A conversation with Ioanna Sitaridou about a Greek language (Romeyka) still spoken in northwestern Turkey, though now endangered, whose grammar retains interesting archaic features. The ancestors of its current speakers were not exchanged in 1923 because they were Muslim; the primary language in their communities today is Turkish. We talk about Romeyka itself, why it was not impacted by the standardization of modern Greek, and the ethical and political care that field-work must take.
Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Top Image: Letter of Pontic Greeks from the village Kırkharman, Amasya, Turkey in 1919. Wikimedia Commons
A conversation with Ioanna Sitaridou about a Greek language (Romeyka) still spoken in northwestern Turkey, though now endangered, whose grammar retains interesting archaic features. The ancestors of its current speakers were not exchanged in 1923 because they were Muslim; the primary language in their communities today is Turkish. We talk about Romeyka itself, why it was not impacted by the standardization of modern Greek, and the ethical and political care that field-work must take.
Ioanna Sitaridou is Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. Click here to see the Romeyka Project. For Ioanna’s study of its grammar, see her article ‘The Romeyka Infinitive: Continuity, Contact and Change in the Hellenic Varieties of Pontus,’ Diachronica 31:1 (2014) 23-73.
Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Top Image: Letter of Pontic Greeks from the village Kırkharman, Amasya, Turkey in 1919. Wikimedia Commons
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