View source for Modern Greek

{{short description|Dialects and varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Modern Greek
| nativename       = {{lang|el|Νέα Ελληνικά}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|el|ˈne.a eliniˈka|}}
| states           = [[Greece]]<br>[[Cyprus]]<br>[[Albania]] ([[Southern Albania]])<br>[[Turkey]] ([[Anatolia]])<br>[[Italy]] ([[Calabria]], [[Salento]])
| speakers         = 13.4 million
| date             = 2012
| ref              = <ref>{{Cite journal|date=2015|title=Greek|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ell|journal=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|edition=18}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Hellenic languages|Hellenic]]
| fam3             = [[Greek language|Greek]]
| fam4             = (disputed) 
| fam5             = [[Attic Greek|Attic]]–[[Ionic Greek|Ionic]]
| fam6             = [[Attic Greek|Attic]]
| fam7             = [[Koine Greek|Koine]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Greek language|Proto-Greek]]
| ancestor2        = [[Ancient Greek]]
| ancestor3        = [[Koine Greek]]
| ancestor4        = [[Medieval Greek]]
| dia1             = [[Italiot Greek|Italiot]]{{Indent|1}}{{*}}[[Calabrian Greek]]{{Indent|1}}{{*}}[[Griko language|Griko]]
| dia2             = [[Pontic Greek|Pontic]]{{Indent|1}}{{*}}[[Mariupol Greek|Mariupolitan]]?
| dia3             = [[Cappadocian Greek|Cappadocian]]
| dia4             = [[Tsakonian language|Tsakonian]]
| dia5             = [[Yevanic language|Yevanic]]
| dia6             = [[Maniot#Maniot dialect|Maniot]]
| dia7             = [[Himariote Greek dialect|Himariote]]
| dia8             = [[Cypriot Greek|Cypriot]]
| dia9             = [[Cretan Greek|Cretan]]
| dia10            = ''[[Demotic Greek|Demotic]]'' (base for the St. Mod. Greek)
| dia11            = ''[[Katharevousa]]'' (artificial, base for the St. Mod. Greek)
| dia12            = ''[[Varieties of Modern Greek|other]]''
| stand1           = [[Standard Modern Greek]]
| script           = [[Greek alphabet]]<br>[[Greek Braille]]
| iso1             = el
| iso2b            = gre
| iso2t            = ell
| iso3             = ell
| lingua           = part of [[Greek language|56-AAA-a]]
| glotto           = mode1248
| glottorefname    = Modern Greek
| notice           = IPA
| nation           = {{ublist|class=nowrap |{{GRE}} |{{CYP}} |''{{EU}}'' }}
| minority         = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
<!---Do not remove entries with a source or add entries without a source! :--->
* {{ALB}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Jeffries |first=Ian |title=Eastern Europe at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century: A Guide to the Economies in Transition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7PBtDujYt0C&pg=PA69 |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-23671-3 |page=69 |quote= "It is difficult to know how many ethnic Greeks there are in Albania. The Greek government, it is typically claimed, says there are around 300,000 ethnic Greeks in Albania, but most Western estimates are around the 200,000 mark&nbsp;..."}}</ref>
* {{ARM}}<ref name =ECRML>{{cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations?p_auth=HOz1LGU0|title=Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.148 - European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|website= Official Website of the Council of Europe|publisher= Council of Europe|access-date=5 April 2020}}</ref>
* {{HUN}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://languagecharter.eokik.hu/sites/languages/L-Greek_in_Hungary.htm |title=Greek in Hungary|website=Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages |publisher=Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research|access-date=31 May 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429113237/http://languagecharter.eokik.hu/sites/languages/L-Greek_in_Hungary.htm|archive-date=29 April 2013}}</ref>
* {{ITA}}<ref>{{cite web|work=Hellenic Republic: Ministry of Foreign Affairs|title=Italy: Cultural Relations and Greek Community|date=9 July 2013|url=http://www.mfa.gr/en/greece-bilateral-relations/italy/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html|quote="The Greek Italian community numbers some 30,000 and is concentrated mainly in central Italy. The age-old presence in Italy of Italians of Greek descent – dating back to Byzantine and Classical times – is attested to by the Griko dialect, which is still spoken in the Magna Graecia region. This historically Greek-speaking villages are Condofuri, Galliciano, Roccaforte del Greco, Roghudi, Bova and Bova Marina, which are in the Calabria region (the capital of which is Reggio). The Grecanic region, including Reggio, has a population of some 200,000, while speakers of the Griko dialect number fewer that 1,000 persons."}}</ref>
* {{ROU}}<ref name =ECRML />
* {{ZAF}}{{efn|(protected language)}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 - Chapter 1: Founding Provisions|url=http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions|website=www.gov.za|access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref>
* {{TUR}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Tsitselikis|first=Konstantinos|chapter=A Surviving Treaty: The Lausanne Minority Protection in Greece and Turkey|title=The Interrelation between the Right to Identity of Minorities and their Socio-economic Participation|editor1-last=Henrard|editor1-first=Kristin|location=Leiden and Boston|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|year=2013|isbn=9789004244740|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUYzAQAAQBAJ |pages=294–295}}.</ref>
* {{UKR}}<ref name =ECRML />
{{endplainlist}}
| agency           = [[Center for the Greek Language]]
| ethnicity        = [[Greeks]]
| region           = [[Eastern Mediterranean]]
}}

