Cover not available
Part of
Intermediate Language Varieties: Koinai and regional standards in Europe
Edited by Massimo Cerruti and Stavroula Tsiplakou
[Studies in Language Variation 24] 2020
► pp. 203–230

Chapter 9
Survival of the ‘oddest’?

Levelling, shibboleths, reallocation and the construction of intermediate varieties

| Open University of Cyprus
| European University Cyprus
This contribution examines some cases of arrested convergence to the standard variety in Cypriot Greek, the ‘L’ variety in Cyprus’ diglossic context; we explore some of the reasons why full convergence of the Cypriot Greek koine to Standard Greek does not take place and why certain dialect features which are marked and/or perceived as ‘odd’ or exceptional have found their way into the koine. The paper presents quantitative findings from rating surveys and elicitation tasks targeting phonological, syntactic and semantic phenomena: (1) the predominance of clefting, the Cypriot strategy for syntactic focusing, in lieu of focus movement, the Standard Greek strategy for syntactic focusing; (2) the semantic and pragmatic properties of innovative Past Perfect, which suggest that it is construed as a bona fide Cypriot Greek [+past] tense, despite morphological and phonological innovation; (3) the survival and spread of variants such as the palatal [ʝː] in lieu of the standard-like [ʎː], or the preservation of old ones, a typical case being the shibbolethal, basilectal [ç]. The data highlight the intricate interplay of structural and sociolinguistic factors, which attests to the complexity of the processes of koine formation.
Keywords: Cypriot Greek, diglossia, koine, levelling, shibboleth, reallocation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Diglossia, levelling and koineisation in Cypriot Greek
    • 1.2A mixed variety?
  • 2.Keep clefting
    • 2.1Results from a quantitative survey
  • 3.Past Perfect is the new Past
  • 4.Phonology and its indexicalities
    • 4.1A local phonetic shibboleth
    • 4.2A local variant going pancypriot
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.24.09tsi
References (53)
References
Agouraki, Y. (2001). The position of clitics in Cypriot Greek. In A. Ralli, B. D. Joseph, & M. Janse (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (pp. 1–18). Patras: University of Patras.Google Scholar
(2010). It-clefts and stressed operators in the preverbal field of Cypriot Greek. Lingua, 120, 527–554. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arvaniti, A. (2010). Linguistic practices in Cyprus and the emergence of Cypriot Standard Greek. Mediterranean Language Review, 17, 15–45.Google Scholar
Auer, P. (1984). Bilingual conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995). The pragmatics of code-switching: a sequential approach. In L. Milroy, & P. Muysken (Eds.), One speaker, two languages (pp. 115–135). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005). Europe’s sociolinguistic unity, or: A typology of European dialect/standard constellations. In N. Delbecque, J. van der Auwera, & D. Geeraerts (Eds.), Perspectives on variation: Sociolinguistic, historical, comparative (pp. 7–42). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). Dialect vs. standard: A typology of scenarios in Europe. In B. Kortmann, & J. van der Auwera (Eds.), The languages and linguistics of Europe. A comprehensive guide (pp. 485–500). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chatzikyriakidis, S. (2012). A dynamic account of clitic positioning in Cypriot Greek. Lingua 112, 642–672. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Christodoulou, M. N. (1967). Σύντομος σημείωσις περὶ τῆς συνιζήσεως ἐν τῇ κυπριακῇ διαλέκτῳ [A brief note on synizesis in the Cypriot dialect]. Κυπριακαὶ Σπουδαί [Cypriot Studies], 31, 93–97.Google Scholar
Comrie, B. (1985). Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kontosopoulos, N. (1970). Συμβολή εις την μελέτην της κυπριακής διαλέκτου [A contribution to the study of the Cypriot dialect]. Επετηρίς του Κέντρου Επιστημονικών Ερευνών [Yearbook of the Scientific Research Center], 3, 87–109.Google Scholar
Grohmann, K. K. (2009). Focus on clefts: A perspective from Cypriot Greek. In A. Tsangalides (Ed.), Selected papers from the 18th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics – Thessaloniki, 4–6 May 2007 (pp. 157–165). Thessaloniki: Monochromia.Google Scholar
Grohmann, K. K., Panagiotidis, P., & Tsiplakou, S. (2006). Properties of wh- question formation in Cypriot Greek. In M. Janse, B. D. Joseph, & A. Ralli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (Mytilene, Greece: 30 September – 3 October 2004) (pp. 83–98). Patras: University of Patras.Google Scholar
Hadjioannou, X., Tsiplakou, S., & Kappler, M. (2011). Language policy and language planning in Cyprus. Current Issues in Language Planning [CILP Monograph Series], 1–67.Google Scholar
