THE POLITICS OF CYPRIOT GREEK IN POSTCOLONIAL CYPRUS
| Autor: | R. M. Christofides |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Interventions. 12:415-427 |
| ISSN: | 1469-929X 1369-801X |
| DOI: | 10.1080/1369801x.2010.516099 |
| Popis: | As renewed talks for the reunification of Cyprus encounter familiar barriers, this essay urges the reader to consider the importance of language use in the Greek Cypriot community. Drawing on Jacques Derrida's work on speech and writing, it examines the political significance of Demotic Greek and the Cypriot Greek spoken every day, arguing that the conflicts of Greek Cypriot identity since decolonization are played out by the tension between the two forms of Greek. Demotic use invokes an essential Greek identity that excludes the Oriental, particularly Turkish, Other. However, its use remains primarily written even though it summons the classical philosophy and Greek Orthodoxy that celebrate speech, not writing, as the mode of self-expression. Paradoxically, the use of written Demotic presents a Hellenized version of Cyprus at the same time that it undermines one of the foundational principles of Hellenic culture. Cypriot Greek persists in speech, resisting the textual seduction and invasion by Demotic. I... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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