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Tsalka language
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Tsalka language
Tsalka is an East-Anatolian dialect of Turkish spoken by Tsalka Greeks who mainly inhabit the Tsalka and Tetritsqaro municipalities in Georgia.
Not all Tsalka Greeks speak Tsalka; there are many Pontic Greek speakers. Tsalka is exclusively a spoken language and has no writing system.
The name Tsalka language is not used by its speakers; instead, they use descriptive terms like "bizim dili" ("our language"). Tsalka Greeks also call their language Musulmandzha (the Muslim language) and often identify as Urums as a result of the belief that people's ethnic identity is defined by the genetic relationships of their language; this view was heavily promoted by the Soviet bureaucracy. At the same time, they are offended by the claim that they are not real Greeks because of the Turkish influence. According to Garkavets, Orthodox Mariupol Urums who also speak a Turkic language have no similar insecurity in relation to their language.
Speaking Tsalka is not prestigious and is seen as shameful or a curse, but the speakers believe that switching from Greek to Tsalka has enabled them to preserve their Orthodox Christian faith; they see it in contrast with the conversion of Pontic Greeks into Islam while maintaining their Hellenic language. The actual reason for the abandonment of language is unknown, and is not typical for ethnic minorities in Ottoman Empire (see the opposite cases in Bosnia, Herzsegovina, Albania and Greece); it is being theorised that the language shift occurred in the urban population while more rural Pontic Greeks retained a Hellenic dialect.
Tsalka became less stigmatised after dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 as its partial intelligibility had facilitated trading with Turkey. The common language also helps Tsalka Greeks to befriend Turkic speakers from neighbouring settlements and provides them with entertainment via Turkish popular media. Most Tsalka Greeks report a desire to learn the Greek language.
Most ancestors of Tsalka Greeks moved to the East of modern Georgia from the Erzurum Province. Most Tsalka surnames are formed using a pattern that reflects the history of resettlement: Tsalka speakers add a Turkish suffix (usually -gil) to the name of the male head of the family at the time of migration to the Caucasus. Other last names have a Russian suffix (-ov or -ev).
The biggest wave of Pontic Greek migration to Georgia occurred in 1830. Greeks had cooperated with the Russian army that entered Ottoman territories in 1828, and were afraid of Turkish retaliation after the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople, which returned territories with significant Greek population to the Ottoman Empire. Over 42,000 Greeks living in Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Kars, Bayazet and Erzurum municipalities left the territory of modern Turkey, which constitutes at least 1/5 of the total population of the time. Tsalka Greeks moved to Georgia in 1830: from Gümüşhane and Maden in May, from Başköy village in Erzurum vilayet in July; the third, biggest group arrived from various sancak of Erzurum vilayet over the course of the second half of the same year. By the end of 1831, the Greek population of Tsalka settled in 18 villages with a total population of 642 families. Most of them spoke Pontic Greek at home, but the subsequent generations switched to Turkish as it was the local lingua franca. This is also reflected in the toponyms: many Greek villages in Tsalka have Greek names, but their residents do not speak Greek.
In 1979, Tsalka Greeks composed a third of all the Greek population of Georgia. In later decades, many of them moved to Crimea, Stavropol and Krasnodar Krais.
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Tsalka language
Tsalka is an East-Anatolian dialect of Turkish spoken by Tsalka Greeks who mainly inhabit the Tsalka and Tetritsqaro municipalities in Georgia.
Not all Tsalka Greeks speak Tsalka; there are many Pontic Greek speakers. Tsalka is exclusively a spoken language and has no writing system.
The name Tsalka language is not used by its speakers; instead, they use descriptive terms like "bizim dili" ("our language"). Tsalka Greeks also call their language Musulmandzha (the Muslim language) and often identify as Urums as a result of the belief that people's ethnic identity is defined by the genetic relationships of their language; this view was heavily promoted by the Soviet bureaucracy. At the same time, they are offended by the claim that they are not real Greeks because of the Turkish influence. According to Garkavets, Orthodox Mariupol Urums who also speak a Turkic language have no similar insecurity in relation to their language.
Speaking Tsalka is not prestigious and is seen as shameful or a curse, but the speakers believe that switching from Greek to Tsalka has enabled them to preserve their Orthodox Christian faith; they see it in contrast with the conversion of Pontic Greeks into Islam while maintaining their Hellenic language. The actual reason for the abandonment of language is unknown, and is not typical for ethnic minorities in Ottoman Empire (see the opposite cases in Bosnia, Herzsegovina, Albania and Greece); it is being theorised that the language shift occurred in the urban population while more rural Pontic Greeks retained a Hellenic dialect.
Tsalka became less stigmatised after dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 as its partial intelligibility had facilitated trading with Turkey. The common language also helps Tsalka Greeks to befriend Turkic speakers from neighbouring settlements and provides them with entertainment via Turkish popular media. Most Tsalka Greeks report a desire to learn the Greek language.
Most ancestors of Tsalka Greeks moved to the East of modern Georgia from the Erzurum Province. Most Tsalka surnames are formed using a pattern that reflects the history of resettlement: Tsalka speakers add a Turkish suffix (usually -gil) to the name of the male head of the family at the time of migration to the Caucasus. Other last names have a Russian suffix (-ov or -ev).
The biggest wave of Pontic Greek migration to Georgia occurred in 1830. Greeks had cooperated with the Russian army that entered Ottoman territories in 1828, and were afraid of Turkish retaliation after the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople, which returned territories with significant Greek population to the Ottoman Empire. Over 42,000 Greeks living in Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Kars, Bayazet and Erzurum municipalities left the territory of modern Turkey, which constitutes at least 1/5 of the total population of the time. Tsalka Greeks moved to Georgia in 1830: from Gümüşhane and Maden in May, from Başköy village in Erzurum vilayet in July; the third, biggest group arrived from various sancak of Erzurum vilayet over the course of the second half of the same year. By the end of 1831, the Greek population of Tsalka settled in 18 villages with a total population of 642 families. Most of them spoke Pontic Greek at home, but the subsequent generations switched to Turkish as it was the local lingua franca. This is also reflected in the toponyms: many Greek villages in Tsalka have Greek names, but their residents do not speak Greek.
In 1979, Tsalka Greeks composed a third of all the Greek population of Georgia. In later decades, many of them moved to Crimea, Stavropol and Krasnodar Krais.