Hinskens, F. (2014). Despite or because of intensive contact? Internal, external and extralinguistic aspects of divergence in modern dialects and ethnolects of Dutch. In Braunmüller, K., S. Höder, & K. Kühl (Eds.), Stability and divergence in language contact: Factors and mechanisms (pp. 109–140). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hinskens, F., Auer, P., & Kerswill, P. (2005). The study of dialect convergence and divergence: conceptual and methodological considerations. In Auer, P., Hinskens, F., & Kerswill, P. (Eds.), Dialect change: Convergence and divergence in European languages (pp. 1–48). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karmellou, C. (2018). Μια κοινωνιογλωσσική προσέγγιση των διαδικασιών ισοπέδωσης της κυπριακής ελληνικής στην περιοχή των Κοκκινοχωρίων [A sociolinguistic approach to processes of levelling of Cypriot Greek in the Kokkinochória area]. MA Dissertation, Open University of Cyprus.Google Scholar
Karyolemou, M. (2001). From linguistic liberalism to legal regulation: the Greek language in Cyprus. Language Problems and Language Planning, 25, 25–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000). La variété chypriote: dialecte ou idiome? In A.-Ph. Christidis (Ed.), La langue grecque es ses dialectes (pp. 111–115). Athens: Greek Republic/Center of the Greek Language.Google Scholar
Karyolemou, M., & Pavlou, P. (2001). Language attitudes and assessment of salient variables in a bi-dialectal speech community. In J. M. Fontana, L. McNally, M. T. Turell, & E. Vallduví (Eds.), Proceedings of the First International Conference on Language Variation in Europe, ICLaVE 1, Barcelona (Spain) June 29–30/July 1, 2000 (pp. 110–120). Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra.Google Scholar
Kaufman, G. (2010). Non-convergence despite language contact. In P. Auer, & J. E. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and space. An international handbook of linguistic variation, vol. 1 (pp. 478–493). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Klairis, C., Babiniotis, G., Moser, A., & Skopeteas, C. (2005). Γραμματική της Νέας Ελληνικής. Δομολειτουργική-επικοινωνιακή [A Grammar of Modern Greek. Structural-functional, communicative]. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.Google Scholar
Kühl, K., & Braunmüller, K. (2014). Linguistic stability and divergence. An extended perspective on language contact. In K. Braunmüller, S. Höder, & K. Kühl (Eds.), Stability and divergence in language contact: Factors and mechanisms (pp. 13–38). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Leivada, E., Papadopoulou, E., & Pavlou, N. (2017). Grammatical hybridity in a non-standard variety and its implications for Universal Grammar. A spontaneous speech corpus study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mattheier, K. J. (1996). Varietätenkonvergenz. Überlegungen zu einem Bausteineiner Theorie der Sprachvariation. In P. Auer, F. Hinskens, & K. J. Mattheier (Eds.), Convergence and divergence of dialects in Europe ( Sociolinguistica 10), 31–52.Google Scholar
Mavrogiorgos, M. (2013). Enclisis at the Syntax-PF interface. In C. Meklenborg Salvesen, & H. P. Helland (Eds.), Challenging clitics [Linguistik Aktuell/ Linguistics Today 206] (pp. 27–54). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Melissaropoulou, D., Themistocleous, C., Tsiplakou, S., & Tsolakidis, S. (2013). The Present Perfect in Cypriot Greek revisited. In P. Auer, J. Caro Reina, & G. Kaufmann (Eds.), Language variation – European perspectives IV. Selected papers from the Sixth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 6), University of Freiburg, 27 June – 1 July 2011 (pp. 159–172). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menardos, S. (1925). Κυπριακή Γραμματική. Γ΄. Ρήματα [Cypriot Grammar. C. Verbs]. Athena, 37, 35–79. Reprinted in Menardos, S. (1969). Γλωσσικαί Mελέται [Language studies] (pp. 67–106). Nicosia: Cyprus Centre for Scientific Research.Google Scholar
Neokleous, T. (2015). The L1 acquisition of clitic placement in Cypriot Greek. Lingua 161, 27–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newton, B. (1983). Stylistic levels in Cypriot Greek. Mediterranean Language Review, 1, 55–63.Google Scholar
(1972). Cypriot Greek: Its phonology and inflections. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Papapavlou, A. (1998). Attitudes toward the Greek Cypriot dialect: Sociocultural implications. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 18, 15–28.Google Scholar
Papapavlou, A., & Sophocleous, A. (2009). Language attitudes and folk perceptions towards linguistic variation. In S. Tsiplakou, M. Karyolemou, & P. Pavlou (Eds.), Language variation – European perspectives II. Selected papers from the Fourth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 4), University of Cyprus, 17–19 June 2007 (pp. 179–190). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Pappas, P. A. (2015). The reallocation of [ʝ] in Cypriot Greek. Dialectologia, 15, 159–179.Google Scholar
(2014). Exceptional clitic placement in Cypriot Greek: Results from an MET study. Journal of Greek Linguistics, 14, 190–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reichenbach, H. (1947). Elements of symbolic logic. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rowe, C., & Grohmann, K. K. (2013). Discrete bilectalism: Towards co-overt prestige and diglossic shift in Cyprus. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 224, 119–142.Google Scholar