'''Modern Greek''' ({{langx|el|label=[[Endonym and exonym|endonym]]|Νέα Ελληνικά}}, {{translit|el|Néa Elliniká}} {{IPA|el|ˈne.a eliniˈka|}} or {{lang|el|Κοινή Νεοελληνική Γλώσσα}}, {{translit|el|Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa}}), generally referred to by speakers simply as '''Greek''' ({{lang|el|Ελληνικά}}, {{translit|el|Elliniká}}), refers collectively to the [[dialect]]s of the [[Greek language]] spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to as [[Varieties of Modern Greek#Standard Modern Greek|Standard Modern Greek]]. The end of the [[Medieval Greek]] period and the beginning of Modern Greek 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 features of the modern language arose centuries earlier, having begun around the fourth century AD.

During most of the Modern Greek period, the language existed in a situation of [[diglossia]], with regional spoken dialects existing side by side with learned, more archaic written forms, as with the vernacular and learned varieties (''[[Dimotiki]]'' and ''[[Katharevousa]]'') that co-existed in Greece throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

==Varieties==
{{Main|Varieties of Modern Greek}}

Varieties of Modern Greek include Demotic, Katharevousa, Pontic, Cappadocian, Mariupolitan, Southern Italian, Yevanic, Tsakonian and [[Greco-Australian]].

=== Demotic ===
{{Main|Demotic Greek}}

Strictly speaking, ''Demotic'' or ''Dimotiki'' ({{lang|el|Δημοτική}}), refers to all ''popular'' varieties of Modern Greek that followed a common evolutionary path from [[Koine Greek|Koine]] and have retained a high degree of [[mutual intelligibility]] to the present. As shown in [[Theodore Prodromos|Ptochoprodromic]] and [[Digenis Acritas|Acritic]] poems, Demotic Greek was the vernacular already before the 11th century and called the "Roman" language of the [[Byzantine Greeks]], notably in peninsular [[Greece]], the [[Greek islands]], coastal [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Constantinople]], and [[Cyprus]].

[[File:Modern Greek dialects en.svg|thumb|The distribution of major modern Greek dialect areas.<ref>Based on: Brian Newton: ''The Generative Interpretation of Dialect. A Study of Modern Greek Phonology'', Cambridge 1972, {{ISBN|0-521-08497-0}}</ref>]]

Today, a standardized variety of Demotic Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus, and is referred to as "Standard Modern Greek", or less strictly simply as "Greek", "Modern Greek", or "Demotic".

