





Publications
The Athens Review of Books 160 (2024), pp. 59-62.
Review of:
Ελένη Κακουλίδη-Πάνου, Ελένη Καραντζόλα, Κατερίνα Τικτοπούλου, Δημώδης πεζός λόγος του 16ου αιώνα, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας και Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης, Αθήνα 2023, pp. CXII + 762.
In: New Horizons in Prescriptivism Research, ed. Nuria Yáñez‐Bouza, María E. Rodríguez‐Gil, Javier Pérez‐Guerra. Bristol, Jackson: Multilingual Matters, 2024, pp. 266-295.
https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?K=9781800416147
With the advent of the covid-19 pandemic, several Greek prescriptive or “descriptive” linguists and folk-linguists raised the issue: which form of the Greek loanword for ‘coronavirus’ is the “correct” one. We have consulted 74 metalinguistic texts on this issue, all published online over the period Jan. 22 – April 3, 2020. Four variants have been prescribed (κορον-ο-ϊός, κορων-ο-ϊός [koronoiós], κορον-α-ϊός, and κορων-α-ϊός [koronaiós]), varying wrt 1. the spelling of the first compound ( or <ω>) and 2. the linking ‘thematic vowel’ (-o- or -a-).
We have traced the use of the prescribed variants in multiple monitor corpora consisting mainly of texts published in news websites, mined with web scraping techniques and analyzed using NLP libraries in a Python programming environment. Monitor corpora allow the study of prescriptivism in real time, providing valuable insights into its workings. Phase 1 of our corpus (May 2013 and April-May 2014) consists of 71,343 texts (totaling 21,807,666 words), drawn from 6 news websites; the references in this period are to other corona viruses such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV; variation during this phase has been unattended by prescriptivists. Phase 2 (December 2019 - April 2020), the focus of our study, consists of a total of 123,250 texts (42,204,247 words), drawn from the same 6 news websites; finally, Phase 3 consists of 20,706 texts (7,037,279 words) drawn from a much larger corpus of 18 websites at a later period of time (May 26 – June 1, 2020). We have also analyzed a Phase 3 corpus of radio broadcasts (total of 19h 21m).
Our statistical analysis shows:
- a radical shift in usage between Phase 1 and Phase 2, suggesting a strong influence of prescriptivism.
- Phase 2 and Phase 3 variation is increasingly compartmentalized (consistent use ranging from 68.18% to 88.84% in Phase 2 and from 73.76% % to 98.44% in Phase 3).
- The variants with ‘thematic’ -o- are preferred over variants with -a- (87.91% vs. 12.07% respectively in Phase 3). The thematic -o- prevails in radio broadcasts (97,8%).
Our analysis supports the following claims:
- Metalinguistic discourse is itself variable. Although prescriptivism aims at eliminating variation, it could also introduce or foster some variation, albeit in a highly compartmentalized manner.
- The more “effective” prescriptions seem to be the ones that are compatible with an already established usage trend; but for this same reason these prescriptions could be considered to be “null”.
Κοινωνικές Επιστήμες 15-16 (2023-2024), σσ. 235-237.
Review of:
Σαλώμη Μπουκάλα και Αναστασία Γ. Στάμου, eds. Κριτική Ανάλυση Λόγου: (Απο)δομώντας την ελληνική πραγματικότητα, Αθήνα: νήσος, 2020. 666 pages.
The Athens Review of Books 166 (2024), pp. 44-47.
Review of:
Χρήστος Καρβούνης, Κοινωνική διγλωσσία και γλωσσική ιδεολογία: Συμβολή στην ιστορία της κοινής νεοελληνικής (1783 – 1941) [Diglossie, Sprachideologie, Wertekonflikte: Zur Geschichte der neugriechischen Standardsprache (1780 bis 1930)], trans. Παναγιώτα Καλογερά – Χρήστος Καρβούνης, Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης, Ηράκλειο 2023, pages 542.
Pierre Chantraine. Ιστορική μορφολογία της Ελληνικής γλώσσας. Translated by Νίκος
Κ. Αγκαβανάκης. Revision of translation – Editing Σπύρος Α. Μοσχονάς. Third revised edition. Αθήνα: Ινστιτούτο του Βιβλίου – Καρδαμίτσα, 2023, 336 pages. ISBN 978-960-354-574-3.
Neograeca Bohemica. 2023, vol. 23, iss. [1], pp. 178-184.
Review of:
Αγγελική Ράλλη. Μορφολογία. Νέα αναθεωρημένη έκδοση. Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2022, 430 σελ. ISBN 978-618-07-0292-7.
This is a reply to K. Drousioti’s paper "Is the sociolinguistic situation in Cyprus diglossic?", which I submitted to the editors of Critical Inquiry in Language Studies. True to the spirit of critical inquiry, the editors never responded, and my reply was, of course, never published. A touching demonstration of their commitment to open debate.


