Slavic language (Greece)

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Slavic (Greek: Σλάβικα Slávika) is the term sometimes used to designate the dialects spoken by the Slavophone (i.e. Slavic-speaking) minority of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. Linguistically, these dialects are classified as Bulgarian or Macedonian Slavic depending on the abstand (distance) of each dialect from the standard languages.

Contents

1 Linguistic classification
2 Recognition
3 The Metaxas regime
4 Present situation
5 See also
6 References

Linguistic classification

According to Peter Trudgill, the usage of the name Slavic to refer to the language(s) spoken by these people raises ausbau sociolinguistic questions as to whether they are dialects of Bulgarian or Macedonian, as both these languages have developed out of the South Slavic dialect continuum that includes also Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Slovene. Unlike the standard languages in the respective countries, the Slavic dialects of Greece, are "rootless" dialects whose speakers have no access to education in the standard languages. The usage of the term Slavic to refer to a language or dialect which could otherwise be referred to as Bulgarian or Macedonian, may have the effect of denying that it has any immediate connection with the languages of the neighbouring countries.

Recognition

Under the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 (which was never ratified [link]), Greece undertook the obligation to open schools for minority-language children. In 1925 the government of Greece submitted copies of a schoolbook called ABECEDAR, which was written in the Slavic language for the Slavophone children and published by the Greek Ministry of Education, to the League of Nations as evidence that they were carrying out these obligations. ABECEDAR was written in a newly adapted variety of the Latin alphabet for the Slavic language in Greece, and not in the Cyrillic alphabet which was the official alphabet of neighbouring Bulgaria and Serbia - this also shows the intent of the Greek government to create a distinctively Slavic minority, not a Bulgarian or Serbian minority; the result being that Bulgaria and Serbia would have no right to interfere in Greece's internal affairs.

The Metaxas regime

On the 4th August 1936 the authoritarian regime of General Metaxas came to power, and a new state sponsored policy of Hellenisation was enacted. The aim was to Hellenise all the non-Greek speaking Orthodox Christian populations within the Greek state's territory; other Balkan countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania) also followed similar policies. The result of this was that Slavic and all other minority languages were forcibly suppressed, and the Treaty of Sèvres privileges were withdrawn.

Present situation

At present, the number of Slavophones in Greece is unknown. In the latest census posing a question on mother tongue (1951), 41,017 people declared themselves speakers of Slavic. Almost all Slavic speakers today in Greek Macedonia also speak Greek and most regard themselves as ethnically and culturally Greek. Many of those for whom a non-Greek identity was particularly important have tended to leave Greece during the past eighty years.

A political party promoting the concept and rights of what they describe as the "Macedonian minority in Greece", and refers to the Slavic language as Macedonian - the Rainbow (Ουράνιο Τόξο) - was founded in September 1998, and received 2,955 votes in the region of Macedonia in the 2004 elections. Similarly, a pro-Bulgarian political party, known as Bulgarian Human Rights in Macedonia (Βουλγαρικά Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα στη Μακεδονία) was founded in June 2000, promoting the concept and rights of what they describe as the "Bulgarian minority in Greece", and prefers to designate the local Slavic language as Bulgarian. This party has not yet participated in any elections.

References

Trudgill P. (2000) "Greece and European Turkey: From Religious to Linguistic Identity" in Language and Nationalism in Europe (Oxford : Oxford University Press)

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