Sociolinguistic aspects of Greek dialects

Greek Sociolinguistics

Socilinguistic Aspect Of Greek Dialects

Perceptions of dialectical variation in Modern Greek

What is a dialect? "Different language communities have certain ways of talking that set them apart from others. Those differences may be thought of as dialects -- not just accents (the way words are pronounced) but also grammar, vocabulary, syntax and common expressions" (Malone n.d.). In the nation of Greece, because of geographic and political divides, many distinct dialects of standard Modern Greek have developed. This paper will explore how different dialects have different emotional and social connotations for modern Greeks, both Greek-Americans who learned Greek in the U.S. And native speakers from Greece.

Theoretical framework

According to Joseph & Tserdanelis, in Modern Greek, "depending on how one decides the difficult question of distinguishing between dialects of a language as opposed to separate languages, the highly divergent modern form of Greek known as Tsakonian, spoken still in the eastern Peloponnesos (in Greece), could well be considered now a separate language from the rest of Modern Greek, and the Pontic dialects once spoken along the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor…modern Cypriot shows significant differences on all levels (phonological, morphological, and syntactic) that invite classification as a separate language, though this judgment is perhaps a more difficult one than in the case of Tsakonian or Pontic" (Joseph & Tserdanelis). The reason that Cypriot has developed into such a distinct linguistic specimen is very easy to guess, given the physical divisions between itself and the mainland, as well as the political conflicts that have resulted in Turkish influence in the region. Additionally, "the dialects of the Ionian Islands and those of Kydonies and Moschonisia constitute some major examples to this situation since they have been heavily affected by Italian and Turkish, respectively" (Modern Greek dialects, 2013, Laboratory of Modern Greek Dialects). The fact that Greek exhibits so many linguistic distinctions, to the point that new languages have been created in relatively recent years, highlights its dialectical variation. Dialects are very clearly 'coded' in a regional fashion to the ear of Greeks, and these different regions have strong class as well as geographical associations. Perceptions of 'foreignness' can also taint subjective perceptions of Greek dialects.

While Modern Greek is traditionally characterized as being either a northern and southern dialect, within this rather crude division is a great deal of linguistic multiplicity. "This categorization is far from covering all the deviances among the numerous dialectal varieties; in most dialects, high- or low-frequency of contact induced change is observed, depending on the degree of contact with a different language" (Modern Greek dialects, 2013, Laboratory of Modern Greek Dialects). The differentiation within Modern Greek, and the strong regional variation within its various incarnations has caused strong emotional and social connotations to be attached to the different dialects -- for example, in Greece, northern dialects are often associated with more rural areas, as are the dialects certain islands. Cypriot Greek has a particularly distinct character and vocabulary of its own and many modern Greeks perceive Cypriots to be of a different culture than their own (Terkourafi 2007). The proposed experiment examines how even Greek-Americans have internalized stereotypes attached to dialects. Dialect variation is perceived as a cultural and economic marker, not simply one of geography.

Methodology

In this experiment, the speech patterns of different Greeks reading a variety of relatively neutral passages will be recorded. These recordings will then be presented to a cross-section of both native Greeks and to Greek-Americans, and the recordings will be rated upon their perceptions of the speakers. The recorded passages will feature speakers from locations both in the northern and southern mainland, and a variety of Greek islands of various locations. The speakers will be 'rated' based upon their perceived social class, intelligence, positive and negative feelings about the speaker, and levels of trust.

It will be hypothesized that both native and Greek-American speakers will still judge Greeks based upon perceived social class, due to the dialectical features of the recordings' grammatical structure, pronunciation, and colloquialisms and variation from that of Standard Modern Greek. Additional features of interest in the experiment will be to examine if age of the raters affects their perceptions of dialects, along with the rater's gender, social status and occupation.