Article published In:
Three Factors and Beyond: Socio-syntax and language acquisitionEdited by Kleanthes K. Grohmann
[Linguistic Variation 14:1] 2014
► pp. 109–128
Edited by Kleanthes K. Grohmann
[Linguistic Variation 14:1] 2014
► pp. 109–128
Acceptability judgments in bilectal populations
Competition, gradience and socio-syntax
This paper investigates the gradient nature of acceptability judgements and grammatical variants in the bilectal population of Cyprus, by comparatively discussing the findings of two recent experiments on (i) exhaustivity effects in Cypriot Greek clefts and embu ‘it is that’-structures (Leivada et al. 2013) and (ii) clitic placement and how it is affected by lexical and syntactic stimulation (Papadopoulou et al. 2014). The analysis lays emphasis on the intra-dialectal variation observed across speakers’ performance in both experiments. Variation is discussed in relation to socio-syntactic aspects of language use, such as (i) the existence of competing grammars (Tsiplakou 2007, in press) and competing motivations (Grohmann & Leivada 2012, to appear) in bilectal environments such as the one in Cyprus, (ii) the notion of gradience existent within a dialect–standard continuum (e.g. Cornips 2006 for Dutch, Leivada et al. 2013 for Greek), and (iii) syntactic/semantic factors that inform our participants’ performance. Keywords: acceptability judgments; clefts; clitics; Cypriot Greek; gradience; embu; exhaustivity; competing grammars
References (34)
Agathocleous, Marina, Alexandra Charalambous, Elena Papadopoulou & Kleanthes K. Grohmann. 2014. The role of the social environment on linguistic development: A view from Cypriot Greek clitic placement. In Kleanthes K. Grohmann & Theoni Neokleous (eds.), Developments in the acquisition of clitics, 41–86. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Agouraki, Yoryia. 2010. It-clefts and stressed operators in the preverbal field of Cypriot Greek. Lingua 1201. 527–554. 
Arvaniti, Amalia. 2006. Linguistic practices in Cyprus and the emergence of Cypriot standard Greek. San Diego Linguistic Papers 21. 1–25. [Reprinted in Mediterranean Language Review 17, 15–45, 2010.]
Bolinger, Dwight L. 1961a. Generality, gradience and the all-or-none. The Hague: Mouton.
. 1961b. Syntactic blends and other matters. Language 371. 366–381.
Chomsky, Noam. 1955. The logical structure of linguistic theory. Ms., Harvard University/Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Published in part as The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, New York: Plenum, 1975.]
Contossopoulos, Nikolaos. 2000. Διάλεκτοι και Ιδιώματα της Νέας Ελληνικής [Dialects and Varieties of Modern Greek]. Athens: Grigoris.
Cornips, Leonie. 2006. Intermediate syntactic variants in a dialect-standard speech repertoire and relative acceptability. In Gisbert Fanselow, Caroline Féry, Ralf Vogel & Matthias Schlesewsky (eds.), Gradience in grammar: Generative perspectives, 85–105. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fotiou, Constantina. 2009. Focusing strategies in Cypriot Greek. In Kleanthes K. Grohmann & Phoevos Panagiotidis (eds.), Selected papers from the 2006 cyprus syntaxfest, 63–91. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Grohmann, Kleanthes K. 2011. Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek: A new perspective on production abilities from object clitic placement. In Esther Rinke & Tanja Kupisch (eds.), The development of grammar: Language acquisition and diachronic change, 179–203. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Grohmann, Kleanthes K. & Evelina Leivada. 2012. Interface ingredients of dialect design: Bi-x, sociosyntax of development, and the grammar of Cypriot Greek. In Anna Maria Di Sciullo (ed.), Towards a biolinguistic understanding of grammar, 239–262. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Grohmann, Kleanthes K., Eleni Theodorou, Natalia Pavlou, Evelina Leivada, Elena Papadopoulou & Silvia Martínez-Ferreiro. 2012. The development of object clitic placement in Cypriot Greek and the Romance connection. In Sabrine Ferré, Philippe Prévost, Laura Tuller, and Rasha Zebib (eds.), Selected Proceedings of the Romance Turn IV Workshop on the Acquisition of Romance Languages, 128–152. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Grohmann, Kleanthes K. & Evelina Leivada. To appear. Language acquisition in bilectal environments: Competing motivations, metalinguistic awareness, and the socio-syntax of development hypothesis. In Matthias Katerbow & Gunther de Vogelaer (eds.), Variation in language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Grohmann, Kleanthes K., Phoevos Panagiotidis & Stavroula Tsiplakou. 2006. Properties of wh-question formation in Cypriot Greek. In Mark Janse, Brian Joseph & Angela Ralli (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory, 83–98. Patra: University of Patras.
Gryllia, Stella & Marika Lekakou. 2006. Syntax reflects information structure: Evidence from Cypriot Greek. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Jespersen, Otto. 1927. A modern English grammar on historical principles, Part III, Syntax, vol. 21. Heidelberg: Winter.
. 1937. Analytic syntax. London: Allen and Unwin.
