TY - JOUR

T1 - Folklore, literature and identity, or once more about Azov Greeks

AU - Кисилиер, Максим Львович

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Literature in dialects is an essential phenomenon for Greek literature. In Ancient Greek literature each literary genre was connected with some dialect. Superficial unification during the Hellenistic Koiné could not hide regional variants. Literary traditions in dialects reappeared in the late Middle Ages in Crete and in Cyprus and had little to do with the rise of national identity, though literatures in dialects are usually based on local folklore. Local literatures in the dialect are very interesting as a linguistic and sociocultural phenomenon. In this article I will describe the development of the literature of Azov Greeks. Raised on the local folklore tradition, it became a part of the unique Soviet experiment of 1920s – 1930s that was tragically interrupted in 1938. Modern Azov Greek literature is a typical Greek literature in dialects that lacks readers, subjects and links with today’s life. However, there is still hope to improve this situation if local cultural policy is changed and new web-technologies (like language corpus and online dictionary) are introduced.

AB - Literature in dialects is an essential phenomenon for Greek literature. In Ancient Greek literature each literary genre was connected with some dialect. Superficial unification during the Hellenistic Koiné could not hide regional variants. Literary traditions in dialects reappeared in the late Middle Ages in Crete and in Cyprus and had little to do with the rise of national identity, though literatures in dialects are usually based on local folklore. Local literatures in the dialect are very interesting as a linguistic and sociocultural phenomenon. In this article I will describe the development of the literature of Azov Greeks. Raised on the local folklore tradition, it became a part of the unique Soviet experiment of 1920s – 1930s that was tragically interrupted in 1938. Modern Azov Greek literature is a typical Greek literature in dialects that lacks readers, subjects and links with today’s life. However, there is still hope to improve this situation if local cultural policy is changed and new web-technologies (like language corpus and online dictionary) are introduced.

KW - Modern Greek dialectology

KW - Greek folklore

KW - Azov Greek

KW - Ruméika

KW - Greeks of the USSR

KW - Azov Greek literature

KW - Modern Greek literature in dialects

M3 - Article

VL - 8

SP - 83

EP - 97

JO - Judaica Petropolitana

JF - Judaica Petropolitana

ER -