Himariote Greek dialect

Himariote Greek
Χειμαρριώτικα
Region	Himarë, Albania; Greece
Native speakers	at least 8,000 (2008)
Language family	Indo-European Greek Himariote Greek
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Himariote Greek (Greek: Χειμαρριώτικη διάλεκτος or Xειμαρριώτικα) is a dialect of the Greek language that is mainly spoken by ethnic Greeks in the Himarë region of Albania. Despite the small distances between the towns in the region, there exists some dialectal variation, most prominently in accent.

Despite the fact that the Greek community in Himarra resides at the northern end of the Greek-speaking world, in a region known among Greeks as Northern Epirus, the Himariote dialect is a southern dialect of the Greek language. Although links with the Greek dialects spoken in Apulia and Mani have been suggested, the exact provenance of Northern Epirote dialects remains obscure. According to Greek linguist Vayacacos, Himariote, as a subbranch of the Northern Epirote dialects, is classified as a southern dialect, but the two towns next to Himarë, Dhërmi and Palasë, speak a semi-northern dialect.

Because of the region's geography and isolation, the local dialect in the Himarë region became separated from the surrounding dialects and underwent a slower evolution, preserving a more conservative and faithful picture of the medieval Greek vernacular. According to Greek professor Anagnostopoulos, this dialect, like other conservative forms of modern Greek, such as the Maniot dialect, was spoken by populations that lived in virtual autonomy during Ottoman rule. Another linguistic analysis suggests that Himarë was colonised by Apulian Italiots after the Turkish raid on Otranto in 1480, but this position is vigorously questioned. Moreover, it has been claimed by both local and Albanian scholars, that there are parallels with the local idioms spoken in Crete as well as in nearby Corfu.

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