Demotic Greek comprises various regional varieties with minor linguistic differences, mainly in phonology and vocabulary. Due to the high degree of mutual intelligibility of these varieties, Greek linguists refer to them as "idioms" of a wider "Demotic dialect", known as "Koine Modern Greek" ({{Lang|el-Latn|Koiní Neoellinikí}} - 'common Neo-Hellenic'). Most English-speaking linguists however refer to them as "dialects", emphasizing degrees of variation only when necessary. Demotic Greek varieties are divided into two main groups, Northern and Southern.

The main distinguishing feature common to Northern variants is a set of standard phonological shifts in ''unaccented'' vowel phonemes: {{IPA|[o]}} becomes {{IPA|[u]}}, {{IPA|[e]}} becomes {{IPA|[i]}}, and {{IPA|[i]}} and {{IPA|[u]}} are dropped. The dropped vowels' existence is implicit, and may affect surrounding phonemes: for example, a dropped {{IPA|[i]}} palatalizes preceding consonants, just like an {{IPA|[i]}} that is pronounced.  Southern variants do not exhibit these phonological shifts.

Examples of Northern dialects are [[Rumelia]]n ([[Constantinople]]), [[Epirus|Epirote]], [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonian]],<ref name=GreekSyntax>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpUBTDDGr_QC&q=%22macedonian+dialect%22&pg=PA99 |title=Studies in Greek Syntax |editor-first1=Artemis |editor-last1=Alexiadou |editor-first2=Geoffrey C. |editor-last2=Horrocks |editor-first3=Melita |editor-last3 = Stavrou|chapter = On Clitics, Prepositions and Case Licensing in Standard and Macedonian Greek|author-last = Dimitriadis|author-first = Alexis |year=1999 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9780792352907 }}</ref> [[Thessaly|Thessalian]], [[Thrace|Thracian]], Northern [[Euboea]]n, [[Sporades]], [[Samos]], [[Smyrna]], and [[Sarakatsani|Sarakatsanika]].
The Southern category is divided into groups that include:{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}
:#Old Athenian-Maniot: [[Megara]], [[Aegina]], [[Athens]], [[Kymi, Greece|Cyme]] (Old Athenian) and [[Mani Peninsula]] (Maniot)
:#Ionian-Peloponnesian: [[Peloponnese]] (except Mani), [[Ionian Islands]], [[Attica]], Boeotia, and Southern [[Euboea]]
:#Cretan-Cycladian: [[Cyclades]], [[Crete]], and several enclaves in Syria and Lebanon{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}
:#Southeastern: [[Chios]], [[Ikaria]], [[Dodecanese]], and [[Cypriot Greek|Cyprus]].

Demotic Greek has officially been taught in [[Monotonic orthography|monotonic]] Greek script since 1982.

=== Katharevousa ===
{{Main|Katharevousa}}

''Katharevousa'' ({{Lang|el|Καθαρεύουσα}}) is a [[sociolect]] promoted in the 19th century at the foundation of the modern Greek state, as a compromise between [[Classical Greek]] and modern Demotic. It was the official language of modern Greece until 1976.

Katharevousa is written in [[Polytonic orthography|polytonic]] Greek script. Also, while Demotic Greek contains loanwords from Turkish, Italian, Latin, and other languages, these have for the most part been purged from Katharevousa. See also the [[Greek language question]].

=== Pontic ===
{{Main|Pontic Greek}}

[[File:Anatolian Greek dialects.png|thumb|Anatolian Greek dialects until 1923. [[Demotic Greek|Demotic]] in yellow. [[Pontic Greek|Pontic]] in orange. [[Cappadocian Greek]] in green, with green dots indicating individual Cappadocian Greek villages in 1910.<ref name="Dawkins, R.M 1916" />]]

''Pontic'' ({{Lang|el|Ποντιακά}}) was originally spoken along the mountainous Black Sea coast of Turkey, the so-called [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] region, until most of its speakers were killed or displaced to modern Greece during the [[Pontic genocide]] (1919–1921), followed later by the [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]] in 1923. (Small numbers of [[Pontic Greek#Ophitic|Muslim speakers of Pontic Greek]] escaped these events and still reside in the Pontic villages of Turkey.) It derives from [[Hellenistic Greek|Hellenistic]] and [[Medieval Greek|Medieval Koine]] and preserves characteristics of [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] due to ancient colonizations of the region. Pontic evolved as a separate dialect from Demotic Greek as a result of the region's isolation from the Greek mainstream after the [[Fourth Crusade]] fragmented the Byzantine Empire into separate kingdoms (see [[Empire of Trebizond]]).

