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The PonticGreekLanguage is an AtticGreekLanguage of Greece. SIL code: PNT. ISO 639-2: ine. Population: 200,000 in Greece (1993 Johnstone). Population total all countries: 320,000 or more. Region: The majority of speakers live in Salonica, borough of Kalamaria, and the rest of Macedonia in Greece. There may still be speakers on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Also spoken in Azerbaijan, Canada, Georgia, Kazakhstan, USA. Alternate names: PONTIC GREEK. Comments: Speakers of Standard Greek cannot understand Pontic, and Pontic speakers are reported to not understand or speak Standard Greek. Pontic clubs and centers exist in the Athens-Peiraeus suburbs. Young people may speak Standard Greek as their first language. Speakers in North America are reported to hold onto their language more zealously than those in Greece. Ethnic Greeks in Georgia called 'Rumka' speak Pontic Greek. Brought to Greece in the 1920s and 1930s by immigrants from the Black Sea coast, which had been inhabited by Greeks since antiquity.(extract from http://www.ethnologue.com/)
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