Books by Alexander Nikolaou
Νέες Μορφές Κακοποίησης Παιδιού και Εφήβου , 2014
This paper examines self and other representations in interviews conducted with
second-generation... more This paper examines self and other representations in interviews conducted with
second-generation Greek return migrants (in their majority Greek Americans),
who relocated to their parents’ homeland as adults within a decade prior to the
interviews. Through the analysis of stories of linguistic and cultural assimilation,
conflict and transition, authenticity and hybridity, we explore how return
migrants construct and negotiate identity positions vis-à-vis other members of
their immigrant community, native Greeks, and the interviewer through the employment
of indexical devices during the interview. Return migrants constitute
an understudied group, especially from a sociolinguistic perspective, and we
argue that understanding the complex positioning of identities among this group
may provide unique insights into the broader ideologies that mediate hybrid and
hyphenated identities in general.
Papers by Alexander Nikolaou
Αυτή η μeλέτη διeρeυνά τις γλωσσικές και πολιτιστικές eμπeιρίeς των μeτeγκατeστημένων Eλλήνων της... more Αυτή η μeλέτη διeρeυνά τις γλωσσικές και πολιτιστικές eμπeιρίeς των μeτeγκατeστημένων Eλλήνων της διασποράς ως eνήλικeς στην Αθήνα. Χρησιμοποιώντας αφηγηματική προσέγγιση, αναλύουμe τις πeριγραφές των ομιλητών για τις γλωσσικές τους πρακτικές και συγκeκριμένα την υβριδική γλωσσική ποικιλία " Grenglish " που χρησιμοποιeίται στις δασπορικές τους κοινότητeς. Μέσα από τις πeριγραφές προβάλλουν τυπικές γλωσσικές ιδeολογίeς πeρί «ανόθeυτων και παραφθαρμένων» eλληνικών. Η γηγeνής ποικιλία κρίνeται ως πιο σύγχρονη και κοσμοπολίτικη, eνώ οι ποικιλίeς της διασποράς συνδέονται μe μια κουλτούρα «κολλημένη στο παρeλθόν». Αυτή η μeλέτη αποτeλeί μια συμβολή στην eλληνική γλωσσολογία τeκμηριώνοντας τις διασπορικές ποικιλίeς και τις ιδeολογίeς που σχeτίζονται μe την κοινωνιογλωσσική παραλλαγή στα νeοeλληνικά.
International Journal of Multilingualism, 2016
ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the linguistic composition of commercial signs in the linguistic l... more ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the linguistic composition of commercial signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Athens, Greece. Previous studies have mainly been carried out in officially multilingual and multi-ethnic areas [Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., & Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 7–28). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2006). Linguistic landscape and minority languages. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 67–80). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok's linguistic landscapes: Environmental print, codemixing and language change. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 31–51). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters]. Greece, however, is characterised by official monolingualism and a great degree of ethnic homogenisation, which suggests that apart from tourist areas, one would expect that languages and scripts other than Greek would not be as visible as in contexts characterised by official or de facto multilingualism. A total of 621 shop signs were collected and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings indicate that a significant number of shops employ – often creatively – languages other than Greek, either monolingually or in combination with Greek, resulting in a situation of written multilingualism, with English emerging as the strongest linguistic player. The results also strongly suggest that the multilingual character of commercial signs is not primarily informational but symbolic reflecting a desire to project a cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and trendy outlook.
Development and Psychopathology, 1997
The MacArthur Story Stem Battery was used to examine maternal and self-representations in neglect... more The MacArthur Story Stem Battery was used to examine maternal and self-representations in neglected, physically abused, sexually abused, and nonmaltreated comparison preschool children. The narratives of maltreated children contained more negative maternal representations and more negative self-representations than did the narratives of nonmaltreated children. Maltreated children also were more controlling with and less responsive to the examiner. In examining the differential impact of maltreatment subtype differences on maternal and self-representations, physically abused children evidenced the most negative maternal representations; they also had more negative self-representations than nonmaltreated children. Sexually abused children manifested more positive self-representations than neglected children. Despite these differences in the nature of maternal and self-representations, physically and sexually abused children both were more controlling and less responsive to the examine...
14 International conference on advances in research on Language acquisition and teaching: Selected papers, 2010
This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Gr... more This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Greek upper secondary schools (Lykeia) based on Gardner"s well-established L2 motivational theory. The major research question is whether attitudes, orientations, ideological attributes of the target language communities, motivation and achievement are related. The study sets out as its working hypothesis that attitudes and motivation are relevant to EFL learning and are major contributors to achievement. The findings indicate that to a large extent the socio-educational model is relevant to the present context of research, although the contribution of attitudes towards the target language communities and the ideologies they represent to motivation does not seem to be as important as was initially hypothesised.
