Ποντιακά
Pontic Greek
Astoria +1Community Profile: Economic opportunities were one major driving force behind Greek immigration to New York, which began on a large scale in the late 19th century; another was the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which was catastrophic for many of the ethnic Greeks within its borders, and later the fallout from the Greek Civil War following the Second World War. Greek New Yorkers were and are still scattered throughout the city and heavily involved in the restaurant business among other areas, but there were some early clusters around Madison Street on the Lower East Side and in the West and East 20s and 30s. Still considered the epicenter of Greek America, Astoria became the pre-eminent microcosm of Greek diversity starting in the 1960s, including significant communities of Pontic Greeks, Cretans, Cypriots, Chians, and many others, and members of the community spread to Bayside, Whitestone, Bay Ridge, and other sites outside of the city. In recent years, Greek immigration began to surge again due to the nation's economic crisis, after decades of low emigration rates.
O
ver a million Pontic Greeks (living on the Black Sea coast mostly in what is today part of Turkey) faced genocide and displacement in the early 20th century. Beginning in the early 1960s, many thousands came to the U.S., initially from Attiki and Macedonia in Greece, according to Pontion Society "Komninoi". The largest number settled within the larger Greek community in Astoria, while maintaining distinct institutions and commemorations of the distinctive Pontic culture. Today, only a few hundred speakers of the Pontic language remain in the New York area, according to Dmitri Molohidis, though the number who still maintain a Pontic identity and speak Greek or other languages is much larger.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.