Greek language question

The Greek language question (Greek: γλωσσικό ζήτημα, short: το γλωσσικό) was a dispute discussing the question whether the language of the Greek people (Dimotiki) or an archaic imitation of Ancient Greek (Katharevousa) should be the official language of the Greek nation. It was a highly controversial topic in the 19th and 20th centuries and was finally resolved in 1976, when Dimotiki was made the official language.

Nobody has the right to tell the people: "I want you to speak like this". Only time, not force or jurisdiction, may change the language. (Adamantios Korais)

The linguistic background of the problem

While Dimotiki was the mother tongue of the Greeks, the Katharevousa was an archaic and formal variant that was pronounced like Modern Greek, but adapted both lexical and morphological features of Ancient Greek that the spoken language had lost over time. Examples of this are:

• Morphological features: Strict Katharevousa still contained the ancient dative case, many participles and various additional tenses and conjugational patterns of verbs.
• Phonological features: The Katharevousa contained various letter combinations which were hard to pronounce, as they did not originally fit the Modern Greek phonolgical system, e.g. φθ, σθ, ρθρ, ευδ.
• Syntactical features: While the language of the people mostly consisted of simple sentences, the Katharevousa often applied Ancient Greek Syntax to form sentences which would appear educated, that is, long and complex.
• Lexical features: The proponents of the formal language discarded many popular Greek words that the Greek language had obtained from other languages over time, mainly from the Turkish and Latin or Italian languages, and either replaced them with Ancient Greek words (like ἰχθύς or ὀψάριον instead of ψάρι fish) or with neologisms.

These differences meant that Katharevousa was not or only partly intelligible for a Greek without higher education. But it must be noted that there was no thing such as "the Katharevousa"; instead, proponents of the formal language utilized ever-changing variants that never were standardized. These variants were nearly Attic in extreme cases, but they could also lean closer to spoken Greek and could be understood by the majority of the people.

Example of the diglossia

For a person who does not speak Greek and whose mother tongue (e.g. English) exhibits no comparable form of diglossia, it is hard to understand the motivation of the Greek language question, as it concerns the coexistence of two - in extreme cases - completely different languages that greatly exceeds the usual stylistic difference between written and spoken language. Nevertheless, the following example is a try to make the difference clear by translating a short, extremely formal text and its demotic counterpart into English: Once in a formal and archaic of English which is more or less comparable to how a native speaker of Greek perceives Katharveousa, and once in modern English.:

• Katharevousa:

Πότνιοι γεννήτορες! ᾿Επὶ τῇ πρώτῃ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, ἀνάπλεως συγκινήσεως κι’ εὐγνωμοσύνης, ἀνθ’ ὧν πολλά τε μὲ ἠγαπήσατε, πολλά τε δ’ εὐ ἐποιήσατε, ἐπεύχομαι ὑμῖν ὑγείαν, εὐτυχίαν καὶ πᾶν τò καταθύμιον. ῎Ερρωσθε, ὁ ἐσαεὶ εὐγνώμων υἱός.

• Formal and archaic English:

„Honourable parents! On the occasion of the first day of the present year, and in rememberance of your everlasting love unto me, as well as your countless welldoings, I wish you exceeding health and good fortune and all which pleaseth you. May ye ever be merry, your son.“

• Dimotiki:

„Αγαπημένοι μου μαμά και μπαμπά, με την ευκαιρία της πρωτοχρονιάς θα ήθελα να σας πω ότι είμαι πολύ ευτυχισμένος κι ευγνώμων που μ’ αγαπάτε τόσο πολύ και με φροντίζετε τόσο! Σας εύχομαι υγεία, ο,τι το καλύτερο και να είστε πάντα καλά και ευτυχισμένοι! Με αγάπη, ο γιός σας.“

• Modern English:

„Dear Mom and Dad, on the occasion of New Year's Eve I want to tell you that I'm very happy that you love me so much, and I want to thank you because you care for me so much! I wish you health, luck and everything that you wish for. Lots of love, your son.“

This example clearly shows that both the formal language and the language of the people exhibit features that make them fit different occasions: The former is capable of producing a much more formal athmosphere and sincerity while the latter is the natural, spoken language of the people which is optimal for both oral and written, plain communication. The fact that the situation of diglossia had not been perceived as a problem for centuries shows that a coexistence of two varieties of speech which are restricted to separate domains need not necessarily be a bad thing. Only when one of the two parties tried to discredit the other and to impose some ideals on each other by force, the linguistic phenomenon became a problem of the society.

Historical development

Pre-revolutionary discussions

The discussion began at the end of the 18th century, as Eugenios Voulgaris (1716–1806), Lambros Photiadis, St. Kommitas and N. Dukas, who were proponents of a more archaic language, and Voulgaris's students Iosipos Moisiodax (1725–1800) and Dimitrios Katartzis (ca. 1725-1807), who proposed a simpler language, began to voice their opinions. This discussion later became crucial when it was to be decided which one should be the single language of the modern Greek state, which was yet to be founded. Adamantios Korais (1748–1833) influenced the further discussion a lot. While being a supporter of the language of the people, Korais sought to cleanse it from elements that he considered to be too "vulgar" and eventually invented Katharevousa. After a prolonged War of Independence, the modern Greek state was founded in 1830; the first capital was Nafplio and, from 1834 onwards, Athens.

Official adaptation of Katharevousa

The Katharevousa was made the official language of the state, since the "unpolished" language of the people was not thought of as able to fit the needs of a modern state. The phanariots, who had been some kind of Greek secret service, serving the patriarchate of Constantinople, were a group of conservative and educated nobles who supported the archaic language and were the most important critics of the language of the people. Panagiotis Soutsos, who wrote in an increasingly archaic and formal language and should later become one of the most important figures in Athenic romanticism, embraced phanariotic tradition like his Brother Alexandros, and, in 1853, he opted for the abolishment of the Katharevousa and the reintroduction of pure Ancient Greek.

The language question becomes widespread

By 1900, the discussion had become a matter of public interest. Proponents of Katharevousa denounced proponents of Dimotiki as „μαλλιαροί“ (long-haired), „ἀγελαῖοι“ (herd animals) and „χυδαϊσταί“ (speakers of slang), while the proponents of Dimotiki called their enemies „γλωσσαμύντορες“ (defenders of language), „σκοταδιστές“ (more or less: The ones living in spiritual darkness), „ἀρχαιόπληκτοι“ (archaics), „μακαρονισταί“ (imitators of archaic languages) or „συντηρητικοί" (conservatives). The educational system was in an alarming state and completely ineffective: The children were completely unable to express themselves in the unfamiliar formal language, which severely harmed their speech acquisition instead of educating them.

Transition to Dimotiki

Only the girls' school of Volos made a difference in the beginning of the 20th century: Libertarian pedagogue Alexandros Delmouzos established the Dimotiki as the teaching language and was able to achieve results like, for instance, considerably improved marks and happy students. Still, clerics and conservatives condemned such practices, so they protested against the girls' school of Volos in such a sharp way that the school was closed.. In 1917, the Dimotiki had been successfully introduced to primary schools; but even there it was repeatedly replaced with Katharevousa again. Only on April 30, 1976, the era of linguistic purism was ended in Greece, when Karamanlis' government banned Katharevousa from use in schools, and, only a few months later, passed a law concerning the use of the Dimotiki in official texts and documents, which effectively terminated the diglossia. Interestingly, the law in question was formulated in Katharevousa.