=== Cappadocian ===
{{Main|Cappadocian Greek}}

''Cappadocian'' ({{Lang|el|Καππαδοκικά}}) is a Greek dialect of central Turkey of the same fate as Pontic; its speakers settled in mainland Greece after the [[Greek genocide]] (1919–1921) and the later [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey]] in 1923. Cappadocian Greek diverged from the other Byzantine Greek dialects earlier, beginning with the Turkish conquests of central Asia Minor in the 11th and 12th centuries, and so developed several radical features, such as the loss of the gender for nouns.<ref name="Dawkins, R.M 1916">{{cite book |last1=Dawkins |first1=R.M. |title=Modern Greek in Asia Minor. A study of dialect of Silli, Cappadocia and Pharasa. |date=1916 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |url=https://archive.org/details/moderngreekinas00hallgoog}}</ref> Having been isolated from the crusader conquests ([[Fourth Crusade]]) and the later Venetian influence of the Greek coast, it retained the Ancient Greek terms for many words that were replaced with [[Romance languages|Romance]] ones in Demotic Greek.<ref name="Dawkins, R.M 1916" />  The poet [[Rumi]], whose name means "Roman", referring to his residence amongst the "Roman" Greek speakers of Cappadocia, wrote a few poems in Cappadocian Greek, one of the earliest attestations of the dialect.<ref>Δέδες, Δ. 1993. Ποιήματα του Μαυλανά Ρουμή. Τα Ιστορικά 10.18–19: 3–22. (in Greek)</ref><ref>Meyer, G. 1895. Die griechischen Verse in Rabâbnâma. Byzantinische Zeitschrift 4: 401–411. (in German)</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opoudjis.net/Play/rumiwalad.html |title=Greek Verses of Rumi & Sultan Walad |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008025951/http://www.opoudjis.net/Play/rumiwalad.html |archive-date=8 October 2017 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.khamush.com/greek/gr.htm The Greek Poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi]</ref>

=== Mariupolitan ===
{{Main|Mariupol Greek}}

''Ruméika'' ({{Lang|el|Ρωμαίικα}}) or Mariupolitan Greek is a dialect spoken in about 17 villages around the northern coast of the [[Sea of Azov]] in southern [[Ukraine]] and [[Russia]].  Mariupolitan Greek is closely related to Pontic Greek and evolved from the dialect of Greek spoken in [[Crimea]], which was a part of the Byzantine Empire and then the Pontic [[Empire of Trebizond]], until that latter state fell to the Ottomans in 1461.<ref>Dawkins, Richard M. "The Pontic dialect of Modern Greek in Asia Minor and Russia". Transactions of the Philological Society 36.1 (1937): 15–52.</ref> Thereafter, the Crimean Greek state continued to exist as the independent Greek [[Principality of Theodoro]]. The Greek-speaking inhabitants of Crimea were [[deportation|deported]] by [[Catherine the Great]] to resettle in the new city of [[Mariupol]] after the [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–74)]] to escape the then Muslim-dominated Crimea.<ref>{{cite news|title=Greeks of the Steppe |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/greeks-of-the-steppe/2012/11/10/b7ff79de-24ec-11e2-9313-3c7f59038d93_story.html |access-date=25 October 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=10 November 2012}}</ref> Mariupolitan's main features have certain similarities with both Pontic (e.g. the lack of [[synizesis]] of ''-ía, éa'') and the northern varieties of the core dialects (e.g. the northern vocalism).<ref>Kontosopoulos (2008), 109</ref>

=== Southern Italian ===
[[File:GrikoSpeakingCommunitiesTodayV4.png|thumb|Areas in Southern Italy where the [[Griko dialect|Griko]] and [[Calabrian dialect (Greek)|Calabrian]] dialects are spoken]]