Metalinguistic Communities
Positioning the Self and Others
This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Gr... more This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Greek upper secondary schools (Lykeia) based on Gardner‟s well-established L2 motivational theory. The major research question is whether attitudes, orientations, ideological attributes of the target language communities, motivation and achievement are related. The study sets out as its working hypothesis that attitudes and motivation are relevant to EFL learning and are major contributors to achievement. The findings indicate that to a large extent the socio-educational model is relevant to the present context of research, although the contribution of attitudes towards the target language communities and the ideologies they represent to motivation does not seem to be as important as was initially hypothesised.
This paper explores the multilingual character of the linguistic landscape of Swat, a generally m... more This paper explores the multilingual character of the linguistic landscape of Swat, a generally monolingual district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The focus of the study is commercial public signs and is based on an empirical research conducted in 2018. A total of 204 digital photos of shop fronts were collected and analysed in terms of language composition employing Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) framework of visual analysis and comparisons were drawn across different shop types. The findings indicate that the majority of the shops signs are bilingual combining English and Urdu, while English appears to be the preferred choice in monolingual signs. The results also strongly suggest that there is an underlying competition between two languages enjoying co-official status but occupying different symbolic niches.
Positioning the Self and Others
Metalinguistic Communities
Journal of Mediterranean and European Linguistic Anthropology, 2021
This study investigates narrative accounts of "return" migration told by second-generation biethn... more This study investigates narrative accounts of "return" migration told by second-generation biethnic Greeks (Greek Americans in their majority) who have migrated to Athens as adults. Based on a corpus of 12 ethnographic interviews about the linguistic and cultural experience of their 'returns', we focus on participants' recounting of their relocation to their parents' homeland as an experience of cultural assimilation and conflict, authenticity and hybridity. Narrative discourse has proven to be a fruitful locus for this area of inquiry because it allows speakers to construct and negotiate alignments and disalignments between Self and Other by adopting interactional positions in discourse. In line with current work on discourse and identity, we view identity as the product of discursive performance through a variety of linguistic devices.
Kashmir Journal of Language Research, 2019
14 International conference on advances in research on Language
acquisition and teaching: Selecte... more 14 International conference on advances in research on Language
acquisition and teaching: Selected papers
TESOL GREECE NEWSLETTER , 2006
This paper focuses on the linguistic composition of commercial
signs in the linguistic landscape ... more This paper focuses on the linguistic composition of commercial
signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Athens, Greece. Previous
studies have mainly been carried out in officially multilingual and
multi-ethnic areas [Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., &
Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape as symbolic
construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter
(Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism
(pp. 7–28). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Cenoz, J., & Gorter,
D. (2006). Linguistic landscape and minority languages. In
D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to
multilingualism (pp. 67–80). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters;
Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok’s linguistic landscapes: Environmental
print, codemixing and language change. In D. Gorter (Ed.),
Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 31–
51). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters]. Greece, however, is
characterised by official monolingualism and a great degree of
ethnic homogenisation, which suggests that apart from tourist
areas, one would expect that languages and scripts other than
Greek would not be as visible as in contexts characterised by
official or de facto multilingualism. A total of 621 shop signs were
collected and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The
findings indicate that a significant number of shops employ –
often creatively – languages other than Greek, either
monolingually or in combination with Greek, resulting in a
situation of written multilingualism, with English emerging as the
strongest linguistic player. The results also strongly suggest that
the multilingual character of commercial signs is not primarily
informational but symbolic reflecting a desire to project a
cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and trendy outlook.
Conference Presentations by Alexander Nikolaou
14 International conference on advances in research on Language acquisition and teaching: Selected papers, 2010
This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Gr... more This paper investigates attitudes and motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Greek upper secondary schools (Lykeia) based on Gardner"s well-established L2 motivational theory. The major research question is whether attitudes, orientations, ideological attributes of the target language communities, motivation and achievement are related. The study sets out as its working hypothesis that attitudes and motivation are relevant to EFL learning and are major contributors to achievement. The findings indicate that to a large extent the socio-educational model is relevant to the present context of research, although the contribution of attitudes towards the target language communities and the ideologies they represent to motivation does not seem to be as important as was initially hypothesised.
