Dimotiki Totally Explained

Everything about Demotic Greek totally explained

Dimotiki ("[language] of the people") or Demotic is the modern vernacular form of the Greek language. The term has been in use since 1818. Dimotiki refers particularly to the form of the language that evolved naturally from ancient Greek, in opposition to the artificial and archaic Katharevousa, which was the official standard until 1976. The two complemented each other in a typical example of diglossia until the resolution of the Greek language question in favour of Dimotiki.

Dimotiki and "Modern Greek"

Dimotiki is often thought to be the same as the Modern Greek language, but these two terms are not completely synonymous. While Dimotiki is a term applied to the naturally evolved colloqual language of the Greeks, the modern Greek language of today (Standard Modern Greek; Νεοελληνική Κοινή) is more like a fusion of Dimotiki and Katharevousa, although with much stronger influence from Dimotiki; it's actually a variety of Dimotiki which has been enriched by "educated" elements and as such is no longer a pure spoken language. It isn't wrong to call the spoken language of today Dimotiki, but such a terminology ignores the fact that Modern Greek contains - especially in a written or official form - numerous words, grammatical forms and phonetical features that didn't exist in colloquial speech and only entered the language through its archaic variety. Besides, even the most archaic forms of Katharevousa were never thought of as Ancient Greek, but were always called "Modern Greek", so that the term "Modern Greek" applies to Dimotiki, Standard Modern Greek and even Katharevousa.

Examples for Modern Greek features which are inexistant in Dimotiki

The following examples are intended to demonstrate Katharevousa's features in Modern Greek. They were not present in traditional Dimotiki and only entered the modern language through Katharevousa (sometimes as neologisms), where they're used mostly in writing (for instance, in newspapers), but also orally. Especially words and fixed expressions are both understood and actively used also by non-educated speakers.

Words and fixed expressions

ť *ενδιαφέρων (interesting)

   *τουλάχιστον (at least) ť *την απήγαγε (he abducted her)

   *είναι γεγονός ότι ... (it is a fact that ...) ť *προς το παρόν (for now)

   :Especially dative forms: ť :*δόξα τω Θεώ (Thank God)

   :*εν ονόματι ... (in the name [of] ...) ť :*τοις μετρητοίς (in cash)

   :*εν συνεχεία (following) ť :*εν τω μεταξύ (meanwhile)

Grammatical (morphological) features

ť *Adjectives ending in -ων, -ουσα, -ον (for example ενδιαφέρων interesting) or in -ων, -ων, -ον (for example σώφρων thoughtful) - mostly in written language.

*Declinable aorist participle, for example παραδώσας (having delivered), γεννηθείς ([havingbeen] born) - mostly in written language. ť *Reduplication in the perfect tense. E.g. προσκεκλημένος (invited), πεπαλαιωμένος (obsolete)

Phonological features

Modern Greek features many letter combinations which were avoided in classical Dimotiki: ť *-πτ- (for example πταίσμα "misdemeanor"); Dimotiki preferred -φτ- (for example φταίω "to err || to be guilty")

   *-κτ- (for example κτίσμα "building, structure"); Dimotiki preferred -χτ- [for exampleχτίστης "(stone)mason"] ť *-ευδ- (for example ψεύδος "falsity, lie"); Dimotiki preferred -ευτ- (for example ψεύτης "liar")

   *-σθ- (for example ηρκέσθην / αρκέσθηκα "I was sufficed / satisfied"); Dimotiki preferred -στ- (for example αρκέστηκα) ť *-χθ- (for example εχθές "yesterday"); Dimotiki preferred -χτ- [for example(ε)χτές]

   *etc.
   Greek native speakers often make mistakes in these "educated" aspects of their language; one can often see mistakes like προήχθη instead of προήχθην (I've been promoted), λόγου του ότι/λόγο το ότι instead of λόγω του ότι (due to the fact that), τον ενδιαφέρον άνθρωπο instead of τον ενδιαφέροντα άνθρωπο (the interesting person), οι ενδιαφέροντες γυναίκες instead of οι ενδιαφέρουσες γυναίκες (the interesting women), ο ψήφος instead of η ψήφος (the vote).

Radical demoticism

One of the most radical proponents of a language that was to be cleansed of all "educated" elements was Giannis Psycharis, who lived in France and gained fame through his work My Voyage („το ταξίδι μου", 1888). Not only did Psycharis propagate the exclusive use of the naturally grown colloquial language, but he actually opted for making the language even simpler than it was anyway, in order to "cleanse" it from all expressions and forms that might have been perceived as "educated". For instance, he proposed to squeeze the natural form το φως (gen. του φωτός; =light) into a modern Greek declension, transforming it to το φώτο (gen. του φώτου). Such radical and completely unnatural forms didn't gain any attention, though, and today they're seen only as examples for the absurdity of the Greek language question. Moreover, Psycharis also wished to give up the historical Greek orthography to replace it with a phonetical one, which would have meant to abolish the six different ways to write the vowel "i" and all instances of double consonants. Therefore, he wrote his own name as Γιάνης, instead of Γιάννης. Radical demoticism managed to attract a few followers and was called psycharism.Further Information

Get more info on 'Demotic Greek'.

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