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ATLASEllinofonia
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CLASSIFICATIONSΤΑΞΙΝΟΜΗΣΕΙΣDraft under review

Who classifies, by which criteria, for which period

Eight published schemes for Modern Greek, each with its author, criteria, time window and how closely we have examined it. None is merged into a consensus tree.

The schemes

  1. Feature based division

    Hatzidakis (1892) B01 pp.342–343

    Northern and southern varieties, with intermediate cases

    Criteria
    Unstressed vocalism
    Window
    A late nineteenth century description
    Access
    Original examined

    The author states that the limits are uncertain and that Asia Minor is insufficiently studied. The division is approximate, not a border.

    See it in the comparison 2
  2. Regional groups

    Newton (1972) B18 B02 §3 pp.49–50 (χάρτης xii και σσ.13–15 του πρωτοτύπου)

    Six regional groups: Peloponnesian and Ionian, Cretan and Cycladic, Southeastern, Northern, Old Athenian, Maniot

    Criteria
    Phonological criteria as reported by Trudgill
    Window
    Not verified from the original
    Access
    Mediated

    The original has not been examined. Everything shown here comes from Trudgill's (2003) report of it.

    See it in the comparison 5
  3. Lexical distribution

    Kontossopoulos (1983) B19 B02 §3 p.49

    The Greece of «τι» and the Greece of «ίντα»

    Criteria
    Distribution of the interrogative combined with loss of unstressed high vowels
    Window
    Not verified from the original
    Access
    Mediated

    A lexical distribution does not define a genealogy on its own. The article of 1983 and 1984 has not been obtained.

    See it in the comparison 0
  4. Feature areas

    Trudgill (2003) B02 §§2–3 pp.48–50; §§5–7 pp.53–62

    Areas defined by six phonological features

    Criteria
    Six phonological criteria
    Window
    A contiguous area with a notional 1900 baseline
    Access
    Original examined

    Excludes several outlying traditions and calls its geographic assignments tentative. It relies substantially on Newton and Kontossopoulos, so three names are not three independent field surveys.

    See it in the comparison 5
  5. Historical zone

    Pantelidis (2016) B26 pp.303–304, 308–311, §4.1

    A proposed southern Greek dialect zone

    Criteria
    Historical evidence linking Old Athenian, Peloponnesian and eastern Central Greek
    Window
    A tentative chronology with internal discontinuities
    Access
    Original examined

    A historical and areal proposal, not a taxonomy of all Greek.

    See it in the comparison 2
  6. Broad headings

    Horrocks (2020) B20 VLACH, Further classifications (Horrocks 2020:382)

    Eight broader headings, including Pontic and Cappadocian, Tsakonian and South Italian

    Criteria
    Broad headings as cited by VLACH
    Window
    Edition and page not yet checked
    Access
    Mediated

    Known only through VLACH. A heading that joins Pontic and Cappadocian does not merge their evidence.

    See it in the comparison 5
  7. Dataset partition

    Chatzikyriakidis et al. (2026) B13 pp.3138–3140, §§3–3.1.6

    Ten corpus labels, including Katharevousa

    Criteria
    Operational partition of a computational dataset
    Window
    A 2026 dataset
    Access
    Original examined

    A dataset labelling system, not a hereditary classification or complete inventory. Its label for a register shows why entity type and dataset label must stay separate.

    See it in the comparison 3
  8. Collection organisation

    VLACH (ÖAW) (n.d.) B05 Classification overview; Northern/Southern/Semi-northern varieties; Further classifications

    Collection organised by area and vocalism type

    Criteria
    Organisation of an archive collection
    Window
    An undated institutional overview
    Access
    Original examined

    VLACH itself distinguishes its collection organisation from linguistic classification.

    See it in the comparison 8

There is no single classification of Greek. There are scholars' proposals, each answering a different question, for a different period and a different area. The Atlas stores each scheme with its author, work, edition, purpose, time window and criteria, and each membership of a unit as a separate cited assertion. There is no "parent dialect" column, consensus tree, invented similarity score or count of "all dialects".

Three original approaches, three scales

The Atlas has directly examined three original approaches: Hatzidakis's broad division, Trudgill's feature map and Pantelidis's narrower historical zone proposal. They work at different scales and must not be presented as three rival exhaustive taxonomies. GRDD+ is a different kind of object: a partition of a computational dataset.

Disagreements that must stay visible

North and south vocalism is a useful criterion, but it cannot stand for every Greek tradition. VLACH explicitly limits its reach and distinguishes its collection organisation from linguistic classification B05 Further classifications. Newton's Cretan and Cycladic group and Trudgill's smaller feature areas are not interchangeable nodes B02 §3, §6. Disagreement is not settled by majority vote. The time window, inclusion rule, feature coverage and dependency are recorded. Trudgill relies substantially on Newton and Kontossopoulos, so three names are not three independent field surveys.

Tsakonian's Doric trajectory needs specialist historical qualification. "Not through Koine" in a broad overview does not prove there was no contact with Koine. The place of Pharasiot and Silliot relative to Cappadocian is unresolved. Modern standardisation is not an ancestral node.

How we know each scheme

How we know each schemeknown only throughknown only throughknown only throughHatzidakis (1892)Feature based division · Original examinedTrudgill (2003)Feature areas · Original examinedPantelidis (2016)Historical zone · Original examinedChatzikyriakidis et al. (2026)Dataset partition · Original examinedVLACH (ÖAW) (n.d.)Collection organisation · Original examinedNewton (1972)Regional groups · MediatedKontossopoulos (1983)Lexical distribution · MediatedHorrocks (2020)Broad headings · Mediatedrelies on Newton, Kontossopoulos
  • Hatzidakis (1892) Original examined.
  • Newton (1972) Known only through Trudgill (2003).
  • Kontossopoulos (1983) Known only through Trudgill (2003).
  • Trudgill (2003) Original examined. Relies on Newton (1972), Kontossopoulos (1983).
  • Pantelidis (2016) Original examined.
  • Horrocks (2020) Known only through VLACH (ÖAW).
  • Chatzikyriakidis et al. (2026) Original examined.
  • VLACH (ÖAW) (n.d.) Original examined.

Sources on this page

  1. B05 Austrian Academy of Sciences, VLACH. Greek varieties. Undated institutional overview. Passage inspected
  2. B02 Trudgill, Peter. 2003. Modern Greek dialects: A preliminary classification. Journal of Greek Linguistics 4:45–64. DOI 10.1075/jgl.4.04tru. Passage inspected