One of the priorities of VLACH is the support of the dialectological diversity of the Greek language. Modern Greek comprises various regional varieties with linguistic differences. Due to the high degree of intelligibility of these varieties, Greek linguists refer to them as idioms (ιδίωμα) of a wider dialect (διάλεκτος). Most English-speaking linguists however refer to them as "dialects", emphasising degrees of variation only when necessary. The following activities and measures are being carried out during the first activity period of the VLACH Commission (2016-2021):

  • field research on Macedonian Greek in Turkey as a less documented and expecially endangered variety, spoken by the "Patriyots" or "Valachades" in Niğde, Aydın, Cine and İzmir, conducted by Thede Kahl and Andreea Pascaru
  • field research on Cappadocian Greek in Greece as a less documented and expecially endangered variety, conducted by Thede Kahl
  • field research on Sarakatsan or Karakatchan Greek in Bulgaria as a less documented and expecially endangered variety, conducted by Thede Kahl and Andreea Pascaru
  • field research on Karagoun Greek (Thessaly), conducted by Sotirios Rousiakis
  • field research on Pontic Greek (romeika, rumca) in Turkey, Georgia and Greece, conducted by Thede Kahl and Andreea Pascaru
  • field research on Apulia (Salento) and Calabria (Aspromonte) Greek in Southern Italy, conducted by Thede Kahl and Andreea Pascaru
  • processing and editing of existing research material:
    • incorporation of photo and video collection of Karagoun Greek from Thessaly provided by Sotirios Rousiakis
    • incorporation of photo and video of Pontic Greek by Andreea Pascaru (2016-2020), partially stored at LaZAR repository
    • incorporation of audio, photo and video collections provided by Thede Kahl (2005-2020) from all Greek speaking regions outside of Greece, partially stored at LaZAR repository and some especially endangered varieties within Greece (e.g. Tsakonian Greek)
    • transcriptions of recordings of Pontic Greek in co-operation with Prof. Dr. Savvas Mavridis and Mrs. Anatoli Karipidou
  • production of video clips from the named collections for a broader public, including transcriptions, translations into English and scientific descriptions
  • support of publications in lesser used Greek dialect, e.g. support of the Pontic Greek edition of the "Little prince", translated by Anatoli Karipidou
  • elaboration of common transcription guidelines of all Greek vernaculars based on IPA
  • publication and popularization of audio tracks, photo collection and video clips within the VLACH Greek collections until 2021
  • field research conducted by Dr. Dhori Qirjazi in Sparta (Greece) and Himarë (Albania) in the archive of Dikaios V. Vagiakakos, former director of the Academy Research Center for Modern Greek Dialects and Idioms (Athens) for a publication "Studies on the language and traditions of the Hellenism of South Albania". The volume will include three works on Himarë, e.g. material from his linguistic data collection in 1951