Last Spartans: the survival of Laconic Greek

The story of a Greek town that I'm told still preserves the Spartan tongue. I explore why they don't speak like the rest of Greece and dig into their connection to ancient Sparta. Will their Tsakonian language survive?

Thanks to Vlogbrothers for their sponsorship of this video.

~ CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS ~

The man from Leonidio is a "headmaster", not "schoolmaster". His story and links to the recordings are in my sources doc below.

"hoplos researched" should read "hoplon researched" / "aspis researched" - my thanks to @Roelkonijn

~ SUMMARY ~

Ancient Greece was home to a variety of dialects. Athens and Sparta both put up a major fight. Long story short, the dialect of one of those cities won out. Guess which? Athens, of course. Attic Greek combined with a hefty dose of Ionic to form the Koiné (Common) Greek, the ancestor of basically all modern Greek dialects.

All but perhaps one. Travel to a small town in the south of Greece, where a headmaster leads his students up the hillsides to record the words of their elders. These aging villagers speak Tsakonian (Τσακώνικα), a special remnant that may soon crumble into another Greek artifact.

I look at pieces of the grammar and pronunciation of the language, and show you what sets it apart from Modern Greek. Search for any ancient holdouts it preserves. Consider its connection to the Doric dialect of Ancient Sparta. Finally, ponder its place in modern Greece and how much longer it will be with us.

~ CREDITS ~

Art, narration and animation by Josh from NativLang. A bit of the music, too.

Sources for claims and credits for sfx, images and music:

[johnlyssikatos]

My grandparents and parents spoke Tsakonika whenever they decided that the kids don't need to hear this. They would start with "Tses pion" and we knew the conversation had turned to secret code.

[Saltwater]

As a native speaker, I have to say that I fell in love with your pronunciation!

[Arcsinner]

I am always fascinated how many different languages you cover. Nothing but respect for you

[atouloupas]

NativLang, you amaze me once again! I'm Greek and, honestly, I didn't expect a video about Greek and, surely, not Tsakonian. Your modern Greek pronunciation is *excellent* (now approved by a Greek 😀) and your ancient Greek one also very good.
I hope I could say more than a "thank you", because not many people (and even Greeks) know about Tsakonian, which is severely endangered nowadays and I feel that this video will help a little bit to raise awareness about this awesome language deriving from Doric Greek.

Once again, thank you so much! Keep creating amazing content for people! We need to learn more about languages!

[SpiralBreeze]

My dad always said those people spoke ancient Greek, while us on the Island spoke "red neck" or mountain Greek. We speak differently from the main land or proper Athenian Greek. My mom tried to explain to him that those were different dialects but he insisted it was ancient Greek. Granted people on the island didn't get much education.

[AlkisGD]

I was talking to a Brit today and after telling him I live in Leonidio, he sent me this video. Thank you for making this! I may be a native, but you sure taught me a lot today :O

[jzaar]

RIP digamma...


Press ϝ to pay respects.

[cadr]

I always was interested in Tsakonian Greek. I always found it pretty.

[Dmdm_dm]

I'm a Greek linguist and this is very accurate. Excellent job! How do you manage to find so many pieces of accurate information from all kinds of languages and still manage to pronounce it correctly?

[NativLang]

In the works since April 2016! NativLang was much smaller then. It's perhaps the last story I will tell purely because I wanted to, with no one requesting it.

[yiannisroubos]

Wow as a native speaker your modern Greek pronunciation is so amazing!
I'm so impressed! Μπράβο! Καλή συνέχεια !

[greek_sahab]

I am Greek and a linguistics graduate and I must say the way you pronounce Greek words is spot on. Tsakonian is indeed an amazing language. I hope it survives. I know that some years ago it started being taught at schools in Leonidio but dunno if it still goes on.

[AndreasBabouris]

Fantastic video, as always! Western Greek, including the Doric, Northwestern and Achaean dialects, was once spoken in approximately half of today's Greece. Aside from the survival of Tsakonian, Modern Greek maintains a small Doric substratum, so, certain words that ended in _-η_ in Attic are used in their _-α_ form. _Βελόνα_ (as opposed το _βελόνη_) is a universal example, but there are also cases like _ζέστα_ (instead of _ζέστη_) that are only used locally.

Dialectal diversity is not celebrated nearly as much as it should in Greece, and that holds especially true for Tsakonian. Incidentally, I feel that many impressive features of the language are hidden by the fact that it's transcribed using Modern Greek spelling rules in most sources, which doesn't suit all of its phonological features. The retention of the (etymological) digamma is especially fascinating to me.

Love your videos, keep it up! By the way, your modern Greek pronunciation is excellent!

[TheManFromWaco]

So now the official name for Sparta is spelled in the Athenian dialect. I guess this is payback for that whole 'Peloponnesian War' thing...

[ki]

You should do Cypriot Greek, it's interesting plus it's still heavily used in Cyprus, it would be easy to find material for it!

[andyjay]

Philip of Macedon: If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground!
Spartans' reply: "If".


Thus did "laconic" become a synonym for "concise" or "abrupt".

[TheHortoman]

So tldw: Russians get triggered when buying figs in sparta

[angelosid]

NativLang Amazingly interesting video, a Greek myself and a languages enthusiast I can only say I was impressed in the very idea that Tsakonica may derive from Laconica, more so on remnants of the Doric dialect.

Another thing, I would really enjoy a video on the erasmian pronunciation of ancient Greek and Latin.

thanks for sharing, keep up the great job!

[Astronomy]

I love how everyone I'm subbed to just uploaded at once.

[ZoeGeorge]

I'm greek and I really loved and appreciated this video, thank you!