The Romeyka Project

Rediscovering an Endangered Greek Variety in Turkey

Estimated 4000-8000 Speakers Remaining

The project aims at documenting Romeyka, an endangered Greek variety spoken in North-East Turkey, on which very little is known (but see Mackridge 1997) and whose investigation is of extreme urgency because of the small number of native speakers who acquire it as a first language.

Help us to preserve this rare language.

The Linguistic Profile of Romeyka

Romeyka presents the linguist with several interesting properties that are not found in other varieties of Greek. Though it is true that Turkish has influenced Romeyka, some properties cannot be explained by language contact.

The study of some of these interesting properties in the Romeyka include infinitives and help us understand the various aspects of the Romeyka grammar.

Research Outputs

The research team is carrying out research on the synchrony and diachrony of Romeyka. The group has established an international reputation which can be seen through our production of research papers, invited and conference talks and organisation of workshops.

The Romeyka Project

This video documents the field research carried out by Cambridge researcher Dr Ioanna Sitaridou. Romeyka, the endangered Greek variety spoken in north-eastern Turkey has been identified by researchers as a “linguistic goldmine” because of its startling closeness to the ancient language.

Exhibition about Romeyka in Istanbul, 6-15 September 2019

An exhibition about an endangered language spoken in Trabzon. Let's speak Romeyka! September 8-15 2019 ARTHERE Yeldeğirmeni, Instanbul Organisers Funded by Launch night Dr loanna Sitaridou University of Cambridge University of Cambridge, Impact Fund for Arts and...

Third Workshop on “Romeyka and the languages of the eastern Black Sea”

We are delighted to announce that the Third Workshop on 'Romeyka and the languages of the eastern Black Sea' will be held on 26-27 May at Queens' College, Cambridge. Find the programme of the workshop here.

Talk at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und die Wiener Sprachgesellschaft

Die Kommission Vanishing Languages and Cultural Heritage der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und die Wiener Sprachgesellschaft laden herzlich ein zum Gastvortrag von Dr. Ioanna Sitaridou, University of Cambridge Romeyka in Turkey: Throwing new light on...

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