Levkas / Lefkáda :: Comparisson reports

“The customary common language is neo-Greek and it is fairly pure, especially in the countryside. Of course, there are some Turkish words here, more than on other islands, but, by contrast, there are fewer in Italian. We find the latter primarily in the city, a reminder of the time when it was occupied by Venetians. The pronunciation is more open, with a stronger accent on the vowels. This is due to the proximity to Acarnania and Epirus and due to immigration.

In the city and some towns, we also find the tendency for people to shorten words or eliminate syllables.

In times of Venetian dominance, Italian was, as can be expected, the official language, and it remained so during the Septinsular Republic (“Seven Islands”). In 1832, the Ionian parliament ordered Greek be introduced, but they had to battle with the custom amongst magistrates and civil servants to use Italian in their deeds due to their unfamiliarity with Greek terms for technical and scientific matters.”