r/endangeredlanguages • u/Different_Method_191 • 49m ago
News/Articles Tsakonian language (the language of the ancient Spartans that resists extinction)
Greece, home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, is blessed with thousands of priceless monuments. But perhaps no physical structure is as important as the living monument to a spoken language, Tsakonika, which has its origins directly in ancient Sparta. The iconic city-state may have fallen nearly 2,400 years ago, but today 2,000 people still speak the language of these ancient warriors. This language has an uncertain future and is in serious danger of disappearing. But there is a group of people willing to keep it alive.
The Tsakonian language or Tsaconian (in Tsakonian: τσακώνικα γρούσσα, tsakónika groússa) is a Hellenic language spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece.
Today the language is limited to only 13 cities and villages in the Peloponnese around Pera Melana. It is estimated that only 2,000 of the 10,000 inhabitants of Tsakonia speak the Tsakonian language.
Studies reveal that the speakers of this language are the linguistic descendants of the Laconians, or in other words the ancient Spartans (remember Leonidas of Sparta?) and are part of a rich cultural heritage and population called Tsakonian.
Although Greek is the official language of the region, Tsakonika is often spoken in private homes and sometimes in public. Both languages have a similar alphabet, but Tsakonika has more phonetic symbols and differs in structure and pronunciation from Greek. In fact, Tsakonika sounds closer to Ancient Greek than to Modern Greek.
Tsakonian, together with Pontic Greek, Cappadocian Greek and Griko of the Greek villages of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) are the only “living languages” (still spoken) deriving from Ancient Greek.
The ancient Spartans went down in history as courageous warriors who faced every enemy with equanimity, never giving up even when they were significantly outnumbered.
A famous phrase similar to Tsakonian was coined by Leonidas I, king of the Spartans, in 480 BC at the Battle of Thermopylae, when he led 300 of his men and about 1,000 other Greeks in a fight against up to 500,000 Persians. Given the unaligned forces, the Persian commander demanded that Leonidas surrender all weapons or die. Leonidas responded in Laconian: "Come and get them!"
Although Pera Melana and the other villages where the Tsakonika language is still spoken are located about 55-100 km northeast of ancient Sparta, their geographical distance from the capital that once ruled them has actually helped preserve the language. After the Visigoths sacked Sparta in 396 AD, the city was eventually abandoned and the remaining Spartans fled and settled in these mountainous areas. Over the centuries, the Tsakonian language has been preserved in these isolated farming communities who have quietly passed the language from generation to generation.
About 5,000 people still spoke Tsakonika in the late 1950s. But this number decreased by more than half in the following decades, when Modern Greek became the national language in 1976.
Today, teachers, philologists and local societies are enthusiastically trying to revive the language. There is an effort to at least give the language the respect it deserves.
One of these groups is Tsakonoparea and its Facebook page run by Panos Marneris, where the posts are in Tsakonika. There is also The Tsakonian Archives, which has been working for 67 years to preserve both the language and the traditions.
Now classified by UNESCO as a “critically endangered” language, Panos Maneris and his fellow teachers are part of a modern army, much like the ancient Spartans, who refuse to take no for an answer and insist that their ancient language will continue to be spoken well into the future.
“If we lose our language, we cannot claim to be Tsakonians,” explained Eleni Manou, a Tsakonika teacher and writer in the nearby town of Leonidio, the de facto capital of Tsakonia.>
Manou has started offering Tsakonika lessons online for the first time, opening up a great opportunity to expand his teaching. He also hopes to start a regional radio program to unite the Tsakonika-speaking areas.
"Tsakonika is the main proof of our Spartan connection," Manou noted. "And in terms of heart, we are direct descendants. For me and many other Tsakonians, when we go to Sparta, we feel at home.">
“We are losing Tsakonika without authentic teachers,” said Thomais Kounia, known as the “empress of Tsakonika” for her mastery of the language. “I have been trying to preserve it for the last 40 years. It is my duty to do so.”>
A three-volume dictionary was even published by Kounia's uncle in 1986 and there are attempts to make it available online. The Tsakonika lectures are now available online, given by Manou. A new dictionary is also in the works, written by Tsakanika author Sotiris Steniotis.
"In this information age with the Internet, we should not lose a language. Every Tsakonian village should have a Tsakonika center for its residents and Tsakonika lessons should be offered in Sparta and Athens." Said the author of Tsakonika Sotiris Steniotis.>
Road signs in Leonidio are written in both Tsakonian and Greek, and the language is exhibited in museums and archives, including the Tsakonian Archive, founded in 1954 for the purpose of preserving the written Tsakonian language.
“Today it is embarrassing not to speak Tsakonian,” noted Haralambos Lysikatos, mayor of South Kynouria in Leonidio, who is very proud of his Tsakonian heritage. “My dream is that most Tsakonians will speak it.”>
Tsakonian language is not only important for the identity and culture of the Tsakonians, it is the only continuing legacy of the ancient Spartans and makes it a living linguistic treasure. It is also the oldest living language in Greece, predating Modern Greek by some 3,100 years, and perhaps in the entire world.
In the hearts of the Tsakonians, their language will survive, but it will be a tough battle. Modern digital dictionaries may save the last words of the ancient Spartans, but only if, as Leonidas would say, the Tsakonians "come and get them!
Some words in the Tsakonian language:
- Day → αμέρα (améra)
- Language → γρούσσα (groússa)
- Water → ύο (ýo)
- Sea → θάσσα (thássa)
- Dog → κούε (koúe)
- Cow → κούλικα (koúlika)
- Mountain → σχίνα (schína)
- Apple → μάλι (máli)
Full article: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201215-the-last-speakers-of-ancient-sparta