BIOGRAPHY

«[…] Triandaphyllidis was born in 1883. His mother, of the Rodokanaki family, came from Chios. His father came from Kozani, Macedonia. While still a student he became interested in linguistic and educational issues. In 1900, under pressure from his father, he enrolls in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. With the help of his mother, he quits maths and enrolls in the Faculty of Philosophy. He was a student of the linguist Georgios Chatzidakis. Under his guidance, he acquired a more scientific knowledge of the language of the Greek people. Later on, free from the purist ideology of the Faculty, of his family and of the wider social milieu, Triandaphyllidis embraced Demoticism, of which he later became a most fervent proponent. He was particularly influenced by the teachings of linguistics, but also by his readings in general. Apparently, a notable speech of the time concerning the language issue also had a profound impact on him; I mean the lecture by Elisaios Gianidis, an eminent scholar and a dedicated proponent of Demotic Greek in the early 20th century.
[…]
Triandaphyllidis departs for Germany in 1905, having published the first volume of his book Ξενηλασία ή ισοτέλεια? [Xenelasia or isoteleia?]. The book addressed the issue of the use of foreign words in Modern Greek. Although Triandaphyllidis is already an enlightened proponent of Demotic Greek, the book is written in Katharevousa, which was typical of the time.
[…]
Triandaphyllidis stays as a student in Munich for one semester. The following year, he sets off for Heidelberg. There, he attends courses during the summer semester. Upon returning to Munich, he continues his studies for four more semesters, until July 1908. He attends courses in Linguistics, Byzantinology (with Krumbacher), Ancient Literature, Philosophy and Pedagogics. He becomes a Doctor of Philosophy in 1908 and his doctorate thesis, completed in 1909, is published under the title Die Lehnwörter der mittelgriechischen Vulgärliteratur. After that, he sets off for Switzerland, where he visits schools and gains further experience in education. He also attends some of Albert Thumb’s classes in Marburg.
Triandaphyllidis travels to Paris in 1907 with the added desire (essential to him) to visit Psycharis. This comes true on 10 October 1907. The relationship between Triandaphyllidis and Psycharis is worth noting, both in terms of its more personal aspects and in terms of their convergence on the purely language theorizing level. Thus, we will also be able to understand the final adaptation of Demoticism to Modern Greek reality. Of course, this adaptation was accomplished not only by Triandaphyllidis himself, but also by Alekos Delmouzos and Dimitris Glinos, each with their own personal contribution to the common cause.
[…]
Upon settling permanently in Greece in 1912, after the completion of his studies and following some in-between journeys to England and Paris (1912), Triandaphyllidis undertakes fundamental work among the most eminent members of the so-called ‘Εκπαιδευτικός Όμιλος’ [Educational Group]. In 1913, he is employed as an associate in the Historical Dictionary of the Greek Language project, which had begun some years earlier. He remains in this position until 5 June 1917. Two months later, he becomes one of the three champions of the educational reform, which was already under way, and undertakes the post of senior supervisor of Primary Education in cooperation with Al. Delmouzos. He, too, is confronted, as is the educational reform in its totality, with opponents on two sides: the more radical proponents of Demotic Greek on the one hand and the proponents of Katharevousa on the other. The latter even describe him as a ‘Psycharicist’.
As a supervisor of Primary Education he travels to European countries in 1920 on a special mission. He is forced to resign his post after Venizelos’ failure to win the election of 1 November 1920. As a result, the 1917 short-lived educational reform collapses. Triandaphyllidis, as well as other leading members of the reform, are removed from education, and for two or three years the purist ideology, utter and uncritical, reigns supreme in the primary education of the Greek people.
After the overturn of the educational reform in the aftermath of Eleftherios Venizelos’ failure to win the election of 1 November 1920, Triandaphyllidis, naturally in great disappointment, departs for Germany, where he stays from 1921 to 1923. Upon returning to Greece, he is employed at the Folklore Archive of the Academy of Athens on 25 July 1923. Only after Plastiras’ move (1922) and the regime change will educational Demoticism become active again, though still temporarily. It is then (1923) that Triandaphyllidis is reinstated in his post as senior supervisor of Primary Education. […]
In 1926, Triandaphyllidis is appointed professor at the University of Thessaloniki. He takes up office at the end of the same year (4 November 1926) and starts teaching on 16 November 1926. He will keep his post until 18 January 1935, when he resigns so as to devote himself exclusively to the completion of his Grammar. All in all, he worked as a university professor for only eight years (late 1926-early 1935).
[…]
The proponents of Demotic Greek in Triandaphyllidis’ time rightly saw that there should be a grammar of Demotic based on written language, supplemented with certain purist terms. Triandaphyllidis wanted to compile this Grammar and had basically already prepared it when Metaxas set up a committee under his direction for the definitive formulation of a grammar of Demotic.
In compiling his Grammar, Triandaphyllidis relies on the vernacular, but accepts up to a point, as far as the lexicon is concerned, the state generated by the use of Katharevousa. In one sense, Triandaphyllidis’ Grammar ‘legitimized’ the compromise reached by the educational reform of 1917-1920. However, Triandaphyllidis was aware that further development of the Demotic would have the final word on the matter. And he was right.
Even after the publication of his Grammar, Triandaphyllidis continued contributing both to the field of language research and to the efforts made to enlighten the public and scientists on language issues. He became a brilliant popularizer of ideas, a beloved teacher, a fearless and dignified champion, and a person with remarkable organizing skills. He is rightly honored by the younger generations of scientists and scholars –assuming, of course, that they are in a position to appreciate his whole effort.
[…]
In 1945, he travels to Egypt, where he spends three months studying the educational issues of the country’s expatriate Hellenism.
In 1948-49, still a tough time for our country, he, unjustifiably I think, applied for a chair in Linguistics in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Athens. By doing so, Triandaphyllidis gave his critics the opportunity to express themselves the way they did. They called him ‘a criminal’ and ‘a troublemaker’. In the words of one such critic, ‘he lured his country’s education to its doom’.
In the same year (1949), driven by unrealistic thoughts, or perhaps only to force the Academy to reach a decision, Triandaphyllidis applies for a chair in Linguistics; however, the Academy comes to the decision not to fill the vacant position.
Various conservative ‘voices’, with the same old arguments, continue to be heard for years to come. So do ‘voices’ of Demoticism, protesting against the language regime. Eventually, after the subversion of the dictatorship, the language controversy results in the official recognition of Demotic by the state (1976). In fact, the dictatorship itself contributed to this with the foolish and unreasonable measures it imposed concerning the official language and the education policy.

Triandaphyllidis also contemplated the future of language education in the country. He founded the Institute of Modern Greek Studies in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Thessaloniki, which was rightly given the additional name “Manolis Triandaphyllidis Foundation.»

Emm. Kriaras, «Μανόλης Τριανταφυλλίδης», στο Ερευνητικά [«Manolis Triandaphyllidis», in Research Issues], Thessaloniki, 2006, Institute of Modern Greek Studies, pp. 210-218.