Updated: 27-04-2025 18:24 - Size: 35.74 KB
In: Studying Language Change in the 21st Century, ed. N. Lavidas & K. Nikoforidou. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004510579_013
In this chapter, several corpus-linguistic studies that seek to detect possible effects of prescriptivism on language change are reviewed and compared: Langer (2001); Auer (2006, 2009); Poplack & Dion (2009); Poplack (2015); Poplack et al. (2015); Anderwald (2014, 2016); Hinrichs, Szmrecsanyi & Bohmann (2015); Havinga (2018), among others. The studies under review seek to “correlate” two types of corpora: a metalinguistic ‘precept’ corpus (consisting of traditional grammars, usage guides, etc.) and a historical ‘usage’ corpus. Changes in usage in the historical corpus are attributed to prescriptivism, provided a) they occur towards the direction prescriptive instructions dictate and b) all other possible causes of change have been excluded. The corpuslinguistic studies are brought under the lens of a performative theory of prescriptivism. The theory accounts for different types of prescriptive acts (‘correctives’ and ‘permissives’), possibly having different effects; it takes into consideration the pragmatic conditions under which prescriptive acts can be felicitous or infelicitous; and, most importantly, it offers a grid on which the existing corpus-linguistic studies can be compared and evaluated.
Athens Review of Books 135 (2022).
Moschonas, S. (2020). Havinga, Anna D: Invisibilising Austrian German. On the Effect of Linguistic Prescriptions and Educational Reforms on Writing Practices in 18th-Century Austria (Lingua Historica Germanica 18). Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, 6(1), 20180018. https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsl-2018-0018.
Review of:
Invisibilising Austrian German. On the Effect of Linguistic Prescriptions and Educational
Reforms on Writing Practices in 18th-Century Austria, by Anna D. Havinga, de Gruyter,
Berlin/Boston, 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-054629-3, XVI + 256 pages, €99,95 / $114.99.
The Athens Review of Books 92 (2018), σσ. 32-34.
The Athens Review of Books 87 (2017), σσ. 27-28.
The Athens Review of Books 80 (2017)
Review of:
Ted Chiang, «Story of your life», in Stories of Your Life and Others. Small Beer Press, Easthampton, MA 2010, 1st ed.: Tor Books, NY 2002.
Arrival / «H άφιξη» (2016), Director: Denis Villeneuve, screenplay: Eric Heisserer, starring: Amy Adams (Louise Banks), Jeremy Renner (Gary Donnelly)
The Athens Review of Books 82 (2017), pp. 10-11.
Review of:
Παντελής Μπουκάλας, Όταν το ρήμα γίνεται όνομα: Η «αγαπώ» και το σφρίγος της ποιητικής γλώσσας των δημοτικών (Πιάνω γραφή να γράψω…: Δοκίμια για το δημοτικό τραγούδι – 1). Άγρα, Αθήνα 2016, 583 pages.
Mediatization and Sociolinguistic change, edited by Jannis Androutsopoulos, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014, pp. 395-426.
Communication Issues 16-17 (2013), pp. 139-151.


