Tsakonian language

Tsakonian
τσακώνικα
(Tsakonian/Greek) "Our language is Tsakonian. Ask and they'll tell you./Groússa námou eíni ta Tsakónika. Rotíete na nioúm' alíoi./I glóssa mas eínai ta Tsakónika. Rotíste na sas poun., bilingual (Tsakonian and Standard Greek) sign in the town of Leonidio.
Native toGreece
RegionEastern Peloponnese, around Mount Parnon
EthnicityTsakonians
Native speakers
2,000–4,000 (2018)
Dialects
  • Propontis
  • Northern
  • Southern
  • Western?
Language codes
ISO 639-3tsd
Glottologtsak1248
ELPTsakonian
Linguasphere56-AAA-b
Tsakonian is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Tsakonian or Tsaconian (also Tzakonian or Tsakonic, Greek: τσακωνικά, η τσακωνική διάλεκτος and Tsakonian: τσακώνικα, α τσακώνικα γρούσσα) is a highly divergent modern variety of Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. Unlike all other extant varieties of Greek, Tsakonian derives from Doric Greek rather than from the AtticIonic branch. Although it is conventionally treated as a dialect of Greek, some compendia treat it as a separate language. Tsakonian is critically endangered, with only a few hundred or a few thousand, mostly elderly, fluent speakers left. Although Tsakonian and standard Modern Greek are related, they are not mutually intelligible.