Is the sociolinguistic situation in Cyprus diglossic?

Abstract

The present article aims to scrutinize the widely expressed assertion that the Greek Cypriot sociolinguistic situation is diglossic. Rather than thoroughly examining whether code-switching depends on the formality of the context, and whether Greek Cypriots only acquire the Cypriot Greek dialect, the relevant literature takes these for granted, uses them as points of departure and defines the relationship between the Cypriot Greek dialect and the Standard Greek as diglossic. Hence, it is no wonder that the relevant scholarship leaves unseen and unanswered important questions about the Greek Cypriot context. At the same time, the uncritical assertion that the sociolinguistic situation in Cyprus reflects diglossia is framed by an unjustifiable and sweeping incrimination of the Greek ethnic identity of Greek Cypriots. These lead the scholars who adhere to the assumption of diglossia in Cyprus to perform a “one-way” transfer of theory to the Greek Cypriot context by unwittingly elevating this theory to a grand narrative applicable to just any seemingly fitting situation. Thus, while advancing a current metanarrative function of diglossia and jumping on the bandwagon that its theoretical dispersal creates the relevant scholarship renders the term of diglossia ideological and tailors the Greek Cypriot sociolinguistic context to its parameters.

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