Siemund, P., & Beal, K. (2011). Clefting in contact through space and time: An analysis of it-clefts in Irish English, Indian English and British English. In R. Hickey (Ed.), Researching the languages of Ireland (pp. 243–267). Uppsala: Uppsala University Press.Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (2011). Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1, 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Terkourafi, M. (2005). Understanding the present through the past. Processes of koineisation in Cyprus. Diachronica, 22, 309–372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Themistocleous, C., & Tsiplakou, S. (2013). High Rising Terminals in Cypriot Greek: Charting ‘urban’ intonation. In M. Janse, B. D. Joseph, A. Ralli, & M. Bağriacik (Eds.), MGDLT 5. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Modern Greek, Ghent, Belgium, September 20–22, 2012 (pp. 445–562). Patras: University of Patras.Google Scholar
Tsiplakou, S. (2009). Code-switching and code-mixing between related varieties: establishing the blueprint. The International Journal of Humanities, 6, 49–66.Google Scholar
(2011). Linguistic attitudes and emerging hyperdialectism in a diglossic setting: young Cypriot Greeks on their language. In C. Yoquelet (Ed.), Berkeley Linguistic Society 29. Special volume: Minority and diasporic languages of Europe (pp. 120–132). Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
(2014a). How ‘mixed’ is a mixed system? The case of the Cypriot Greek koiné. In K. Κ. Grohmann (Ed.), Three factors and beyond. Socio-syntax and language acquisition. Special issue of Linguistic Variation 14(1), 161–178.Google Scholar
(2014b). Does convergence generate stability? The case of the Cypriot Greek koiné. In K. Braunmüller, S. Höder, & K. Kühl (Eds.), Stability and divergence in language contact: Factors and mechanisms (pp. 163–178). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(2017). Imperfect acquisition of a related variety? Residual clefting and what it reveals about (gradient) bilectalism. Frontiers in Communication, 2. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019). Διαφορές στην κατάκτηση των δομών εστίασης και της σύνταξης των κλιτικών: Κατανοώντας τον διδιαλεκτισμό [Differences in the acquisition of focus structures and cliticisation: Understanding bidialectalism]. Studies in Greek Linguistics, 39, 985–998. [URL]
Tsiplakou, S., Armostis, S., Bella, S., Michelioudakis, D., & Moser, A. (2019). The Past Perfect in Cypriot and Standard Greek: Innovation because -or irrespective- of contact? In J.-A. Villena-Ponsoda, F. Díaz-Montesinos, A.-M. Ávila-Muñoz, & M. Vida-Castro (Eds.), Language variation – European perspectives VII: Selected papers from the Ninth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 9), Malaga, June 2017 (pp. 232–243). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsiplakou, S., Armostis, S., & Evripidou, D. (2016). Coherence ‘in the mix’? Coherence in the face of language shift in Cypriot Greek. In F. Hinskens, & G. R. Guy (Eds.), Coherence, covariation and bricolage: Various approaches to the systematicity of language variation. Special issue of Lingua, 172–173, 10–25.Google Scholar
Tsiplakou, S., & Ioannidou, E. (2012). Stylizing stylization: The case of Aigia Fuxia . Multilingua, 31, 277–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsiplakou, S., & Kontogiorgi, M. (2016). Διαδικασίες διαλεκτικής ισοπέδωσης στη σύγχρονη κυπριακή [Aspects of dialect levelling in present-day Cypriot Greek]. Studies in Greek Linguistics, 36, 451–464. [URL]
Tsiplakou, S., Papapavlou, A., Pavlou, P., & Katsoyannou, M. (2006). Levelling, koineization and their implications for bidialectism. In Hinskens, F. (Ed.), Language variation – European perspectives. Selected papers from the Third International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 3), University of Amsterdam, 23–25 June 2005 (pp. 265–276). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vasiliou, E. (2014). O υπερσυντέλικος στην Κοινή Νέα Ελληνική και στην κυπριακή [The pluperfect in Standard and Cypriot Greek]. MA Dissertation, Open University of Cyprus.Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Neokleous, Georgios & Sviatlana Karpava
2023. Comparing pre-service teacher attitudes toward the use of students’ home language(s) in linguistically diverse English as an additional language classrooms in Norway and Cyprus. Frontiers in Education 8 DOI logo
Tsiplakou, Stavroula
2023. Conflictual translanguaging in the linguistic landscape of a divided city. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict DOI logo
Tsiplakou, Stavroula
2024. Chapter 7. Little words, small moves. In The Continuity of Linguistic Change [Studies in Language Variation, 31], ► pp. 140 ff. DOI logo
Fotiou, Constantina & Kleanthes K. Grohmann
2022. A Small Island With Big Differences? Folk Perceptions in the Context of Dialect Levelling and Koineization. Frontiers in Communication 6 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 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.