The Himariote Greek dialect is a dialect

Varieties of Modern Greek

The linguistic varieties of Modern Greek can be classified along two principal dimensions. First, there is a long tradition of sociolectal variation between the natural, popular spoken language on the one hand and archaizing, learned written forms on the other. Second, there is regional variation...

 of the Greek language

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 that is mainly spoken by ethnic Greeks

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 in the Himarë

Himarë

Himarë is a bilingual region and municipality along the Albanian Riviera in southern Albania and part of the District of Vlorë. Apart from the town of Himarë, the region consists of 7 other villages: Dhërmi, Pilur, Kudhës, Qeparo, Vuno, Iljas, and Palasë....

 region of Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

. Despite the small distances between the towns in the region, there exists some dialectal variation, most prominently in accent.

Classification

Despite the fact that the Greek community in Himarra resides at the northern end of the Greek-speaking world, in a region known among Greeks as Northern Epirus

Northern Epirus

Northern Epirus is a term used to refer to those parts of the historical region of Epirus, in the western Balkans, that are part of the modern Albania. The term is used mostly by Greeks and is associated with the existence of a substantial ethnic Greek population in the region...

, the Himariote dialect is a southern dialect of the Greek language. Although links with the Greek dialects spoken in Apulia and Mani have been suggested, the exact provenance of Northern Epirote dialects remains obscure. According to Greek linguist Vayacacos, Himariote, as a subbranch of the Northern Epirote dialects, is classified as a southern dialect, but the two towns next to Himarë, Dhërmi

Dhërmi

Dhërmi is one of the nine villages of the Himara region/municipality, in Albania. The village lies 42 kilometers south of the city of Vlorë and about the same distance north of the southern city of Sarandë. The village is built on a slope of the Ceraunian Mountains, at approximately 200 meters in...

 and Palasë

Palasë

Palasë is a village close to the Llogara National Park in the Albanian Riviera. It is located in the municipality of Himarë , in the District of Vlorë, Albania...

, speak a semi-northern dialect.

Because of the region's geography and isolation, the local dialect in the Himarë region became separated from the surrounding dialects and underwent a slower evolution, preserving a more conservative and faithful picture of the medieval Greek

Medieval Greek

Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...

 vernacular. According to Greek professor Anagnostopoulos, this dialect, like other conservative forms of modern Greek

Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...

, such as the Maniot dialect, was spoken by populations which lived in virtual autonomy during Ottoman rule

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Another linguistic analysis suggests that Himarë was colonised by Apulian Italiots after the Turkish raid on Otranto

Otranto

Otranto is a town and comune in the province of Lecce , in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses.It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and Italy with Albania...

 in 1480, but this position is vigorously questioned. Moreover, it has been claimed by both local and Albanian scholars, that there are parallels with the local idioms spoken in Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 as well as in nearby Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

.

Usage and settings

Himariote is primarily spoken in the town of Himarë, as well as in the nearby coastal towns of Dhërmi and Palasa. In spite of the short distances between these towns, there are differences in the accents of the dialect in every town. Himariote also uses some borrowed words from the Tosk Albanian

Tosk Albanian

Tosk is the southern dialect of the Albanian language. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is the basis of the standard Albanian language.- Tosks :...

 dialect.

Phonology

A common characteristic of Northern Epirote, as well its Himariote subbranch, is the use of the archaic disyllabic -ea form. Moreover, the phoneme /s/ is pronounced in a slightly different way, depending on the town: in Dhërmi as a soft /ś/; in Palasa as a half-hard /š’/ while in the town of Himarë as a hard /š/. The people who originate from Himarë pronounce also /ķ/ as /ć/.

History and politics

During the communist era in Albania, the country's borders were sealed for 45 years (1945–1990), while Himarë remained outside of the so-called Greek minority zone, which the Albanian state recognized as Greek populated regions. In accordance with the communist Albanian policy of unification and homogenization, the use of the Greek language in Himarë was forbidden in public, and many Greek-speaking people were forced to move to places in northern or central Albania. As a consequence, Greek schools in the Himarë area were closed, and the local communities stuck to their language, which slowly became archaic and no longer functional when they started to emigrate to Greece (1991) in the aftermath of the communist regime's collapse.

After the fall of communism a considerable number of the population from Himarë, migrated to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

where it largely adopted standard Greek. At present they are still not considered as part of the recognized Greek minority by the Albanian state, while on the other hand they are counted as ethnic Greeks according to the Greek migration policy.

Sources