Identity Construction and Language in Cyprus

This study seeks to explore if there is a relationship between language and process of otherization (to what extent language affect otherisation) in Cyprus. It also desired to investigate how language affects two communities’ way of thinking towards each other and the role of language in identity construction. The findings of the study will contribute to the benefit of both communities considering the debates over the situation of the two communities’ is one of the on-going agendas on the island for a long time. The research was conducted with 40 participants by using interview research design; 20 of them were TCs and 20 of them were GCs. The participants were both 10 male and 10 female from each community. Participants were chosen by using snowball sampling methodology which is a non-random methodology and enables the sample size to grow as the participants of the study invite the people who they know to participate in the study. The study is centred on a qualitative research methodology. The data analyzed under 3 research questions; 1. What is the role of language in the process of identity construction? 2. How does language barrier affect the otherization process? 3. How does language influence peoples’ way of thinking about the other community? The findings show that identity construction in Cyprus formed due to some external factors; Turkey, Greece and England and these factors affected the otherisation process. At the end of the study, it is revealed that language play an important part in otherisation process. The findings also reveal that there is a serious communication problem in the island and revealed that speaking different languages has an impact on considering each other as ‘different’. However they are not willing to learn each other’s languages. Keywords: Identity Construction, Otherisation, Language, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots