Page Type: languagePontic | Ethnologue

PNT ISO 639-3

Pontic

Ποντιακά‎ (Pontiaká), Ποντιακόν λαλίαν‎ (Pontiakón lalían) Autonym

A language of Greece

ISO 639
pnt
Alternate Names
Pontic Greek, Romeika, Romeyka
Autonym
Ποντιακά‎ (Pontiaká), Ποντιακόν λαλίαν‎ (Pontiakón lalían)
Population
400,000 in Greece (2009 Z. Diakonikolaou). Total users in all countries: 778,000.
Location:
Central Macedonia: Kilkis, Pella, Serres, and Thessaloniki except south of Kalamaria borough.
Language Status
5* (Developing).
Classification
Indo-European, Greek, Attic
Dialects
None known. Standard Greek [ell] speakers cannot understand Pontic, and Pontic speakers reportedly do not understand or speak standard Greek [ell]. Pontic clubs and centers exist in the Athens-Peiraeus suburbs.
Language Use
Youth may speak standard Greek as L1. Speakers in North America reportedly maintain the use of Pontic more zealously than those in Greece.
Language Development
Grammar.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Pontic
Writing
Cyrillic script [Cyrl], rarely used. Greek script [Grek], primary usage, used in Greece. Latin script [Latn], sporadic use on social media, used in Turkey.
Other Comments
Brought to Greece in the 1920s and 1930s by immigrants from the Black Sea coast, which had been inhabited by Greeks since antiquity.

Also Spoken in

Language Name
Pontic
User Population
15,000 in Georgia (Leclerc 2015).
Language Status
Unestablished
Other Comments
Non-indigenous.
View other languages of Georgia
Language Name
Pontic
User Population
358,000 in Russian Federation (2009 Z. Diakonikolaou).
Location
Krasnodar province; Novorosibirsk district; Rostov province: Rostov-on-Don; Stravropol krai: Sochi.
Language Status
Unestablished
Other Comments
Non-indigenous.
View other languages of Russian Federation
Language Name
Pontic
User Population
5,000 in Turkey (Schreiber 2015). Number of speakers as reported by language community members.
Location
Trabzon province: Of, Çaykara, Sürmene, Maçka and Tonya counties.
Dialects
Romeyka of Of (Ophitic), Romeyka of Sürmene, Romeyka of Tonya.
Language Status
7 (Shifting)
Other Comments
Muslim.
View other languages of Turkey

Map

Location: Central Macedonia: Kilkis, Pella, Serres, and Thessaloniki except south of Kalamaria borough.