scholarly journals What is not so (E)strange about Greek as a Balkan Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Brian Daniel Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Greek Language ◽  
Greek Orthodox ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Greece ◽  
Of Greece

In a 2013 lecture at Princeton University, distinguished historian Professor Basil Gounaris suggested that in the 19th‒20th centuries there was a “troubled relationship” between Greece and the Balkans, and a process of “estrangement” associated with “the transformation of the Greek-orthodox society itself into a Modern Greek nation”. This is all very well and good as far as the 19th and 20th centuries are concerned, and as far as the cultural and political side of the development of modern Greece are concerned, but there is a longer history of engagement between Greek peoples and the Balkans and other dimensions to that history. In particular, from a linguistic standpoint, the interactions between Greek speakers and speakers of other languages in the Balkans—Albanian, Slavic, Romance, Indic, and Turkish in particular—had profound effects on the Greek language that last to this very day. Accordingly, I present here a side of Greece, namely the Greek language, that is not estranged from the Balkans, and explore the ways in which Greek has been affected by, and has influenced, other Balkan languages and the ways in which it can be considered to be a Balkan language.

Languages, Identities and Cultural Transfers

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Formation ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Vernacular Literature ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Human Aspects ◽  
Modern Greece ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
Cultural Transfers

What was the perception of Greece in Europe during the later nineteenth century, when the attraction of romantic philhellenism had waned? This volume focuses on the reception of medieval and modern Greece in the European press, rigorously analysing journals and newspapers published in England, France, Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands. The essays here suggest that reactions to the Greek state's progress and irredentist desires were followed among the European intelligentsia. Concurrently, new scholarship on the historical development of the Greek language and vernacular literature enhanced the image of medieval and modern Greece. This volume's contributors consider the press's role in this Europe-wide exchange of ideas, explore the links between romantic and late philhellenism and highlight the scholarly nature of the latter. Moreover, they highlight the human aspects of cultural transfers by focusing on networks of mediators, publishers and scholarly collaborators. This context enhances our understanding of both the creation of Hellenic studies and the complex formation of the modern Greek identity.

1. On the Philological Genius and Character of the Neo-Hellenic Dialect

1875 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 31-31
Author(s):  
Blackie
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Present State ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Of Greece

The Author showed by a historical review of the fortunes of Greece, through the Middle Ages, and under the successive influences of Turkish conquest and Turkish oppression, how the Greek language had escaped corruption to the degree that would have caused the birth of a new language in the way that Italian and the other Roman languages grew out of Latin. He then analysed the modern language, as it existed in current popular literature before the time of Coraes, that is, from the time of Theodore Ptochoprodromus to nearly the end of the last century, and showed that the losses and curtailments which it had unquestionably suffered in the course of so many centuries, were not such as materially to impair the strength and beauty of the language, which in its present state was partly to be regarded as a living bridge betwixt the present and the past, and as an altogether unique phenomenon in the history of human speech.

Greek Prehistory Through the Bronze Age

Classics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Burke
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
History Of Archaeology ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of ◽  
Epic Poems ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Of Greece

The history of archaeology of Greece as we know it today begins with prehistoric investigations that took place in the 19th century. Early excavations by Heinrich Schliemann, Arthur Evans, and Wilhelm Dörpfeld, along with Greek colleagues like Christos Tsountas, Panagiotis Stamatakis, Valerios Stais, and Antonios Keramopoulos laid the foundation for systematic, stratigraphic excavations. Research was heavily directed by ancient Greek texts, primarily the epic poems of Homer. Efforts to find archaeological truth to the legendary tales of the ancient heroes continue to be problematic, but, to a degree, early excavations revealed a rich and fascinating period of Greece’s development. Although the archaeological discoveries of Greek prehistory date to an age centuries older than Homer, the discoveries shed light on a vast, rich archaeological history, one upon which the Homeric tales were, at least partially, based. Early discoveries of prehistoric texts, especially on Crete with scripts in Hieroglyphic Minoan, Linear A (non-Greek), and Linear B (Greek), along with the enigmatic Phaistos disc, have expanded our understanding of the history of the Greek language and Greek people.

The Legal System and Economic Development of Greece

1959 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Pepelasis
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Poor Soil ◽  
Of Greece

A side from some overworked generalizations regarding poor soil, shortage of capital, lack of arable land, population density and such, there are no studies in English that deal with the general economic history of Greece or with specific problems in her economic development since the establishment of the modern Greek state in the third decade of the last century. An analysis of the influence of the legal system on this development, therefore, may throw light on Greek economic history in general and open a useful discussion. It may also add something to our knowledge of the larger problem of the relation of socialcultural institutions and economic activity.

scholarly journals Secularism in Context: The Relations between the Greek State and the Church of Greece in Crisis

2009 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Karagiannis
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Structural Weakness ◽  
Single Pattern ◽  
Modern Greece ◽  
The Church ◽  
Of Greece

AbstractThe present article addresses the question of secularism in Greece. It discusses the prevalent modernist and civilisationist explanations of the recent crisis in state-church relations in Greece. Based on the idea that there is neither a single route to, nor a single pattern of, modernity and secularism, the article argues that the entanglement between state and church in modern Greece does not necessarily indicate either incomplete modernity or incomplete secularism. The paper emphasises both the structural weakness of the Orthodox Church in the modern Greek state and the secularisation of the church's ideology as core dimensions of the particular pattern of secularism in this country. The recent crisis is interpreted as a result of the twofold challenge of democratisation and globalisation that this historically grown pattern of secularism is facing over the last decades. Further, the article seeks to demonstrate that the nationalist stance of the Church of Greece should not be seen as persistent blind traditionalism and anti-modernism.

scholarly journals Diglossic past and present lexicographical practices

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assimakis Tseronis
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Language Question ◽  
The Way

The publication of a dictionary is a means to describe, codify and ultimately standardise a language. This process is complicated by the lexicographer’s own attitude towards the language and the public’s sensitivity on language matters. The recent publication of the two most authoritative dictionaries of Modern Greek and their respective lexical coverage reveals the continuing survival of the underlying ideologies of the two sponsoring institutions concerning the history of the Greek language, as well as their opposing standpoints on the language question over the past decades, some 25 years after the constitutional resolution of the Greek diglossia, affecting the way they describe the synchronic state of language. The two dictionaries proceed from opposing starting points in attempting to influence and set a pace for the standardisation of Modern Greek by presenting two different aspects of the synchronic state of Greek, one of which focuses on the long history of the language and thus takes the present state to be only a link in an uninterrupted chain dating from antiquity, and the other of which focuses on the present state of Greek and thus takes this fully developed autonomous code to be the outcome of past linguistic processes and socio-cultural changes in response to the linguistic community’s present needs. The absence of a sufficiently representative corpus has restrained the descriptive capacity of the two dictionaries and has given space for ideology to come into play, despite the fact that both dictionaries have made concessions in order to account for the present-day Greek language.

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