ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the most recent episode in the long history of meta-linguistic theorizing on Greek. It explores an analysis of the discourse employed in a body of work by a number of contemporary Greek scholars, with particular reference to the question of the continuity of the Greek language and its ideological use and abuse. It suggests that the contestation of ideologies over post-diglossia Greek depends on conventional polarities and dichotomies, which hinder a renewed understanding of the language in its contemporary dimensions. For instance, as Coulmas has pointed out with respect to diglossia, 'to know that certain linguistic norms stem from social privileges and from using language as a socially dividing rather than unifying force does not necessarily diminish their potency'. Rather than natural processes, what we are dealing with are territorializing and deterritorializing forces in language, In the sense of Deleuze and Guattari such as standardization, canonization, language education versus language contact, linguistic performance, new technologies.