''Southern Italian'' or ''Italiot'' ({{Lang|el|Κατωιταλιώτικα}}) comprises both [[Calabrian dialect (Greek)|Calabrian]] and [[Griko]] varieties, spoken by around 15 villages in the regions of [[Calabria]] and [[Apulia]]. The Southern Italian dialect is the last living trace of Hellenic elements in Southern Italy that once formed [[Magna Graecia]]. Its origins can be traced to the [[Dorian Greeks|Dorian Greek]] settlers who colonised the area from [[Sparta]] and [[Corinth]] in 700 BC.

It has received significant Koine Greek influence through [[Byzantine Greek]] colonisers who re-introduced Greek language to the region, starting with [[Justinian I|Justinian]]'s conquest of [[Italy]] in late antiquity and continuing through the Middle Ages. Griko and Demotic are mutually intelligible to some extent, but the former shares some common characteristics with Tsakonian.

=== Yevanic ===
{{Main|Yevanic language}}

''Yevanic'' ({{Lang|yej|יעואניקה}}, {{Lang|el|Γεβανικά}}) is an almost extinct language of [[Romaniote Jews]]. The language was already in decline for centuries until most of its speakers were killed in [[the Holocaust]]. Afterward, the language was mostly kept by remaining Romaniote emigrants to [[Israel]], where it was displaced by [[modern Hebrew]].

=== Tsakonian ===
{{Main|Tsakonian language}}

''Tsakonian'' ({{lang|grc|Τσακωνικά}}) is spoken in its full form today only in a small number of villages around the town of [[Leonidio]] in the region of [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]] in the Southern [[Peloponnese]], and partially spoken further afield in the area. Tsakonian evolved directly from Laconian (ancient Spartan) and therefore descends from [[Doric Greek]].

It has limited input from Hellenistic Koine and is significantly different from and not mutually intelligible with other Greek varieties (such as [[Demotic Greek]] and [[Pontic Greek]]). Some linguists consider it a separate language because of this.

===Greco-Australian===
{{Main|Greco-Australian dialect}}
Greco-Australian is an Australian dialect of Greek that is spoken by the Greek diaspora of Australia, including Greek immigrants living in Australia and Australians of Greek descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://neoskosmos.com/en/2020/06/29/dialogue/opinion/tongues-of-greek-australia-an-anglicised-hellenic-language/|title=Tongues of Greek Australia: An Anglicised Hellenic language|last=Kalimniou|first=Dean|date=29 June 2020|access-date=22 October 2023|work=[[Neos Kosmos (newspaper)|Neos Kosmos]]}}</ref>

==Phonology and orthography==
{{main|Modern Greek phonology|Greek orthography|Greek alphabet}}
[[File:Seferisrede.ogg|thumb|Spoken Modern Greek]]

A series of radical [[sound change]]s starting in [[Koine Greek]] has led to a phonological system in Modern Greek that is significantly different from that of Ancient Greek. Instead of the complex vowel system of Ancient Greek, with its four vowel-height levels, length distinction, and multiple diphthongs, Modern Greek has a simple system of five vowels. This came about through a series of mergers, especially towards {{IPA|/i/}} ([[iotacism]]).

Modern Greek consonants are plain (voiceless unaspirated) [[stop consonant|stop]]s, [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced stops]], or voiced and unvoiced [[fricative consonant|fricatives]]. Modern Greek has not preserved length in vowels or consonants.

