Group belonging beyond language boundaries: Language, religion and identity in the multilingual Greek community of Georgia

In Georgia's multilingual Greek community, the construction of belonging appears to be tied to religion and ancestry, with competence in Standard Modern Greek (SMG) not always being seen as necessary in order to "be Greek". Forty-nine semi-structured interviews are analyzed, combining a quantitative and conversation analytical approach. Intriguingly, language competence in SMG does not always correlate with whether an interviewee deems this competence important for belonging to the Greek community. The interviews are embedded in their historical and socio-political context to elucidate the discursive resources interviewees may draw on when talking about the relationship between linguistic competence and belonging.