Cyprus
Date
2019
Authors
Theodorou, E.
Petinou, K.
Kambanaros, M.
Editors
Law, J.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: Managing Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Theory and Practice across Europe and Beyond, 2019 / Law, J. (ed./s), Ch.10, pp.179-188
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Abstract
The sociolinguistic situation in the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus is described as ‘diglossia’ (reviewed in Rowe & Grohmann, 2013). That is, the ‘high’ variety is Standard Modern Greek, whereas the ‘low’ variety is the vernacular, Cypriot Greek. The differences between the two varieties go beyond vocabulary, pronunciation and prosody components. Distinct differences between Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek are lexical, phonetic and (morpho)phonological properties of the languages (e.g. Newton, 1972; Arvaniti, 2001; Petinou & Okalidou, 2006; Okalidou, et al., 2010). Given the complex linguistic situation in Cyprus, the language status of Greek Cypriot children is referred to as bilectalism (Rowe & Grohmann, 2013). This is the term used by language researchers for typical and atypical language acquisition (e.g. Kambanaros, et al., 2013; Antoniou, et al., 2016; Theodorou, et al., 2016; Theodorou, et al., 2017). Accordingly, children from Cypriot Greek-speaking environments, grow up with the dialect from birth and are exposed to Standard Modern Greek as a second language or ‘lect’ from an early age. Exposure to the latter comes mainly through children’s exposure to TV broadcasts, followed by formal educational instruction in school settings. Crucial to the study of developmental language disorder (DLD) in Cyprus is the need for appropriate identification using appropriate language assessment tools. In this context where the availability of norm-referenced language tools is sparse (Kambanaros & Grohmann, 2013) and the state does not clearly define access to services (Kambanaros & Grohmann, 2011; Theodorou, et al., 2016) there is a high risk of misdiagnosis.
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Copyright 2019 selection and editorial matter, James Law, Cristina McKean, Carol-Anne Murphy and Elin Thordardottir; individual chapters, the contributors