Griko dialect

Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, or Grecanic, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by the Griko people in Salento. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it Katoitaliotikà (Greek: Κατωιταλιωτικά, "Southern Italian") or Grekanika (Γρεκάνικα), whereas its own speakers call it Katoitaliótika (Κατωιταλιώτικα) or Griko (Γκρίκο). Griko and Standard Modern Greek are mutually intelligible to some extent.

Classification

The most popular hypothesis on the origin of Griko is the one by Gerhard Rohlfs and Georgios Hatzidakis, stating that Griko's roots go as far back in history as the time of the ancient Greek colonisation of Southern Italy and Sicily in the 8th century BC, and in that respect, this Southern Italian dialect is considered to be the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed Magna Graecia.

There are, however, competing hypotheses according to which Griko may have preserved some Doric elements, but its structure is otherwise mostly based on mainstream Koiné Greek like almost all other Modern Greek dialects. Thus, Griko should rather be described as a Doric-influenced descendant of Byzantine Greek. The idea of Southern Italy's Greek dialects being historically derived from Medieval Greek was proposed for the first time in the 19th century by Giuseppe Morosi.