Updated: 20-03-2020 15:29 - Size: 329.52 KB
The Athens Review of Books 44 (Οκτ. 2013), σσ. 13-14.
The Athens Review of Books 40 (2013).
Review of: Peter Mackridge, Γλώσσα και εθνική ταυτότητα στην Ελλάδα, 1766-1976 [Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976], μτφρ. Γρηγόρης Κονδύλης, επιμ. Peter Mackridge και Κώστας Σίμος, Αθήνα: Πατάκης 2013, σελ. 456.
The Athens Review of Books 27 (2012), σσ. 9-10.
(de)kata 29 (2012), pp. 18-27 / E. Gris (ed.) Censorship and Plagiarism (Conference Proceedings, 21 January 2012), Athens: E.S.I.E.A., 2012, pp. 125-140.
Elelef (October 2010), pp. 54-58.


Updated: 20-03-2020 15:38 - Size: 318.57 KB
Read at the second Language in the Media Conference ("Language Ideologies and Media Discourse: Texts, Practices, Policies", University of Leeds, 5 September 2007), published in Language Ideologies and Media Discourse: Texts, Practicies, Politics, ed. by Sally Johnson and Tommaso Milani, London / New York: Continuum, 2010, pp. 17-40.


Updated: 20-03-2020 15:55 - Size: 670.82 KB
Οι γλώσσες των ΜΜΕ, ed. Spiros A. Moschonas. Ζητήματα Επικοινωνίας 9 (2009)
Standard Languages and Language Standards: Greek, Past and Present, edited by Alexandra Georgakopoulou and Michael Silk, London: Ashgate, 2009, pp. 293-320.


Updated: 20-03-2020 16:00 - Size: 495.1 KB
Minority and Migration Experiences: Experiencing the "culture of the state" (in Greek), edited by F. Tsibiridou, Athens: Kritiki, 2009, pp. 121-149.


Updated: 20-03-2020 16:11 - Size: 365.11 KB
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Vol. 33 No. 1 (2009).
Review of: Vally Lytra, Play Frames and Social Identities: Contact Encounters in a Greek Primary School. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, 2007. Pp. xii + 300.
Read at the Conference «Annee europeenne du dialogue interculturel : communiquer avec les langues-cultures» (Aristotelian U. of Thessaloniki, December 12, 2008).
Laurence Rosier (éd.), "Nouveaux regards sur le purisme", Le français moderne, 76e année, No 1 (2008), pp. 38-50.
ΕΚΠΑ, Επίσημοι Λόγοι, vol. 34, 2007.
Laudatio for the conferment of an honorary doctorate upon Emm. Kriaras by the Department of Communication and Mass Media of the University of Athens (January 24, 2006).
John Adams, O Νίξον στην Κίνα. Αθήνα: Εθνική Λυρική Σκηνή, 2007.
Σπύρος Α. Μοσχονάς and Νιόβη Αντωνοπούλου (eds). Σχολιασμένη βιβλιογραφία της ελληνικής ως δεύτερης/ξένης γλώσσας. Αθήνα: Πατάκης, 2006.
Διονύσης Γούτσος, Μαρία Σηφιανού and Αλεξάνδρα Γεωργακοπούλου, Η ελληνική ως ξένη γλώσσα: Από τις λέξεις στα κείμενα, ed. Spiros A. Moschonas. Αθήνα: Πατάκης, 2026
Μ. Γεωργιαφέντης et al., Η Σύνταξη στη μάθηση και στη διδασκαλία της ελληνικής ως ξένης γλώσσας, ed. Spiros A. Moschonas. Αθήνα: Πατάκης 2006.
Journal of Applied Linguistics 22 (2006), pp. 37-88.
The aim of the research project “Grammar and Instruction” (“Program for the education of Muslim Children 2002-2004”) was to enhance the learning of the Modern Greek language by Muslim minority students enrolled in majority high schools in Western Thrace. In addition to language exercises designed for the after-hours program of the majority schools, there were also compiled: an annotated bibliography of Greek as a second/foreign language, a comparative evaluation of the textbooks of Modern Greek available for second language instruction, and several research studies on the acquisition of Greek as a second language.


