The Future of the Bilingual Greek Orthodox Minority in Istanbul: New Data

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the current sociolinguistic situation of the Greek Orthodox Minority in Istanbul, in order to predict, to the maximum possible extent, the linguistic behavior of the new generation of this minority, based on the observation of the use of Greek and Turkish by informants aged 10 to 18. The children of the Greek Orthodox Minority have grown up in a language community characterized by individual bilingualism and diglossia. The limited use of the minority mother tongue leads to limited exposure to that language, resulting in the decrease of linguistic competence, in lack of confidence in using the language and in the increase of reliance on the dominant language. It is about a dynamic phenomenon that leads to the limited use of the minority language.