Abstract:

Language relativism can be associated with two major conceptions: that “each
language has or is a particular spirit” and that “each language has or is a—
real or imagined—territory.” Spirituality and territoriality combined give
rise to the ideology of a language as a realm. This ideology of Modern Greek
as a regime language has become dominant after the official establishment of a
standard norm (demotic) and the resolution of the perennial “Greek
Language Question.” As it is evidenced by a host of “language issues” raised
in the Greek newspapers since 1976, relativism has determined what counted
as a “language issue” that was worth publishing, which language issues were
eligible for public debates, and the extent to which language issues were allowed
to penetrate “public opinion.”

Publisher's Version