An analysis of the Pomak language based on fieldwork research data Server A. Kehaya A dissertation submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of the Master of Arts in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou December 2015 II For all Pomaks, II III CONTENTS Dedication……………………………………………………………………………II Contents…………………………………………………………………………..III-V Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………VI Photos and Maps……………………………………………………………….VII-IX List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………...X Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...XI 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………...1-9 Who are the Pomak people?...……………………………………………1-3 What is Pomak?...........................................................................................3-4 History of the Pomak Language………………………………………….4-6 Pomak dialects……………………………………………………………..6-7 Proposed Pomak alphabet………………………………………………...7-9 2. THE PROPOSAL, aims and methodology of this thesis………………….10-18 Literature Review………………………………………………………10-11 Methodology.……………………………………………………………12-13 Recording details………………………………………………………..13-15 Native seaker participants…………………………………………………16 Research objective…………………………………………………….........17 3. PHONOLOGY……………………………………………………................18-36 3.1. The Sounds of Pomak…………………………………………………..18-24 Vowels……………………………………………………………18-20 Comments on the vowel system………………………………...20-21 Consonants……………………………………………………….21-24 3.2. Phonological processes…………………………………………………24-34 Vowel Change...………………………………………………….24-26 Consonant Elision……………………………………………….26-27 L – vocalization……….………………………………..………..27-28 Deaffrication of tʃ to ʃ……………………………………………28-29 Affrication of ʒ to dʒ…………………………………………….29-30 Final stop devoicing……………………………………………..30-31 Vowel alternation………………………………………………..31-32 Consonant alternation………………………....................................32 Vowel syncope………………………………….................................33 3.3. Word Stress…………………………………..........................................34-36 4. MORPHOLOGY…………………………………………………................37-70 4.1. NOUNS………………………………………………………………….38-47 Augmentation and diminution………………………………….38-39 III IV Derived Nouns………………………………………………………40 Deverbal Nouns……………………………………………………..40 Deadjectival Nouns……………………………………………...40-42 Inflectional Noun Morphemes………………………………….42-45 Plurality………………………………………………………….45-47 4.2. ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS………………………………………….47-53 Denominal Adjectives…………………………………………........48 Adverbs…………………………………………………………..49-50 Determiners…………………………………...............................50-53 4.3. VERBS …………………….....................................................................53-66 Denominal Verbs……………………………………………………54 Deadjectival Verbs………………………………………………54-55 Finite verb forms: Tense and Aspect…………………………..55-56 The Tenses: Tense formation and Tense usage…………………...56 The Imperfective (Progressive) & Perfective Aspects........56 Present Simple………………………...................................57 Past Continuous or Imperfect Past………………………..58 Past Simple or Factual Past (Aorist)…..........................58-59 Future Continuous……………………………………...59-60 Future Simple……………………………............................60 Future Perfect Continuous…………..............................61-62 Future Perfect Simple………………...................................62 Present Perfect Continuous…………………………….62-64 Present Perfect Simple – Preterite…………………….64-65 Past Perfect Continuous…………………...........................65 Past Perfect Simple – Pluperfect…………..........................66 4.4. MODALITY…………………………………………………………….67-70 Imperative………………………………………………………..67-68 Subjunctive………………………………………………………68-70 5. BORROWINGS………………………………………………………..........71-80 Turkish and Greek borrowings….………………………………..71-72 Greek loan words in the recordings…............................................72-74 Turkish loan words in the recordings…………………………….74-78 Loan words of different origin in the recordings………………...78-80 6. SYNTAX……………………………………………………………………..81-92 The Sentence……………………………………………………….81-84 Word Order ……………………………………………………….84-86 Predicates……………………………………..................................86-88 Subject verb non-agreement……………………………………...88-89 Clitics……………………………………………………………….89-91 Clitic doubling………………………………...................................91-92 7. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………...93-95 8. REFERENCES……………………………………………………………..96-100 IV V 9. APPENDIX ..