Language variation and maintenance in Cypriot Romeika

Abstract

This paper adopts a social networks approach to investigate language variation and maintenance in Cypriot Romeika, a Greek variety spoken by an enclave community of Turkish Cypriots situated in the north of Cyprus. The variety, which has been in isolation for many decades due to political reasons, did not undergo the koineisation processes that took place in Cypriot Greek and thus not only has it preserved “archaic” phenomena that are unavailable in the Cypriot Greek koine, but it also includes several intradialectal geographical isoglosses that were available prior to koineisation. This paper presents the history of the community and its language and discusses why this linguistic situation has voided the processes of koineisation at work in the rest of the Greek-speaking parts of the island. It further explores the sociolinguistic factors involved in language maintenance, including the strong ties between language and identity, and the use of Cypriot Romeika as the language of the home, as well as the attitudes of its speakers towards the Cypriot Greek koine.

English in Cyprus

“…So, while measures were taken to remove English from the state machinery, the nature of the economy suggests that English is used in the private sector of business and industry (Davy & Pavlou, 2001: 213). This is also confirmed in a recent study conducted by Theophanous (2020). English is widely employed in places where foreign employees work, such as offshore companies, hotels, and firms that cooperate with foreign investors.…”

Hellenes and Romans: Oppositional characterological figures and the enregisterment of Istanbul Greek

“…Although Politis means either "citizen" or "someone from Istanbul," 3 ethnographic research described below shows how IGs often employ Romioi to distinguish themselves from other types of Greeks. Many Greek speakers not belonging to the mainstream Greek nation (e.g., Cypriots or Pontians in Mariupol) may still refer to themselves as Romioi and their language as Romeika (Ioannidou et al, 2020). IG speakers, however, recruit the competing terms of Ellinas and Romios for specific differentiation projects.…”