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Modern Greek is the present vernacular language of Greece, and is descended from
Ancient Greek.
The modern language started taking form about 200-300 years ago when Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
Modern Greek was divided into Dhimotiki ("demotic," "of the people", a term
similar to "vernacular") and Katharevousa. Dhimotiki was the language of
daily use, and the latter was an archaic form, used for official documents, literature, newscasting and other formal purposes. In
the late twentieth century, it has been totally obsoleted and replaced by Dhimotiki.
Because of the long-lasting domination under the Ottoman Empire, it
is understandable that Modern Greek contains some vocabulary borrowed from Turkish. In later years, some French and
Italian words were included.
A similar situation continues until now with English words,
which in the last decades have been adapted to Greek phonology and grammar. English loan words are found mainly in slang used by young people and in
technical terminology. Similarly, Greeklish is used usually on computers. These
facts are considered dangerous for the cultural integrity of the language.
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