Chapter published in:
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

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
Published online: 22 June 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.24.09tsi
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