as “Standard Modern Greek”. This is because, under the influence of education and reading over the last couple of centuries, the spoken language – and even more so the standard written language – have become heavily influenced by katharevousa, in both vocabulary and grammar.

15. Further study • Peter Mackridge, Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976 (Oxford 2009). Links: • “Greek language”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language • “Indo-European languages”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages

16. Questions