Three Ways Turkish Influenced Cappadocian Greek
Cappadocian Greek is a dialect of Greek that originally developed in a region of Turkey known
as Cappadocia. It was at one point a part of the Byzantine empire, which was just a part of the
Roman empire where many people spoke Greek. Originally, this would have been Byzantine
Greek, whose influence can still be seen today in the Cappadocian Greek dialect. However, the
overwhelming influence of the Turkish culture and language left its mark, with many switching
over to Turkish completely. Those who managed to keep speaking their native Greek began
incorporating some aspects of Turkish into the language, which made Cappadocian Greek what
it is today.
Even without the Turkish influence, Cappadocian Greek would have been unique compared to
the other dialects of Greek due to the simple fact that it was cut off from the Greek-speaking
world for centuries starting in 1071. During that time, Turkish was the official language of the
land and the lingua franca, and the remaining Greek speakers continued to speak their own
dialect based on Byzantine Greek that continued to evolve without any Roman influence, like
most other Greek dialects. This means that some characteristics of Ancient Greek can still be
found in Cappadocian Greek that were either eliminated or replaced by a Roman equivalent in
Standard Modern Greek and other dialects.
The Turkish influence in Cappadocian Greek is undeniable, however. Here are three of the most
prominent features that show this influence:
1. The use of some Turkish consonants and vowels
Though most of the sounds you will hear when listening to Cappadocian Greek are taken
directly from Byzantine Greek, there are a handful that were borrowed from Turkish. The
Turkish vowel sounds that can be found in Cappadocian Greek are ü, ö, and ı. Several
consonant sounds can be heard as well, including š, ž, tš, and dž. These are all sounds that
come directly from Turkish and aren't found in any other Greek dialect.
2. The presence of Turkish vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a rather strange concept for native English speakers since it doesn´t occur in
English, but it basically means that certain types of vowels can´t be used in the same word, or
can only be used in a certain order. Turkish vowels are generally characterized as either
high/low and rounded/unrounded, and are divided into two classes, front and back. According to
Turkish vowel harmony, for example, a word can´t have front and back vowels. Some vowels
also change depending on whether or not they are preceded by a rounded vowel. All of these
rules can be found in Cappadocian Greek as well.
3. The use of certain morphological markings depending on whether a noun is definite or not
Something that can be found in Turkish is a tendency add a suffix or not to a noun depending
on whether it is a definite or indefinite noun. In Cappadocian Greek, this characteristic can be
seen when a noun is in the accusative case. In order to show that it is definite or indefinite, a
suffix is added (or not), just as in Turkish.