receive and publish a letter from a reader about the themes covered by the article of prof. Salvatore Sicuro appeared in issue 8.
Dear Editor, I state
not know the Greek dialects of Italy South and that the roots of my family have never had any link with strains of Southern Italy
My interest in Greek dialects of Calabria and Salento charm that comes from the ancient greek on my feeling has always exercised since the distant school years. In particular, since it was not convinced about the validity of the pronounced "school" of the ancient greek for some time I am dedicated to the problem of pronunciation. Hence, my approach to the Greek dialects of Southern Italy, since with all the evidence derived directly from the talk of the Greek colonies founded several centuries before Christ. In fact, those who dispute this ancient branch, calling into question the expansion Byzantine, or refuses to recognize the evidence or does not possess the skills necessary to understand it. I am therefore fully agree with the linguist Gerhard Rohls, who, besides not having any personal reason to be partial, it was by far the largest student-greek dialects of Italy and has contributed to their knowledge less rough as anyone else. Gerhard Rohlfs, unlike many of his colleagues, rather than ranting and fantasize about a language that never existed, nor ever was spoken, such as the Indo-European language preferred to immerse themselves in true reality, not fearing the ongoing study, led by tireless and a sensitivity and intelligence higher.
That said, I would like to make some considerations about the remarkable letter of prof. Salvatore Sure, giving up in here to argue about all the problems he leaves emerge, to be limited to certain aspects. In short, the prof. Sure seems to simplify the problem of a number of words in any language.
And as to the number of words, I wonder from whence he has derived the number of 170,000, as a vocabulary of modern greek or modern Greek. It seems appropriate to point out that in ancient greek verbs, not the derived forms and dialects, they are just under 30,000, while the nouns and adjectives, again excluding the derived forms and dialects, amount to little more 100,000, for a total of about 130,000 (one of the most extensive vocabulary). The number of terms of a good dictionary of modern greek, and including the derived forms and dialects, the words borrowed from turkish and those not belonging to the ancient greek, does not exceed the number of 70,000, of which over two-thirds come from the lexicon ancient greek (in fact a word as modern τηλέφωνο is actually a composite of two ancient words). If we consider that only the educated people are able to use up to 20,000 and that the great mass employs more than 8000, the number cited by prof. Sure to leave at least puzzling.
But set aside the number of words, it should be noted that a language is not only the number of words, which really is not as distinctive. What differentiates one from another language, which is the only real difficulty for those who do not know, is not given by the number of words but from the morphological and syntactic structure and the so-called style syntax, in other words on how to formulate thought. Just a simple example to clarify the concept: if you translate into English the simple question "how old are you?", Replace the Italian with the corresponding English words, I get "how many years haves?", Which will be completely incomprehensible to any Anglophone! For the Greeks already
twenties in the seventies, media education, a step of Plato was incomprehensible, but many of the words were known. It was as if they had access to a Rolls-Royce is removed as a lexicon that is among the richest, but were not able to assemble. (The Greeks of today are in their twenties, after the destruction of spelling and the banning of καθαρεύσα in a condition far worse.) Personally, I prefer someone who, having easy access to a Fiat 500, knows how to assemble and do so much more road
... I'm not saying that learning of the modern greek should be stigmatized, rather than say can only be a term comparison that highlights the differences. The greek-Italic dialects possess characteristics that no longer has the modern greek for centuries, eg. the vitality of the infinite ways. Notices in public places such ἀπαγορεύεται καπνίζειν, now perhaps no longer legible, were in fact comparable to the exposure of a mummy.
Professor. Sure ἀρτοπωλεῖο which cites the voice worthy alternative to 'furno'. But φοῦρνο What's wrong? In Greece, speaking, using φοῦρνο, ψωμάδικο, not ἀρτοπωλεῖο, readable, perhaps even on some shows. (In any case it seems ἀρτοπώλιον in ancient greek). For example, in Greece 'Wardrobe' is said ντουλάπα, turkish a horrible word, however, the corresponding greek ἱματιοθήκη failed to supplant. As for 'Greetings' and 'wish' I am not aware that there are voices in modern Greek strictly equivalent, but more or less corresponding expression but not treated, depending on the occasions.
In contrast, this poor, pathetic vocabulary of only 6000 words, containing among others a voice, ἀσκλούνι, which, compared to a passage of Aristotle, who quotes Homer, allowed to lift a veil on the true meaning of χλούνης, already lost in antiquity (cf. P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire de la langue grecque étymologique, nouvelle ed., Paris 1999, p. 1264, sv). Maybe the prof. Sure it will be a trifle, to me, however, is the testimony of a treasure to discover. Should be aware of the first students from Calabria and Puglia classical school that they feel encouraged and encouraged to seek their roots not belonging to anyone else, if not to them, how they compare with the greek school (?!); speak in their dialect with the elderly residents in the villages not yet reached, a little 'how is when you go to a flea market that it is mostly full of smears, but sometimes they are unique objects in our case, words, words that were not recorded ...
No tree without roots, fruits and even a falling tree can be reborn from its roots, the same goes for the man and his culture, which is not the school, but the natural environment where he was born, his ancestors, its language, its traditions. Have you ever seen a tree that destroys itself from its roots?
Sorry if I have dwelt a bit '. I stop here, otherwise I find myself on page 100 alone ... !?!?!
Congratulations on the immediate, polite but firm response to the prof. Sure.
With best wishes good luck,
L. Franco Viero
Dornoch, October 29, 2009
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