Issues of identity and power in a Greek-Cypriot community
McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa and Pouloukas, S. (2001) Issues of identity and power in a Greek-Cypriot community. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 22 (1), pp. 19-38. ISSN 0143-4632.
Abstract
An investigation of reported attitudes and language use in Cyprus has enabled an interpretation of social conditions affording status and 'price' to products available in the linguistic market-place. It has identified boundaries of social division and provided reasons for the coexistence of multiple linguistic codes. An empirical investigation, with recourse to the theory of practice (Bourdieu, 1997), identifies and accounts for the use of national and international codes (i.e. the Greek-Cypriot dialect (GCD), Standard Modern Greek (SMG) and English), their market value and their location within the strata of the community. Simple summary scores from factor analysis groupings suggest that despite the power and hegemonic potential of international languages such as English, the strength of the national codes persist due to their dominance as purveyors of instrumental worth and collective symbolism. English exists in response to symbolic and pragmatic forces determined by modernity. Moreover, multivariate analysis of variance reveals that it is those with greatest socioeconomic power who use English as a resource, enabling the construction and exploitation of multiple social identities.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2016 14:35 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2023 12:39 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/16274 |
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