Updated: 08-04-2020 14:31 - Size: 654.33 KB
Athens: Patakis, 2005.


Updated: 19-03-2020 17:10 - Size: 47.01 KB


Updated: 20-03-2020 15:12 - Size: 366.89 KB


Updated: 08-04-2020 14:12 - Size: 123.85 KB
Βασίλειος Σπυρόπουλος και Αναστάσιος Τσαγγαλίδης, Η γραμματική στη διδασκαλία: Σύγκριση εγχειριδίων για τη διδασκαλία της ελληνικής ως ξένης γλώσσας, edited by Spiros A. Moschonas. Αθήνα: Πατάκης, 2005.
Uses of Language (Conference Proceedings, Athens, Dec. 3-5, 2004), Athens: Etaireia Spoudon Neoellinikou Politismou kai Genikis Paideias, 2005, pp. 151-174.
Γλώσσα 59 (2004), pp. 46-52.
Journal of Modern Greek Studies 22.2 (2004), σσ. 173-206.


Updated: 08-04-2020 14:37 - Size: 153.08 KB


Updated: 08-04-2020 14:39 - Size: 253.86 KB
PhiN [Philologie im Netz] 24 (2003), σσ. 1-26.
Current Trends in Greek Linguistics, Athens: Patakis, 2003, pp. 87-107.
Αλέξανδρος-Φοίβος Μουρελάτος, Οδοί της γνώσης και της πλάνης: Λόγος και εικόνα στα αποσπάσματα του Παρμενίδη, translated by Σπύρος Α. Μοσχονάς. Ηράκλειο: Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης, 2002.
Nea Hestia, 151.1745 (May 2002), pp. 898-928.
Deukalion 20/1 (June 2002), pp. 5-19.
Recherches en linguistique grecque : Actes de 5e Colloque International de Linguistique Grecque, Sorbonne (13-15 septembre 2001), ed. Ch. Clairis. Paris : L' Harmattan, 2002, t. 2, pp. 107-110.
Applied Linguistics 17 (2001), pp. 49-68.
Journalism and Language (Conference Proceedings, 15-16 April 2000), Athens: E.S.I.E.A., 2001, pp. 85-16.
Γλώσσα 50 (Χειµώνας 2000), pp. 84-88
Review of:
Αγγελική Κοιλιάρη, Ξένος στην Ελλάδα: Μετανάστες, γλώσσα και κοινωνική
ένταξη. Θεσσαλονίκη: Παρατηρητής, 1997. 94 pages.
Φιλόλογος 98 (1999), pp. 506-519.
Review of:
David Holton, Peter Mackridge & Irene Philippaki-Warburton, Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modem Language. London: Routledge, 1997. xxiv + 520 pages.
Synhrona Themata 62 (January-March 1997), pp. 79-91.
("ΙΣΧΥΡΕΣ"-"ΑΣΘΕΝΕΙΣ" ΓΛΩΣΣΕΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗ ΕΝΩΣΗ: ΟΨΕΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΛΩΣΣΙΚΟΥ ΗΓΕΜΟΝΙΣΜΟΥ, Πρακτικά ημερίδας, 25 Απριλίου 1996), Θεσσαλονίκη: ΚΕΓ, 121-128
(αναδημοσιευμένο στο περ. Ο Πολίτης 27 (1996), 42-44).
Diavazo Νο 348 (January 1995), pp. 182-188.
Studies in Greek Linguistics. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (11-14 May, 1994). A Tribute to Professor M. Setatos. Thessaloniki, 1995, pp. 698-709.
(Ph.d. dissertation)
Studies in Greek Linguistics. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (27-29 April, 1993). Thessaloniki, 1993, pp. 30-46.
Μελέτες για τηv Ελληvική Γλώσσα 9, 1989, pp. 315-336.