The Perception of Greek National Orthography and Greeklish at the Threshold of the Post-Modern Era: Investigating Attitudes Towards Orthography in Greek Education

Abstract

In keeping with the Western paradigm, the Modern Greek nation-state has based its formation on a national discourse which dictates that the people of a nation speak a national language and write in a national orthography (cf. Piller 2001, Johnson 2002). In this context, two prescriptive orthographic criteria are currently the subject of a debate as to which is the most appropriate for regulating Modern Greek orthography. One of these aims to reconcile etymology with the principle of simpler writing, while the other aims to preserve etymology. Both aim to regulate an orthography that will symbolize Greek national identity. However, global changes in written digital communication are now being actualized in Greek society via Greeklish. Greeklish, a hybrid post-modern writing system, serves to question national standards in digital media through a Latinized version of Greek writing. Quantitative data obtained from a questionnaire about orthography which was distributed to a sample of teachers, sixth-grade students, and those students' parents sheds light on contemporary attitudes towards orthography in Greek primary education.

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