1. RESEARCHING MULTILINGUALLY
University of Manchester, 22-23 May 2012
Searching for translation: language
commensurability among the Greek linguistic
minority of South Italy
Dr Stavroula Pipyrou
Department of Anthropology
Durham University

2. Grecanici of South Italy
The Greek Linguistic Minority
(Grecanici) in Calabria, South Italy

3. Multilingual Subjects
 Grecanici speak:
 Grecanico (also termed ‘Grico’ or ‘Greco’),
comprised of archaic Doric, Hellenistic, Byzantine
as well as local Romanic and Italian linguistic
elements
 Local Calabrian dialect
 Official Italian language
Welcome to the Grecanico village of
Galliciano, written in Grecanico

4. Researching Multilingually
THE SUBJECTS THE RESEARCHER
GRECANICO MODERN GREEK
CALABRIAN DIALECT ENGLISH
OFFICIAL ITALIAN OFFICIAL ITALIAN
NB: Greeks can not understand Grecanico!

5. Language and Identity
 Grecanico language is
central to political claims
 Pivotal role in shaping the
‘politics of difference’
 Victimised language /
Triumphant language
 Grecanici civil society
‘saving the language’

6. Language and Historical Constructivism: 2
Theories
 A) Ancient Doric and Hellenistic
elements preserved from
Ancient Greek conquests
(supported by Karl Witte,
Gerhard Rohlfs and Anastasios
Karanastasis)
 B) The ‘Morosi hypothesis’:
Grecanico is corrupted
Byzantine-Greek remaining
from relocations during the
Byzantine and Norman eras
Ancient vs. Byzantine

7. Law n. 482/1999 and Sportelli Linguistici
 1999: Right for minority languages to be used
in education, meetings and administration,
judicial system, toponyms and in the media
 From 2004: Sportelli Linguistici, the official
mediator between the Grecanici and the
Provincia. The Sportelli Linguistici are cultural
and information centres that organise
promotional activities such as topical
conferences, seminars and educational
programmes

8. Researching Multilingually: Kinship
Terminologies
 Problems of interpretation, translation,
contextualisation, cohesion, and
epistemology
 Kinship terminologies employed in different
languages to identify different relationships
 Two different kinship systems identified
through two languages – can only be
identified through a multilingual approach
 yenía and razza

9. First Cousins …
 First cousins zzetreffádde are classified into:
 Parallel patrilateral (paralleli patrilaterali). They form a special
category of blood kin. They are also known as cousins of blood
(cugini di sangue), cousins of first blood (cugini di primo sangue),
real cousins (cugini veri). Older people also employ the term
cousin-brothers thus denoting the superior position of the
patrilateral cousin in the kinship structure. The patrilateral cousin
is ‘more than a cousin’, he is like a brother
 Parallel matrilateral (paralleli matrilaterali). They are the children
of two leddade (sisters in Grecanico) also known as cousins of
milk (cugini di latte)
 Cross cousins (cugini incrociati). These are conceptualised as
‘just cousins’

10. Who is Uncle …???
 Distinctions between uncles:
The father’s brothers are
‘real uncles’ but father’s sisters are not ‘real
aunties’. “I respect the brother of my father as
if he is my father”. Mother’s brothers and
father’s sisters are not as important
 These distinctions can only be identified
through a multilingual approach

11. Another distinction is between anispádia
and angónia
 The Grecanico term anispío and anispía refers to
brother’s/sister’s son and bother’s/sister’s daughter
respectively
 The Grecanico term angóni and angónissa refers to
the daughter’s/son’s son and daughter’s/son’s
daughter respectively
 The Italian language does not allow for a distinction
between the two classes of kin. The Italian term
nipote signifies both the above relations

12. Singení and Singénissa
 These refer to wife’s/husband’s brother and
wife’s/husband’s sister. The other terms used by
Grecanici, cognato and cognata, refer to sister’s
husband and brother’s wife. These are four distinct
terms for four distinct relationships
 Things are complicated when
younger generations prefer to
use only the Italian term cognato
and cognata to denote all above
relations
 Bilateral or Patrilateral Kinship?

13. Researching Multilingually:
 Researching Multilingually depends on trust
 Code-switching is always a possibility (changes not
only in language but primarily in discourse)
 Grecanico, Calabrian dialect and Italian – different
discourses required different performatives
 A discourse of secrecy and trust is mostly conveyed
in Grecanico when non-Grecanici speakers are
present
 Language is part of a knotted relation of friendship,
status and trust

14. Translation and Publication …
THE SUBJECTS THE RESEARCHER
GRECANICO MODERN GREEK
CALABRIAN DIALECT ENGLISH
OFFICIAL ITALIAN OFFICIAL ITALIAN
NB: Greeks can not understand Grecanico!