{{Greek Alphabet}}

Modern Greek is written in the Greek alphabet, which has 24 letters, each with a capital and lowercase (small) form. The letter [[sigma]] additionally has a special final form. There are two diacritical symbols, the [[acute accent]] which indicates [[stress (linguistics)|stress]] and the [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] marking a vowel letter as not being part of a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]. Greek has a mixed historical and phonemic [[orthography]], where historical spellings are used if their pronunciation matches modern usage. The correspondence between consonant [[phoneme]]s and [[grapheme]]s is largely unique, but several of the vowels can be spelt in multiple ways.<ref>''cf.'' [[Iotacism]]</ref>  Thus [[Reading (process)|reading]] is easy but [[spelling]] is difficult.<ref>G. Th. Pavlidis and V. Giannouli, "Spelling Errors Accurately Differentiate USA-Speakers from Greek Dyslexics: Ιmplications for Causality and Treatment" ''in'' R.M. Joshi et al. (eds) ''Literacy Acquisition: The Role of Phonology, Morphology and Orthography''. Washington, 2003. {{ISBN|1-58603-360-3}}</ref>

A number of [[Greek diacritics|diacritical signs]] were used until 1982, when they were officially dropped from Greek spelling as no longer corresponding to the modern pronunciation of the language. Monotonic orthography is today used in official usage, in schools and for most purposes of everyday writing in Greece. Polytonic orthography, besides being used for older varieties of Greek, is still used in book printing, especially for academic and [[Belles-lettres|belletristic]] purposes, and in everyday use by some conservative writers and elderly people. The Greek Orthodox Church continues to use polytonic and the late [[Christodoulos of Athens]]<ref name="Christodoulos">{{cite web |url=http://www.in.gr/news/article.asp?lngEntityID=708357 |title="Φιλιππικός" Χριστόδουλου κατά του μονοτονικού συστήματος |access-date=2007-02-23 |work=in.gr News }}</ref> and the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece<ref name="RelationsProject">{{cite web |url=http://www.in.gr/news/article.asp?lngEntityID=657799 |title=Την επαναφορά του πολυτονικού ζητά η Διαρκής Ιερά Σύνοδος |access-date=2007-02-23 |work=in.gr News }}</ref> have requested the reintroduction of polytonic as the official script.

The Greek vowel letters and digraphs with their pronunciations are: {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|α}}}} {{IPAslink|a}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ε, αι}}}} {{IPAslink|e}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|η, ι, υ, ει, οι, υι}}}} {{IPAslink|i}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ο, ω}}}} {{IPAslink|o}}, and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ου}}}} {{IPAslink|u}}. The digraphs {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|αυ}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ευ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ηυ}}}} are pronounced {{IPA|/av/}}, {{IPA|/ev/}}, and {{IPA|/iv/}} respectively before vowels and voiced consonants, and {{IPA|/af/}}, {{IPA|/ef/}} and {{IPA|/if/}} respectively before voiceless consonants.

The Greek letters {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|φ}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|β}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|θ}}}}, and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|δ}}}} are pronounced {{IPAslink|f}}, {{IPAslink|v}}, {{IPAslink|θ}}, and {{IPAslink|ð}} respectively. The letters {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|χ}}}} are pronounced {{IPAslink|ɣ}} and {{IPAslink|x}}, respectively. All those letters represent fricatives in Modern Greek, but they were used for occlusives with the same (or with a similar) articulation point in Ancient Greek. Before mid or close front vowels ({{IPAslink|e}} and {{IPAslink|i}}), {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|χ}}}} are fronted, becoming {{IPAblink|ʝ}} and {{IPAblink|ç}}, respectively, which, in some dialects, notably those of Crete and [[Mani_Peninsula|Mani]], are further fronted to {{IPAblink|ʑ}} or {{IPAblink|ʒ}} and {{IPAblink|ɕ}} or {{IPAblink|ʃ}}, respectively. Μoreover, before mid or close back vowels ({{IPAslink|o}} and {{IPAslink|u}}), {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γ}}}} tends to be pronounced further back than a prototypical velar, between a velar {{IPAblink|ɣ}} and an uvular {{IPAblink|ʁ}} (transcribed {{IPA|ɣ̄}}). The letter {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ξ}}}} stands for the sequence {{IPA|/ks/}} and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|ψ}}}} for {{IPA|/ps/}}.

