Greek Language, Italian Landscape: Griko and the Re-storying of a Linguistic Minority

This book is about Salentine Greek—or simply Griko—a language of Greek origins transmitted orally from generation to generation in Salento, in the Apulian province of Lecce, the ‘heel’ of the boot of Italy. Its pool of speakers started shrinking after the contact that had once existed with Greece receded in the fifteenth century; interestingly, ever since the Italian linguist Giuseppe Morosi ‘discovered’ Griko in the middle of the nineteenth century, the language has been considered to be on the verge of disappearing. Unexpectedly, however, it survived such prophecy. … This book therefore recounts the story of Griko, the multiple ways in which locals viewed and used it in the past, and the ways in which they view and use it today. It traces Griko speakers’ multiple ideologies about the language. The lens of language ideologies brings into focus the relationship between language, politics, and identity …

– From the Introduction