ABSTRACT
The Pontic dialect, nevertheless, still survives in some of the areas of Greece to which it has been transplanted - spoken, according to some estimates, by as many as 300,000 people. Drettas Standard Greek, naturally, has exerted a discernible influence on it - but this had already been happening even when the speakers were still in Turkey: Greek-identified Pontians always maintained very strong cultural ties with Greece, and even had Greek schools, usually under the control of the Church, from kindergarten to secondary level. The schools were a focal point for the community, who led an independent life from the surrounding Muslims and often lived in separate villages. Standard Greek was even spoken, and the pupils' parents were also actively encouraged to use it at home. School books had an explicit nationalistic outlook, and prominence was given to the classics, to Ancient Greek grammar, to religious texts and other books written in the archaic style favoured by the church.