Kiss, Katalin É. 1998. Identificational focus versus information focus. Language 741. 245–273.
Leivada, Evelina, Elena Papadopoulou, & Natalia Pavlou. 2013. The gray area of acceptability judgments: Clefts and exhaustivity in Cypriot Greek. In Kelechukwu E. Ihemere (ed.), Language contact: A multidimensional perspective, 59–86. Newcastle-upon-Type: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Neokleous, Theoni. 2013. L1 acquisition of Cypriot Greek pronominal clitics. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Onea, Edgar & David Beaver. 2011. Hungarian focus is not exhausted. In Ed Cormany, Satoshi Ito & David Lutz (eds.), Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 19. 342–359.
Papadopoulou, Elena. 2014. Acquisition of wh-questions: Evidence from Cypriot Greek. Doctoral dissertation, University of Essex, Colchester.
Papadopoulou, Elena, Evelina Leivada & Natalia Pavlou. 2014. Clitic placement in Cypriot Greek: A matter of lexical and syntactic stimulation? In Kleanthes K. Grohmann & Theoni Neokleous (eds.), Developments in the acquisition of clitics, 138–160. Newcastle-upon-Type: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Papapavlou, Andreas. 1998. Attitudes towards the Greek Cypriot dialect: Sociocultural implications. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 131. 15–28.
Papapavlou, Andreas & Pavlos Pavlou. 1998. A review of the sociolinguistic aspects of the Greek Cypriot dialect. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 191. 212–220.
Pavlou, Natalia, Evelina Leivada & Elena Papadopoulou. 2013. The Cypriot embu and cleft sentences: An investigation of their (non)-exhaustive properties. The Cypriot embu and cleft sentences: An investigation of their (non)-exhaustive properties. In Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph, Angela Ralli & Metin Bagriacik (eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory. Patras: University of Patras [online].
Petinou, Kakia & Arhonto Terzi. 2002. Clitic misplacement among normally developing children and children with specific language impairment and the status of Infl heads. Language Acquisition 101. 1–28.
Plunkett, Bernadette & Natalia Pavlou. 2011. Interpretation of ambiguous wh-questions in Cypriot Greek and French. Paper presented at the Workshop on Syntactic Variation, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics-OTS (10 December 2011).
Rowe, Charley & Kleanthes K. Grohmann. 2013. Discrete bilectalism: Towards co-overt prestige and diglossic shift in Cyprus. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2241. 119–142.
Tsiplakou, Stavroula. 2004. Στάσεις απέναντι στη γλώσσα και γλωσσική αλλαγή: Μια αμφίδρομη σχέση [Attitudes towards language and language change: A two‐way relation?] In Georgia Catsimali, Alexis Kalokairinos, Elena Anagnostopoulou & Ioanna Kappa (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. Rethymno: Linguistics Lab e-book.
. 2007. Switching and mixing within and outside of a dialect continuum: The case of Greek-speaking Cyprus. Polydromo, [URL].
. In press. Competing grammars in Cypriot Greek? Evidence from the Cypriot Greek koiné. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Vassiliou, Erma. 1995. Cypriot as a VOS language. La Trobe Working Papers in Linguistics 81. 135–149.
Wedgwood, Daniel, Gergely Petho & Ronnie Cann. 2006. Hungarian ‘focus position’ and English it-clefts: The semantic underspecification of ‘focus’ readings. Ms. University of Edinburgh.
Cited by (9)
Cited by nine other publications
Azaz, Mahmoud & Essa Alfaifi
2022. Lexical Variation in Regional Modern Standard Arabic. Language Matters 53:1 ► pp. 103 ff. 
Pavlou, Natalia & Kleanthes K. Grohmann
2021. Heritage Languages in Southeastern Europe. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 69 ff.
Leivada, Evelina, Maria Kambanaros, Loukia Taxitari & Kleanthes K. Grohmann
2020. (Meta)linguistic abilities of bilectal educators: the case of Cyprus. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23:8 ► pp. 1003 ff.
Leivada, Evelina, Elena Papadopoulou, Maria Kambanaros & Kleanthes K. Grohmann
2017. The Influence of Bilectalism and Non-standardization on the Perception of Native Grammatical Variants. Frontiers in Psychology 8
Leivada, Evelina, Elena Papadopoulou & Natalia Pavlou
2017. Functionally Equivalent Variants in a Non-standard Variety and Their Implications for Universal Grammar: A Spontaneous Speech Corpus. Frontiers in Psychology 8
Tsiplakou, Stavroula
2017. Imperfect Acquisition of a Related Variety? Residual Clefting and What It Reveals about (Gradient) Bilectalism. Frontiers in Communication 2
Grohmann, Kleanthes K. & Maria Kambanaros
2016. The Gradience of Multilingualism in Typical and Impaired Language Development: Positioning Bilectalism within Comparative Bilingualism. Frontiers in Psychology 7
Grohmann, Kleanthes K., Maria Kambanaros, Evelina Leivada & Charley Rowe
2016. A developmental approach to diglossia: Bilectalism on a gradient scale of linguality. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52:4
[no author supplied]
2021. Heritage Languages around the World. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 11 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.