Implicit linguistic ideology and the erasure of Arvanitika (Greek–Albanian) discourse

This paper examines implicit language ideology and its relationship to the processes that index the progressive erasure of Arvanitika discourse in modern Greece, as this erasure is embedded in the broader frame of linguistic shift under the impact of the Greek public sphere. In my analysis, I do not assume that explicit and implicit linguistic ideologies are mutually exclusive domains of action or cognition, but I suggest that a specific kind of language ideology is particularly related to four processes that index the gradual erasure of Arvanitika discourse. These processes are: the fragmentation, marginalization, sublimation, and repression of the Arvanitika language. In my discussion I focus specifically on the first three. I start with a brief analysis of what I see as the reason for a relative neglect of the study of implicit linguistic ideologies, and continue with a comparative analysis of two examples, one from Catalan and the other from Arvanitika, in which implicit linguistic ideology figures in homologous and, at the same time, differing ways, reflecting different sociostructural and historical conditions in the corresponding communities. I then examine the processes mentioned above with a focus on Arvanitika. Finally, in conclusion, I compare briefly explicit and implicit linguistic ideologies with an eye on theories of social reproduction. (Language shift, Pragmatics, Linguistic ideology, Anthro-political sociolinguistics, Hegemony, Albanian (Arvanitika), Catalan, Modern Greek.)