Cyprus

UHH/privat

Manuela Vida-Mannl, TU Dortmund University; Sarah Buschfeld, TU Dortmund University

This project investigates the role, status, and functions of English within the multilingual ecology of the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It specifically focuses on how English interacts with the multiple other languages of the island as one part of its multilingual ecology. The non-prototypical development of English in post-colonial Cyprus and the current socio-political situation, i.e., the division of the island and the complex sociolinguistic dynamics resulting from this division, have caused research on English in Cyprus to remain scarce.

This project draws on systematically collected, unprecedentedly rich data that promise a new understanding of the specifics behind individual multilingual ecologies and their relation to other local contexts. Examining the impact of socio-political and identity factors on the use and status of English and other local languages in Cyprus contributes to developing an inclusive theoretical approach to the global use of English in its various local multilingual ecologies.