• Written by the world's leading authority
• Well-placed narrative account
• Based on original research

Readership: All those interested in the modern history of Greece and Asia Minor; the history of modern Greek; and the relationship between language and national identity, including historians, linguists, anthropologists, and political scientists.

Peter Mackridge, Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek, Oxford

"This book provides the first authoritative, nuanced, and analytical account of the notorious language question in modern Greece. Drawing copiously on original sources that have often been overlooked, even by specialists, Mackridge coherently and convincingly explains why the "correct" form of their national language mattered so much to Greek-speakers for more than two centuries. In doing so he also argues powerfully for the role of language to be better studied as part of the global phenomenon of nation-formation." - Roderick Beaton

"Modern Greek, a more extraordinary language even than English, reaches back to Homer, Sophocles, Plato, and Sappho. For Greeks, the demotic language of today is part of a three-thousand-year continuum that buoys their sense of pride and identity. "What a joy it is to fashion our language!" says Kazantzakis. Peter Mackridge's incisive examination shows why." - Peter Bien

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