………………………………………………………...........101-222 Recording 1…………………………………………………………...101-109 Recording 2…………………………………………………………...110-127 Recording 3…………………………………………………………...128-136 Recording 4…………………………………………………………...137-158 Recording 5…………………………………………………………...159-174 Recording 6…………………………………………………………...175-192 Recording 7…………………………………………………………...193-212 Recording 8…………………………………………………………...213-222 V VI Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents for providing me with both material and immaterial support throught my life, the Pomak people that very gladly obliged to help me by providing me with invaluable recorded data, and Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Mela- Athanasopoulou for agreeing to supervise this dissertation and for her unwavering support throughout this endeavour. This dissertation is only the stepping stone for further research. VI VII PHOTOS AND MAPS Fig. 1. Map of Pomak-speaking villages of Xanthi by N.Th. Kokkas. Fig. 2. The author in front of signpost of a village in which a recording took place. VII VIII Fig. 3. Pomak speaker in a recording process. Fig. 4. Pomak speakers in a recording process. VIII IX Fig. 5. Pomak speakers in a recording process. Fig. 6. The author with Pomak speakers in a recording process. IX X List of Abbreviations A addressee ADJ. adjective ADV. adverb AUX. auxiliary CONJ. conjunction D distal DAT. dative DEF. definite FEM. feminine FUT future HAB habitual IRR irrealis MSC. masculine NEG. negator NOM. nominative NTR . neuter OBJ. object OBL. oblique PL. plural PN. pronoun PR. present PRTC. participle PREP. preposition PROG. progressive QUANT. quantifier Q.PART. question particle SP. speaker SG. singular SUBJ. subjunctive X XI ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is to present the minority language of Pomak spoken by approximately 30,000 people according to the latest national census (ELSTAT 2011) in the geographic region of Thrace and predominantly in the prefecture of Xanthi, through authentic audio recordings and to conduct a linguistic analysis based on the recorded data with particular emphasis on morphophonological and lexicosyntactic aspects. It attempts to delve into this marginally studied minority language and analyze the subtleties, complexities and some dialectal differences and similarities while providing native speaker insight and intuitions about phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactical phenomena that appear in the recordings. Keywords: Pomak, phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, dialects. XI 1 1. INTRODUCTION Pomak is a minority language of Slavic origin spoken in the Balkan peninsula and more specifically the regions of Bulgaria, FYROM, and Turkey with the most speakers being in Greece. It is a fact that little linguistic work has been done on the Pomak language and even less from the perspective of a native speaker of the language. This dissertation aspires to present a morphophonological and lexicosyntactic account of the language. It is true that many past attempts to analyse and record the Pomak language did not have any scientific goal such as to research the language which remains largely unknown to the linguistic community, and even more disregarded from the vast majority of people both within Greece as well as other countries. The aim of this dissertation is to present a linguistic analysis of the minority language of Pomak in terms of phonology, morphology, lexis, and syntax, based on authentic audio recorded data from native speakers of the language. Most of the body of work that is available on the Pomak language is either done by agenda driven non-native and native speakers, or academically and scientifically driven non-native speakers of Pomak such as Adamou (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and Sandry (2013). Native speaker scientific and not agenda-driven work is scarce, if any at all. The little native-speaker work on the language is scarce and usually from people who have no tertiary education let alone an education on linguistics. The present dissertation aims to fill that gap and provide native speaker insight into the Pomak language as well as pave the way for future researchers of Pomak. Who are the Pomak people? Despite the present dissertation focusing on the language of Pomak, a reference to who or what the Pomaks are is unavoidable as it is the case that language shapes 1 2 identity and vice versa. Adamou claims that “Pomaks were traditionally semi-sedentary cattle breeders and farmers, living in the Rhodope Mountains” (2010:164). “Pomak as a word appears in the Slavic language meaning 'helper', derived from 'pomoci? as 'pomaci'” claims Turan (1999:70). Additionally, it is claimed that this sobriquet was given to Pomaks by their Christian fellow countrymen because during the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, Pomaks aided the Ottomans and guided the army, and thus they were called 'pomak' (helper) (Turan, 1999:70, Eminov, 2007:9). Despite the aforementioned etymology being generally thought of as the most likely, it is dubious and ambiguous at best as colliding interests