3.2 Transliteration

Tsakonian does not have a universally agreed-upon transliteration system. Adapting the Standard Modern Greek (SMG) transliteration conventions to Tsakonian poses particular challenges due to the language’s broader consonant inventory — including aspirated stops, postalveolar fricatives, and unique affricates absent from SMG (see 2. Phonology for a complete description).

The transliteration system used throughout the Tsakonian Digital Vault was proposed by Jaime García Chaparro (2026). It builds on the SMG conventions while making targeted adjustments to ensure each Tsakonian phoneme receives a unique and unambiguous Latin-script representation. The most significant changes affect letters whose SMG transliterations would otherwise conflict with Tsakonian-specific sounds: θ is rendered as z (rather than SMG th) and ζ as zz, freeing up th for the aspirated stop τ̔. See 3. Orthography for the full description of the Tsakonian writing system.

Transliteration Table

Capital	Lowercase	Name	IPA	SMG translit.	Tsakonian translit.	Notes
Α	α	Alpha	[a]	a	a
Β	β	Beta	[v]	v	v
Γ	γ	Gamma	[ɣ]	g	g
Δ	δ	Delta	[ð]	d	d
Ε	ε	Epsilon	[e]	e	e
Ζ	ζ	Zeta	[z]	z	zz	Changed to free z for θ
Η	η	Eta	[i]	i	i
Θ	θ	Theta	[θ]	th	z	Changed to free th for τ̔
Ι	ι	Iota	[i]	i	i
Κ	κ	Kappa	[k]	k	k
Λ	λ	Lambda	[l]	l	l
Μ	μ	Mi	[m]	m	m
Ν	ν	Ni	[n]	n	n
Ξ	ξ	Xi	[ks]	x	x
Ο	ο	Omicron	[o]	o	o
Π	π	Pi	[p]	p	p
Ρ	ρ	Rho	[r]	r	r
Σ	σ/ς	Sigma	[s]	s	s
Τ	τ	Tau	[t]	t	t
Υ	υ	Ipsilon	[i]	y	y
Φ	φ	Phi	[f]	f	f
Χ	χ	Chi	[x]	ch	ch
Ψ	ψ	Psi	[ps]	ps	ps
Ω	ω	Omega	[o]	o	o
Κ̔	κ̔	Aspirated Kappa	[kʰ]	—	kh
Τ̔	τ̔	Aspirated Tau	[tʰ]	—	th
Π̔	π̔	Aspirated Pi	[pʰ]	—	ph
Σ̌	σ̌	Postalveolar Sigma	[ʃ]	—	sh
Ζ̌	ζ̌	Postalveolar Zeta	[ʒ]	—	zh
ΤΣ̂	τσ̂	Laminal Dental Affricate	[t͡s̻]	—	tss
ΤΖ̑	τζ̑	Palatalized Affricate	[t̻͡ɕ]	—	tsz
Ν̇	ν̇	Non-palatalized Ni	[n]	—	n’	Before /i/ sounds
Λ̣	λ̣	Non-palatalized Lambda	[l]	—	l’	Before /i/ sounds
Ν̂	ν̂	Palatalized Ni (contracted)	[ɲ]	—	ni’	Resulting from contraction
Α̈	α̈	Propontis Alpha	[ä]	—	a’	Propontis dialect only

Digraphs and Clusters

Digraph	Translit. (García Chaparro, 2026)	Notes
μπ	b (initial) / mb (mid)
ντ	d (initial) / nd (mid)
γγ	ng
γκ	gk
αι	a
ει	i
οι	i
ου	ou
αυ/ευ	av/ev or af/ef	Preserves standard Greek rules