PATTERNS OF ARCHAIC LEXICS IN PONTIC GREEK SPEECH OF AJARA

Abstract

The Pontic dialect developed in isolation over the years due to certain historical, geographical, and political conditions, which resulted in significant divergence from both the mother tongue and other dialects of the native language. It is also worth noting that Pontic is more conservative than other dialects of modern Greek, which has contributed to the preservation of ancient Greek lexical items within it.

The dialect spoken by the Pontic Greeks in Adjara exhibits significant characteristics across all levels of the linguistic hierarchy, particularly in vocabulary, especially in the context of foreign linguistic influences, which makes it an important subject for research.

The study of the Pontic dialect spread throughout Georgia is particularly interesting because it developed in a distinct multilingual environment and was naturally influenced by other languages. However, it has managed to retain its uniqueness despite these external influences, as evidenced by the presence of archaic Greek lexical units.

In analyzing the research material with the aim of classifying archaic forms, we can identify several groups:

1. Lexical units that are either absent from modern Greek or have undergone changes but have been preserved in Pontic, such as ράφτω (sewing) - კერვა, οπίς (back) - უკან.
2. Lexical units that are phonetically altered but are believed to be directly related to ancient Greek, such as ωβόν (egg) - კვერცხი, χαλκόν (kettle) - ქვაბი.
3. Some lexical units with synonymous equivalents in both modern and ancient Greek are also present in Pontic, with one variant being preserved, such as σκαφίρ - ტაშტი, გობი.
4. Pontic vocabulary often results from the combination of two words from ancient Greek, such as αγρέιπον - ჯეირანი.
5. Certain words that have not undergone any changes at any stage of linguistic development are confirmed in Pontic and have been preserved in their original forms, such as γωνίαν - კუთხე and others.

Keywords: Archaisms, Pontic Greeks, Pontic dialect, Speech, Linguistics.