The notion of nation: the emergence of a national ideal in the narratives of ‘inside' and ‘outside’ Greeks in the nineteenth century

This chapter alludes to the pamphlet by Peter Vlasto, which contains the text of two lectures given at the University of London in October 1932. The Modern Greek language is highly ideologies, by which mean that its speakers hold strong attitudes, beliefs, and dogmas relating to it. Such language ideologies can influence not only the vocabulary but even the very structure of a language. The Greek linguistic situation also presents certain similarities with Arab countries, where there is a diglossia of the type that used to exist in Greece; in other words a distinct separation, in grammar and vocabulary, between spoken and written language. The forerunners of the Israeli state, like the following generations of Jews who settled or were born in the region, had to adapt many ancient words semantically so as to express concepts of modern culture that did not exist in ancient times.