Literacy Development in Cyprus: Exploring the Effects of Diglossia and Bilectalism

Tsiplakou, Stavroula; Kambanaros, Maria; Grohmann, Kleanthes Κ.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-80072-7_4

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…First, the very high similarity of the two linguistic varieties makes it hard to determine what counts as "true" mixing (in the sense of combining, at the performance level, elements from two distinct underlying codes in the same utterance) because, for example, many linguistic elements belong to both varieties (e.g., Tsiplakou, 2009). Relatedly, it has been argued that CG consists of a varietal (or register) continuum that includes less standard-like features at one end and more standard-like characteristics at the other end (e.g., Tsiplakou, 2014;Tsiplakou et al, 2022). The latter CG form (often called a "pancypriot koiné"; e.g., Tsiplakou, 2014) is naturally more mixed, even though it is still distinct from and in diglossic relationship with SMG (as spoken in Cyprus; e.g., Tsiplakou, 2014).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, there is a lot of "mixing" when using a higher, formal register of CG (e.g., Tsiplakou, 2014). However, this probably reflects a single, mixed underlying linguistic system (the CG koiné) rather than "true" mixing at the performance level (e.g., Tsiplakou et al, 2022). Second, diglossia in Cyprus suggests that, in theory, there is no frequent switching between CG and SMG, from one utterance to another based on the listener, during daily oral communication, at least in conversations among Greek Cypriots (phonetics being the main, reliable indicator of CG-SMG switching, according to Tsiplakou, 2009).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, switching between CG and SMG has been observed in at least some situations. For example, in classroom settings, Greek-Cypriot teachers often use SMG for the "lesson proper" and CG for discourse acts outside this purpose (for instance, for restoring order, telling students off, joking; e.g., Tsiplakou et al, 2022). Another example are conversations in which both Greek-Cypriot and Hellenic Greek interlocutors are involved.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inside the Multilingual and Bidialectal Mind: An Investigation of the Cognitive Effect on Executive Function

Antoniou,

Spanoudis

2024

Preprint

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Whether speaking two or more languages (multilingualism) or dialects of one language (bidialectalism) affect executive function (EF) is controversial. Theoretically, these effects may depend on at least two conditions. First, the multilingual and bidialectal characteristics; particularly, (second) language proficiency and the sociolinguistic context of language use (e.g., Green & Abutalebi, 2013). Second, the EF aspects examined; specifically, recent accounts of the locus of the multilingual effect propose a general EF effect rather than an impact on specific processes (Bialystok, 2017). We compared 52 “monolingual” (with limited additional-language/dialect experience), 79 bidialectal, and 50 multilingual young adults in the diglossic context of Cyprus, where bidialectalism is widespread and Cypriot and Standard Greek are used in different everyday situations. Three EF processes were examined via seven tasks: inhibition, switching, working memory (Miyake et al., 2000). We found better multilingual and bidialectal performance in overall EF, an effect moderated by high (second) language proficiency.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inside the Multilingual and Bidialectal Mind: An Investigation of the Cognitive Effect on Executive Function

Antoniou,

Spanoudis

2024

Preprint

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“…Although there has been research on the description of the dialect's characteristics [43,45], the acquisition of language by children in Cyprus [46,47] and the linguistic behavior of teachers and students [48][49][50], there is still a notable lack of a study that compares Cypriot Greek speakers to Standard Modern Greek speakerson measures of verbal productivity, semantic diversity, or syntactic complexity. This is the first study that attempts to address this gap.…”

Section: The Language Situation In Cyprusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sophocleous and Wilks [38] pointed out that Greek Cypriot teachers “correct” students who use “improper” dialectal vocabulary but do not “correct” the phonological features students’ express. Therefore, as Tsiplakou et al [50] highlighted, teachers and students switch between dialect and standard. They also noticed that this informal presentation of the dialect in the classroom – as opposed to the normal recognition of the dialect use – may promote linguistic inequalities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telling Personal Narratives: Comparing Stories Told by 10-Year-Old Speakers of Cypriot Greek Dialect and of Standard Modern Greek

Theodorou,

Vogindroukas,

Giannakou

et al. 2023

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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Introduction: Cypriot Greek is the variety of Greek language used for oral communication by the Greek Cypriot people, while Standard Modern Greek is the official language. Cypriot Greek differs from Standard Modern Greek in various aspects, including lexicon, phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax and pragmatics. This study examines whether there are differences between children who are native speakers of the Cypriot Greek dialect and those who are native speakers of Standard Modern Greek in narrative measurements obtained in a personal narrative context. Methods: Thirty-nine ten-year-old children (19 Cypriot Greek speakers and 20 Standard Modern Greek speakers) participated in the study. The Global TALES protocol was used to elicit personal narratives across 6 emotion-based prompts. Measures of microstructure (Mean Length of Utterance, Number of different words) and macro-structure (plot elements) are examined. Results: Analysis showed no differences in macrostructure between Cypriots Greek speakers and Standard Modern Greek speakers in response to the prompts. In contrast, group differences were found in syntactic complexity, with the Standard Modern Greek speakers producing longer sentences. Discussion/ Conclusion: This is the first study to compare the characteristics of personal narratives spoken by 10-year-old children who are speakers of Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. The results from this initial comparison highlight that children who are speakers of two varieties of the same language share similar narrative elements. However, they may differ in their linguistic profiles, such as in syntax. Understanding these differences is important for researchers, educators, and speech therapists. A detailed understanding of developmental milestones and a clear understanding of each variety's characteristics are crucial from a research, pedagogical, and speech-therapy perspective.

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Inside the multilingual and bidialectal mind: an investigation of the cognitive effect on executive function

Antoniou,

Spanoudis

2024

Bilingualism

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Whether speaking two or more languages (multilingualism) or dialects of one language (bidialectalism) affect executive function (EF) is controversial. Theoretically, these effects may depend on at least two conditions. First, the multilingual and bidialectal characteristics; particularly, (second) language proficiency and the sociolinguistic context of language use (e.g., Green & Abutalebi, 2013). Second, the EF aspects examined; specifically, recent accounts of the locus of the multilingual effect propose a general EF effect rather than an impact on specific processes (Bialystok, 2017). We compared 52 “monolingual” (with limited additional-language/dialect experience), 79 bidialectal and 50 multilingual young adults in the diglossic context of Cyprus, where bidialectalism is widespread and Cypriot and Standard Greek are used in different everyday situations. Three EF processes were examined via seven tasks: inhibition, switching and working memory (Miyake et al., 2000). We found better multilingual and bidialectal performance in overall EF, an effect moderated by high (second) language proficiency.

show abstract

Literacy Development in Cyprus: Exploring the Effects of Diglossia and Bilectalism

Cited by 5 publications

References 55 publications

Inside the Multilingual and Bidialectal Mind: An Investigation of the Cognitive Effect on Executive Function

Inside the Multilingual and Bidialectal Mind: An Investigation of the Cognitive Effect on Executive Function

Telling Personal Narratives: Comparing Stories Told by 10-Year-Old Speakers of Cypriot Greek Dialect and of Standard Modern Greek

Inside the multilingual and bidialectal mind: an investigation of the cognitive effect on executive function

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