Second UCY Science Café to explore Cypriot dialect’s role

As February draws to a close, join us at the second Science Café of the University of Cyprus (UCY) to discuss the role of the Cypriot dialect and its use today, viewed through the lens of science and art.

The event, supported by the Bank of Cyprus (BoC), will see UCY Lecturer in Linguistics Spyros Armostis and author Antonis Georgiou explore the topic on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 6.30pm, at Caffè Nero in Nicosia’s Aglantzia municipality.

What is the UCY Science Café?

The UCY Science Café is a series of open discussions aimed at people of all ages, for which various scientific topics are selected. Through such discussions, UCY aims to give the public the opportunity to engage with scientists on key topics in an intimate, relaxed environment.

More broadly, the Science Café initiative is a successful and rapidly-growing informal educational activity, turning the spotlight on various scientific topics worldwide, and is considered an excellent means of democratising knowledge, while contributing to curbing the spread of false news, the public’s identification with non-scientific views, and the reduction of “opinion bubbles”.

The speakers:

Spyros Armostis is a Lecturer in Linguistics at the Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus. He holds a PhD and MPhil in Linguistics (with a specialisation in Phonetics) from the University of Cambridge (England) and a BA in Classical Studies from the University of Cyprus.

His publications focus on phonetics, phonology, sociolinguistics and clinical linguistics, with his research extending to other areas such as grapholinguistics and language documentation and revitalisation. To date, his work has focused on studying Cypriot Greek and Cypriot Arabic, while also researching other variants such as Modern Greek, Pontic Greek, English and French. He is a member of the Board of the Cyprus Linguistic Society (CyLing) and an appointed member of the Cyprus Standing Committee for the Standardisation of Geographical Names (SCGN). Finally, he is UCY’s Department of English Studies’ coordinator of the CY[Φ] phonetics lab.

Antonis Georgiou studied law in Moscow and works in Limassol as a lawyer. He is a graduate of the Open University of Cyprus’ “Theatre Studies” postgraduate programme. His published creative works include: “Panselinos Para Mia” (Gavrielides 2006, poems), “Glykia Bloody Life” (To Rodakio, 2006, short stories), “Ena Album Istories” (To Rodakio, 2014, novel), “San Petalouda Eimai” (To Rodakio, 2019, poems) and “I Anasa Ton Dipla” (To Rodakio, 2022, short stories). “Ena Album Istories” was awarded the Cyprus State Literature Prize for 2014, as well as the European Union Literature Prize for 2016. Over 2007-21 his plays “Agapimeno Mou Plintirio”, “Nosos”, “O Kipos Mas”, “La Belote”, “Eimoun I Lysistrati”, “O Theios Yiannis”, “To Mpanio” and “Se Krisimi Katastasi” have been staged. “Ena Album Istories” has also been adapted and performed as a play.

UCY’s Office of Communication and Public Relations is organising the event as part of the university’s actions to disseminate science.

Places are limited and booking is essential.

• Reservations: www.ucy.ac.cy/events
• Information: Office of Communication and Public Relations
• Call: 22894305,
• Email: [email protected]