Identity and semantic change: Aspects of T/V usage in Cyprus

The quantitative and qualitative analysis of spontaneous conversational data reveals that T/V usage in Cypriot Greek (CG) is realised sometimes as a code-switch into Standard Modern Greek (SMG), and sometimes as an integral part of the Cypriot code. Moreover, a consideration of the interactional motivations underlying particular types of exchanges supports an analysis in terms of form-function reanalysis, in which the ongoing grammaticalisation of V forms is realised as the subjectification of their semantics. This analysis has important theoretical implications for the distinction between standardisation and conventionalisation, and for the question of the gradualness of semantic change.