Language policies and the linguistic situation in Greece

 

Language policies and the linguistic situation in Greece

 

The linguistic situation in Greece with its related language policies has developed under the influence of three main factors.  To begin with, modern Greek is, like so many other lesser spoken national languages, both “weak” and “strong”:  as it is the national language of Greece, it is overwhelmingly used and taught in this country;  yet on the international level, and at a time when individual countries, especially small ones, can no longer afford to be inward-looking, it shares the same quantitatively inferior status with its many other lesser spoken sisters.  Secondly, Greek has traditionally felt itself at best in competition with and at worst threatened by not only relatively strong but also weaker languages;  not only abroad but also within Greece.  Thirdly, Modern Greek has not yet fully reconciled itself to the fact that it is the lesser used descendant of Classical Greek, one of the most prestigious languages ever to have existed;  this is causing difficulties not only on the psychological or the ideological level but on the structural as well. 

Below, we will examine in some detail the influence of the above three factors on the present linguistic situation in Greece.  In so doing, we will alternatively look at things Greek from the point of view of  (a) Greek as either a strong or a weak language, (b) internationally strong languages, including Classical Greek, in competition with Modern Greek, and  (c) weak languages with which Greek comes into contact within Greece.

Τὸ πλῆρες κείμενο στὸν σύνδεσμο:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_gXiT-uFadDbDZzgOsZT8EjnMcJKsUgN/view?usp=sharing