WI: Any Time Post 1970, Small, Quiet Village in Iraq with Sumerian Speakers

Actually Persian or Turkic origins can often be gleaned through names - also, Islamic full naming practices are often informative about birthplace, family profession, and/or ethnic/tribal origin (and lineage, of course). It is true that Arabic names prevail.
Also remember that "Greek", in an Eastern context, may be a reference to Orthodox faith (thus, for example, ethnic Georgians or Orthodox Syrians) rather than just language/ethnicity. I cannot find any reference at all, however, to actual Greek-speaking rural communities anywhere in Iran in recent centuries.
My violin teacher is not prone to flights of fancy. At least, as far as I know, but this is disheartening.
 
I am not doubting his word, just trying to explain it. Which part of Iran is he from?
This was not he himself, someone approached him. Unfortunately, I do not know where this person was from, and I doubt that he asked. Would it not make sense for Greek speakers to be found in the west? I mean historical factors might invalidate that, but we should start somewhere.
 
Would it not make sense for Greek speakers to be found in the west?

I would suppose so. Western Iran also has somewhat more linguistic diversity than the central plateau and the east, arguably helped by the Zagros mountain system.
I am thinking of Christian Aramaic (or Armenian? but these were predominantly urban) -speaking communities, where Greek might be used as second language - these would be concentrated in Iranian Azerbaijan and other northwestern areas.
Greek settlement in the Hellenistic Age went more to the East, but is concentrated in what are now Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and I've never met any reference to Greek surviving in those context past Antiquity.
The Ethnologue page for Iran does not list anything native that could be mutually intelligible with Greek. This story is very tantalizing but I am simply not able to relate it to anything useful.
Assuming there is actually a village in Iran where some community has clung to a local form of Greek until now, since either the Middle Ages or Hellenistic times, I would be extremely surprised that linguists had failed to notice. They have taken note of Abyane'i (though somewhat sloppily), for instance, and Iran is far from remote uncharted wilderness. Also, a lasting linguistic presence of Greek there would be big news, as far as academia is concerned - Greek philologists would flock to any such occasion gleefully.
 
I would suppose so. Western Iran also has somewhat more linguistic diversity than the central plateau and the east, arguably helped by the Zagros mountain system.
I am thinking of Christian Aramaic (or Armenian? but these were predominantly urban) -speaking communities, where Greek might be used as second language - these would be concentrated in Iranian Azerbaijan and other northwestern areas.
Greek settlement in the Hellenistic Age went more to the East, but is concentrated in what are now Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and I've never met any reference to Greek surviving in those context past Antiquity.
The Ethnologue page for Iran does not list anything native that could be mutually intelligible with Greek. This story is very tantalizing but I am simply not able to relate it to anything useful.
Assuming there is actually a village in Iran where some community has clung to a local form of Greek until now, since either the Middle Ages or Hellenistic times, I would be extremely surprised that linguists had failed to notice. They have taken note of Abyane'i (though somewhat sloppily), for instance, and Iran is far from remote uncharted wilderness. Also, a lasting linguistic presence of Greek there would be big news, as far as academia is concerned - Greek philologists would flock to any such occasion gleefully.
Are there any iranian languages or dialects of obscure languages that may be heavily substrated by Greek? Mayhaps there could be proximity to a village where Greek itself is spoken. Or maybe the story doesn't check out, I guess. Alternatively, could it be possible that the village has not been discovered yet?
 
Are there any iranian languages or dialects of obscure languages that may be heavily substrated by Greek?
Greek influence on Western iranic in general exists, but is not major ( ironically it seems a little more significant in Southeastern Iranic languages spoken in parts of Afghanistan and nearby areas). I would expect it to be more significant in the in Khuzistan and maybe Azebaijan, where AFAIK there was more presence of Hellenistic settlers, but I am not aware of any specific feature. But to the point of mutual intelligibility?

Alternatively, could it be possible that the village has not been discovered yet?
It is possible, but the possibility is very small. There are still huge holes in the global mapping and branching of languages, but these are mainly in places such as the Amazon basin, new Guineas and parts of Africa. Iranian villages, however isolated and out of the way, have lived in wider global context for centuries, which tends both to level language to some degree, and to make the rest of the world aware of how you speak.
 
Greek influence on Western iranic in general exists, but is not major ( ironically it seems a little more significant in Southeastern Iranic languages spoken in parts of Afghanistan and nearby areas). I would expect it to be more significant in the in Khuzistan and maybe Azebaijan, where AFAIK there was more presence of Hellenistic settlers, but I am not aware of any specific feature. But to the point of mutual intelligibility?
I want to highlight that my violin teacher is not a linguist either, and did not use such scientifically precise terms. He did, however, say that they could understand each other. To what degree, he never specified. It was a violin lesson, we were a bit distracted.
 
During the war Stalin deported a lot of Pontic Greeks to Central Asia. After the thaw some of these Greeks could have filtered down to Iran instead of returning to Crimea or Greece
 
The plot thickens.
The easiest supposition, however, is that the Greek this person speaks is a second language to him.
 
The plot thickens.
The easiest supposition, however, is that the Greek this person speaks is a second language to him.
Even my grandmother spoke Abyāne'i as a second language (she was born in Tehran, then very early moved to Tare, and married my Grandfather, who was native to the village), so I don't doubt it. Also, if the Greek presence was more in the East, maybe this man lived in a border or perhaps an Afghan village (Afghans call themselves Persian too).
 
Even my grandmother spoke Abyāne'i as a second language (she was born in Tehran, then very early moved to Tare, and married my Grandfather, who was native to the village), so I don't doubt it. Also, if the Greek presence was more in the East, maybe this man lived in a border or perhaps an Afghan village (Afghans call themselves Persian too).

That Greek presence in the East seems to have faded, at least linguistically, long ago, although as far as small holdouts are concerned, who knows.
 
Update: recent research has shown a significant (and unsurprising, honestly) amount of Greek influence on Kalasha, an Indo-Aryan (not Indo-Iranian) Dardic language of NW Pakistan. This does not make the language Greek any more than possibly comparable major influence may make English a Romance languange, or Persian a Semitic one, of course, but the Greek linguistic legacy certainly is there. Unfortunately, this is still several kilometres from the nearest part of Iran, and the area in question (Chitral valley) was always relatively remote from any Iranian control, although partly belonging, in a sense, to the broader Persianate cultural ecumene.

EDIT: I am reading the relevant study and I am not entirely bought into its logic - I see no discernible regular sound changes from Greek to Kalasha, so in some cases I'd go for a shared Indo-European origin rather than Greek loanword. I grant however that the case for a Greek lexical legacy remains.
 
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