In August, 2001 a complex linguistic and anthropological expedition worked with the Rumei Greek minority in Ukraine (Donetsk area). 20 pers ons took part in the expedition: 17 students and 3 teachers of St.Petersburg University. It was planned as the summer practice for the students making their studies in the specialization «Anthropological linguistics and the field researches», recently open at the Department of general linguistics.

Mariupol area was chosen because of its the unique sociolinguistic situation: Northern banks of the sea of Azov are the multicultural and multilinguistic zone. There are settlements of Rumei and Urum Greeks, Bulgarian and Albanian villages. These people still preserve their ethnic languages and cultures.

The main idea of the expedition was to make a thorough research of a village: studing both its dialect culture. So the main place of our work was the settlement of Yalta (about 8.000 people) situated in some 40 km from Matioupol on the banks of the sea of Azov. Student wored also in other Greek villages of the area: Stary Krym, Urzuf, Chermalyk, Maly Janisol’, Sartana.