here - O - Universiteit Leiden
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SpirosA.Moschonas,UniversityofAthens(Gr ece)<br />
Non-uniform standards:⇡ ecaseofStandardModernGreek<br />
6eaim ofthispaperistoprovideacounterexampletoawidelyheldconceptionof<br />
standardization as“theim position ofuniform ity”upon acertain linguisticvariety(M ilroy<br />
2001:531).IexaminethestandardizationofModernGreekbyM anolisTriantaphylidis<br />
(1883-1959),alinguistconsideredtobethe“foundingfather”ofStandardM odernGreek<br />
(oP cialStandardsince1976).<br />
6epresentationconcentratesonTriantaphylidis’ModernGrekGrammar(1941)<br />
andshowsthetypesoflinguisticvarietydocumentedinit.AlthoughTriantaphylidis’aim<br />
wasto“putanend”tothelastingGreekdiglosia,hisGrammarwasquitetoleranttowards<br />
thehigh(archaistic)variantsoftheGreeklanguageanditalsorecordedagreatdealof<br />
dialectalvariation.<br />
Mypresentationalsolooksatt<strong>here</strong>-standardizationpracticesthathavebecome<br />
prominenta?ertheoPcializationofTriantaphylidis’norm in1976;Iwilshow thatcu rent<br />
“co rectivepractices”(M oschonas& Spitzm ü ler2009)haveadoptedaphraseologicaltrend,<br />
whichdoesnotdistinguishbetweenhighandlowvariantsandisthusconsistentwithTriantaphylidis’non-uniform<br />
standard.ItisalsointerestingthatTriantaphylidis’prescriptive<br />
form ula(‘StandardM odern Greek= Low variety+ highvariants,asnece sary’)hasnow<br />
asumedthestatusofadescriptiveprincipleinalreferenceGrammarsofM odernGreek<br />
publisheda?erTriantaphylidis’.<br />
Iftim ealows,theGreekcasewilbecontrastedtothecasesofotherpluri-centric<br />
Standards,suchasNorwegian,whichisasumedtobecu rentlyundergoingadestandardizationproces(Sandøy2012).<br />
Iarguethattheconceptionofastandardasa“uniform variety”isanideological,pretheoreticalconstruct,andthusitcannotform<br />
partofanyserioustheorizationofthe<br />
standardizationproceses.Linguistsbelongtothesam earm yofauthoritieswith “founding<br />
fathers”,folowers,advocatesandwritingpractitionersofalkinds(e.g.,editors,educators,<br />
cra?profesionals);theirroleistopropagatethenormsofastandardthroughrationalizing<br />
andspreadingtheilusionofuniformity.<br />
References:<br />
Milroy,J.2001.Languageideologiesandtheconsequencesofstandardization.JournalofSociolinguistics5/4:530-555.<br />
MoschonasS.A.andJ.Spitzmüler.2009.Prescriptivism inandaboutthemedia:Acomparative<br />
analysisofco rectivepracticesinGreeceandGermany.In:S.JohnsonandT.M ilani(eds),<br />
LanguageIdeologiesandMediaDiscourse:Texts,Practices,Politics,London:Continuum :17-<br />
40.<br />
SandøyH.2011.LanguagecultureinNorway:A traditionofquestioningstandardlanguage<br />
norms.In:T.Kristiansen& N.Coupland(eds),StandardLanguagesandLanguage<br />
StandardsinaChangingEurope,Oslo:Novus,119-126.<br />
Triantaphylidis,M .1941 1 .ModernGrekGrammar(oftheDemotic)[inGreek].Athens:Institute<br />
ofModernGreekStudies,1978 2 .
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