The digraphs {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γγ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γκ}}}} are generally pronounced {{IPAblink|ɡ}}, but are fronted to {{IPAblink|ɟ}} before front vowels ({{IPAslink|e}} and {{IPAslink|i}}) and tend to be pronounced {{IPA|[ɡ̄]}} before the back vowels ({{IPAslink|o}} and {{IPAslink|u}}). When these digraphs are preceded by a vowel, they are pronounced {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}} and {{IPA|[ɲɟ]}} before front vowels ({{IPAslink|e}} and {{IPAslink|i}}) and {{IPA|[ŋ̄ɡ̄]}} before the back ({{IPAslink|o}} and {{IPAslink|u}}). The digraph {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γγ}}}} may be pronounced {{IPA|[ŋɣ]}} in some words ({{IPA|[ɲʝ]}} before front vowels and {{IPA|[ŋ̄ɣ̄]}} before back ones). The pronunciation {{IPA|[ŋk]}} for the digraph {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γκ}}}} is extremely rare, but could be heard in literary and scholarly words or when reading ancient texts (by a few readers); normally it retains its "original" pronunciation {{IPA|[ŋk]}} only in the [[trigraph (orthography)|trigraph]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γκτ}}}}, where {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|τ}}}} prevents the sonorization of {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|κ}}}} by {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|γ}}}} (hence {{IPA|[ŋkt]}}).

==Syntax and morphology==
{{main|Modern Greek grammar}}

[[File:Plaque de la rue Psaron (Réthymnon).JPG|thumb|Street sign in [[Rethymno]] in honor of [[Psara]] island: ''Psaron (in genitive) Street, historic island of the 1821 Revolution'']]

Modern Greek is largely a [[synthetic language]]. Modern Greek and Albanian are the only two modern Indo-European languages that retain a synthetic [[passive voice|passive]] (the [[Swedish grammar#Passive voice|North Germanic passive]] is a recent innovation based on a [[Grammaticalization|grammaticalized]] [[reflexive pronoun]]).

=== Differences from Classical Greek ===
Modern Greek has changed from Classical Greek in [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and [[syntax]], losing some features and gaining others.

Features lost:

* [[dative case]]
* [[optative mood]]
* [[infinitive]]
* [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual number]]
* [[participle]]s (except the perfect middle-passive participle)
* third person imperative
* [[reduplication|reduplicative]] [[Perfect_(grammar)|perfect]]

Features gained:

* [[gerund]]
* [[modal particle]] {{lang|grc|θα}} (a contraction of {{lang|grc|ἐθέλω ἵνα}} → {{lang|grc|θέλω να}} → {{lang|grc|θε' να}} → {{lang|grc|θα}}), which marks future tense and conditional mood
* [[auxiliary verb]] forms for certain verb forms (in particular the perfect tense)
* [[grammatical aspect|aspectual]] distinction in future tense between imperfective (present) and perfective (aorist)

Modern Greek has developed a simpler system of grammatical prefixes marking tense and aspect of a verb, such as [[Augment (Indo-European)|augmentation]] and [[reduplication]], and has lost some patterns of noun [[declension]] and some distinct forms in the declensions.

Most of these features are shared with other languages spoken in the Balkan peninsula (see [[Balkan sprachbund]]), although Greek does not show all typical Balkan areal features, such as the postposed article.

Because of the influence of Katharevousa, however, Demotic is not commonly used in its purest form. [[Archaism]]s are still widely used, especially in writing and in more formal speech, as well as in some everyday expressions, such as the dative {{lang|grc|εντάξει}} ('okay', literally 'in order') or the third person imperative {{lang|grc|ζήτω}}! ('long live!').

==Sample text==
The following is a sample text in Modern Greek of Article 1 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (by the [[United Nations]]):

