Peter Mackridge is Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek at Oxford where he taught Greek language, literature, and culture from 1981, and Visiting Professor of Modern Greek at King's College London. He is the author of The Modern Greek Language (OUP 1985), and co-author of Greek: a Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language (Routledge 1997)) and Greek: an Essential Grammar of the Modern Language (Routledge 2004) all of which have been published in Greek.

• Preface


• Transliteration from Greek and pronunciation of Greek Words


• Maps and illustrations


• Acknowledgements


• 1: Theoretical background


• 2: The preconditions for the Greek language controversy


• 3: The early stages of the controversy, 1766-1804


• 4: Adamantios Korais as language reformer


• 5: Alternative proposals to Korais' project, 1804-1830


• 6: Language in the two Greek states, 1830-1880


• 7: The beginning of the demoticist campaign, 1880-1897


• 8: Educational demoticism and political reform, 1897-1922


• 9: The political polarization of the language question, 1922-1976


• 10: Epilogue


• Glossary


• Bibliography


• Index

Peter Mackridge explores the ideological, social, and linguistic causes and effects of the Greek language question in its many and passionate manifestations over two turbulent centuries. He shows the crucial way in which Greek linguistic identities have interacted in the creation of the modern nation since the War of Independence in 1821.