Of the many dialects of Modern Greek, that spoken in Pontus has taken
a prominent place in the investigation into Modern Greek in general
ever since linguistic scientists have undertaken to study it. And this
is certainly justified, for this study contributes substantially to
the elucidation, explanation and solution of many linguistic phenomena
in the other dialects and in the Κοινὴ διάλεκτος in general, for many
forms and many words which were formerly inexplicable from the point of
view of phonetics or semantics have been most happily explained by the
comparison of corresponding forms or words in the Pontic dialect. This,
too, is derived from the Koine, but owing to an admixture of certain
Ionic elements, and to the fact that in taking shape in the Middle
Ages it admitted new Byzantine words, it has so developed and grown
that its use on the one hand of sounds unknown to the common Greek,
and, on the other, the astounding variety of phonetic changes and
modifications (which appear in different forms) which it presents, its
manifold transformations on the basis of analogy, its not infrequent
syntactic peculiarities (which are due especially to the influence
of the Turkish language), and the large number of nouns, verbs and
adverbs formed from Turkish words or Turkish roots through the use of
Greek terminations, render it incomprehensible to many. This evolution
and the great difference between the Pontic language and the common
Greek are perfectly natural, both on account of the Ionic elements
which have been preserved from of old, and of the Turkish elements
which the language has received through the conquest of Pontus by the
Turks, and thirdly from its geographical position which separates its
inhabitants from the great masses of the Greek people and thus limits
the assimilating influence of modern Greek on the Pontic dialect.
This form of the language has great importance for the reason that in
the variety and richness of its vocabulary it has preserved a rich
and extremely valuable store of forms and ancient words, some wholly
unchanged in form and signification, and some modified, to be sure,
but perfectly capable of being reduced to their original form by the
philologist.[36]
[Illustration: ASIA MINOR]