{{fs interlinear |indent=2 |lang=el |glossing3=no |italics3=yes |ipa4=yes
|{'''Άρθρο 1:'''} Όλοι οι άνθρωποι γεννιούνται ελεύθεροι και ίσοι στην αξιοπρέπεια και τα δικαιώματα. Είναι προικισμένοι με λογική και συνείδηση, και οφείλουν να συμπεριφέρονται μεταξύ τους με πνεύμα αδελφοσύνης.
|{'''Arthro 1:'''} Oloi oi anthropoi genniountai eleutheroi kai isoi stin axioprepeia kai ta dikaiomata. Einai proikismenoi me logiki kai syneidisi, kai ofeiloun na symperiferontai metaxy tous me pneuma adelfosynis. |c2=([[transliteration]])
|{'''Árthro 1:'''} Óli i ánthropi yeniúnde eléftheri ke ísi stin aksioprépia ke ta dhikeómata. Íne prikizméni me loyikí ke sinídhisi, ke ofílun na simberiféronde metaksí tus me pnévma adhelfosínis. |c3= ([[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]])
|{[ˈarθro ˈena ‖} ˈoli i ˈanθropi ʝeˈɲunde eˈlefθeri ce ˈisi stin aksioˈprepia ce ta {ðiceˈomata ‖} ˈine priciˈzmeni me loʝiˈci ce {siˈniðisi {{!}}} ce oˈfilun na simberiˈferonde metaˈksi tuz me ˈpnevma aðelfoˈsinis] |c4=(IPA)
|'''Article 1:''' All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
}}

==References==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Ανδριώτης (Andriotis)
 |first=Νικόλαος Π. (Nikolaos P.)
 |year=1995
 |title=Ιστορία της ελληνικής γλώσσας: (τέσσερις μελέτες) (History of the Greek language: four studies)
 |publisher=Ίδρυμα Τριανταφυλλίδη
 |location=Θεσσαλονίκη ([[Thessaloniki]])
 |isbn=960-231-058-8
}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Vitti
 |first=Mario
 |year=2001
 |title=Storia della letteratura neogreca
 |publisher=Carocci
 |location=Roma
 |isbn=88-430-1680-6
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikibooks}}
{{interwiki|code=el}}
* [http://www.greek-language.gr/ Portal for the Greek Language (modern & ancient)] of the [http://www.greeklanguage.gr/ Center for the Greek Language]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090225001151/http://hnc.ilsp.gr/en/default.asp Hellenic National Corpus] of the [http://www.ilsp.gr/ Institute for Language & Speech Processing]
* [http://www.blokmedia.com/Audio/greek_male_thanasis.mp3 Audio example of Modern Greek]

'''Courses'''
* [http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/ Online course "Filoglossia" by ILSP]
* [http://kypros.org/LearnGreek/ Greek online course "Greek by Radio" from Cyprus radio broadcasting CyBC in English, 105 lessons with Real audio files]

'''Dictionaries and glossaries'''
* [http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/georgakas/index.html Greek–English Dictionary Georgacas for Modern Greek Literature]
* [http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/index.html Triantafyllides Dictionary for Standard Modern Greek (Lexicon of the Modern Greek Koine)]
* [http://www.ilsp.gr/files/Glossary-Filoglossia.pdf Modern Greek - English glossary]
* [http://www.czudovo.info/list.php?what=1&ln=el&in=from_en English–Greek Dictionary (Modern Greek)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721193520/http://www.czudovo.info/list.php?what=1&ln=el&in=from_en |date=2011-07-21 }}

'''Grammar'''
* [http://www.ilsp.gr/files/Basic_Greek_Grammar.pdf Illustrated Modern Greek grammar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711155808/http://www.ilsp.gr/files/basic_greek_grammar.pdf |date=2019-07-11 }}

'''Institutes'''
* [http://www.greeklanguage.gr/ Official website] of the [[Center for the Greek Language]] 
* [https://www.auth.gr/en/units/8171 Institute of Modern Greek Studies of the Manolis Triandaphyllidis Foundation] at the [[Aristotle University of Thessaloniki]]
* [http://www.academyofathens.gr/el/kentro/ilne Center for the Research of the Modern Greek Dialects and Idioms] of the [[Academy of Athens (modern)]]
* [https://cyling.org/tag/talk/ The Cyprus Linguistics Society (CyLing)]
* [http://www.ilsp.gr/ Institute for Language & Speech Processing]

{{Greek language}}
{{Greek language periods}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Languages attested from the 15th century]]
[[Category:Modern Greek language| ]]