Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
Department of Special Education, School of Education Nicosia University, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2023;75(6):401-411. doi: 10.1159/000533400. Epub 2023 Aug 4.
Cypriot Greek is the variety of Greek language used for oral communication by the Greek Cypriot people, while Standard Modern Greek is the official language. Cypriot Greek differs from Standard Modern Greek in various aspects, including lexicon, phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax, and pragmatics. This study examines whether there are differences between children who are native speakers of the Cypriot Greek dialect and those who are native speakers of Standard Modern Greek in narrative measurements obtained in a personal narrative context.
Thirty-nine ten-year-old children (19 Cypriot Greek speakers and 20 Standard Modern Greek speakers) participated in the study. The Global TALES protocol was used to elicit personal narratives across 6 emotion-based prompts. Measures of microstructure (mean length of utterance, number of different words) and macrostructure (plot elements) are examined.
Analysis showed no differences in macrostructure between Cypriots Greek speakers and Standard Modern Greek speakers in response to the prompts. In contrast, group differences were found in syntactic complexity, with the Standard Modern Greek speakers producing longer sentences.
This is the first study to compare the characteristics of personal narratives spoken by 10-year-old children who are speakers of Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. The results from this initial comparison highlight that children who are speakers of two varieties of the same language share similar narrative elements. However, they may differ in their linguistic profiles, such as in syntax. Understanding these differences is important for researchers, educators, and speech therapists. A detailed understanding of developmental milestones and a clear understanding of each variety's characteristics are crucial from a research, pedagogical, and speech therapy perspective.
塞浦路斯希腊语是希腊裔塞浦路斯人用于口头交流的希腊语变体，而标准现代希腊语是官方语言。塞浦路斯希腊语在词汇、语音、音系、形态句法和语用等方面与标准现代希腊语存在差异。本研究考察了在个人叙事背景下获得的叙事测量中，以塞浦路斯希腊方言为母语的儿童和以标准现代希腊语为母语的儿童之间是否存在差异。
39 名 10 岁儿童（19 名塞浦路斯希腊语说话者和 20 名标准现代希腊语说话者）参与了这项研究。使用全球 TALES 方案通过 6 个基于情绪的提示引出个人叙事。检查微观结构（平均话语长度、不同单词的数量）和宏观结构（情节元素）的措施。
分析表明，在对提示的反应中，塞浦路斯希腊语说话者和标准现代希腊语说话者之间没有宏观结构差异。相比之下，在句法复杂性方面发现了群体差异，标准现代希腊语说话者的句子更长。
这是第一项比较以塞浦路斯希腊语和标准现代希腊语为母语的 10 岁儿童所讲个人叙事特征的研究。从这个初步比较中得出的结果表明，使用两种语言变体的儿童共享相似的叙事元素。然而，他们的语言特征可能存在差异，例如在句法方面。了解这些差异对于研究人员、教育工作者和言语治疗师非常重要。从研究、教学和言语治疗的角度来看，详细了解发展里程碑和每种变体的特点是至关重要的。