Dr Lazar Vrkatic Conference on Multiculturalism and Contemporary Society, 2013
This paper explores the multilingual character of the linguistic landscape of downtown Athens by ... more This paper explores the multilingual character of the linguistic landscape of downtown Athens by focusing on commercial public signs. It is based on an empirical research conducted in 2012 in downtown Athens and a neighbouring municipality. A total of 621 digital photos of shop fronts were collected and analysed in terms of language composition and comparisons were drawn across different shop types. The findings indicate that a significant number of shops employ creatively-languages other than Greek or in combination with Greek resulting in a situation of 'restricted polyglossia' with English emerging as the strongest linguistic player. e results also strongly suggest that the multilingual character of commercial signs is not primarily informational but symbolic, reflecting a desire to project a cosmopolitan, sophisticated and trendy outlook.
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Books by Alexander Nikolaou
second-generation Greek return migrants (in their majority Greek Americans),
who relocated to their parents’ homeland as adults within a decade prior to the
interviews. Through the analysis of stories of linguistic and cultural assimilation,
conflict and transition, authenticity and hybridity, we explore how return
migrants construct and negotiate identity positions vis-à-vis other members of
their immigrant community, native Greeks, and the interviewer through the employment
of indexical devices during the interview. Return migrants constitute
an understudied group, especially from a sociolinguistic perspective, and we
argue that understanding the complex positioning of identities among this group
may provide unique insights into the broader ideologies that mediate hybrid and
hyphenated identities in general.
Papers by Alexander Nikolaou
acquisition and teaching: Selected papers
signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Athens, Greece. Previous
studies have mainly been carried out in officially multilingual and
multi-ethnic areas [Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., &
Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape as symbolic
construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter
(Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism
(pp. 7–28). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Cenoz, J., & Gorter,
D. (2006). Linguistic landscape and minority languages. In
D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to
multilingualism (pp. 67–80). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters;
Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok’s linguistic landscapes: Environmental
print, codemixing and language change. In D. Gorter (Ed.),
Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 31–
51). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters]. Greece, however, is
characterised by official monolingualism and a great degree of
ethnic homogenisation, which suggests that apart from tourist
areas, one would expect that languages and scripts other than
Greek would not be as visible as in contexts characterised by
official or de facto multilingualism. A total of 621 shop signs were
collected and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The
findings indicate that a significant number of shops employ –
often creatively – languages other than Greek, either
monolingually or in combination with Greek, resulting in a
situation of written multilingualism, with English emerging as the
strongest linguistic player. The results also strongly suggest that
the multilingual character of commercial signs is not primarily
informational but symbolic reflecting a desire to project a
cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and trendy outlook.
Conference Presentations by Alexander Nikolaou
second-generation Greek return migrants (in their majority Greek Americans),
who relocated to their parents’ homeland as adults within a decade prior to the
interviews. Through the analysis of stories of linguistic and cultural assimilation,
conflict and transition, authenticity and hybridity, we explore how return
migrants construct and negotiate identity positions vis-à-vis other members of
their immigrant community, native Greeks, and the interviewer through the employment
of indexical devices during the interview. Return migrants constitute
an understudied group, especially from a sociolinguistic perspective, and we
argue that understanding the complex positioning of identities among this group
may provide unique insights into the broader ideologies that mediate hybrid and
hyphenated identities in general.
acquisition and teaching: Selected papers
signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Athens, Greece. Previous
studies have mainly been carried out in officially multilingual and
multi-ethnic areas [Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., &
Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape as symbolic
construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter
(Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism
(pp. 7–28). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; Cenoz, J., & Gorter,
D. (2006). Linguistic landscape and minority languages. In
D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to
multilingualism (pp. 67–80). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters;
Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok’s linguistic landscapes: Environmental
print, codemixing and language change. In D. Gorter (Ed.),
Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 31–
51). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters]. Greece, however, is
characterised by official monolingualism and a great degree of
ethnic homogenisation, which suggests that apart from tourist
areas, one would expect that languages and scripts other than
Greek would not be as visible as in contexts characterised by
official or de facto multilingualism. A total of 621 shop signs were
collected and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The
findings indicate that a significant number of shops employ –
often creatively – languages other than Greek, either
monolingually or in combination with Greek, resulting in a
situation of written multilingualism, with English emerging as the
strongest linguistic player. The results also strongly suggest that
the multilingual character of commercial signs is not primarily
informational but symbolic reflecting a desire to project a
cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and trendy outlook.