Cypriot Arabic
Cypriot Arabic | |
---|---|
Cypriot Maronite Arabic | |
Σάννα · Sanna | |
Native to | Cyprus |
Region | Kormakitis and urban areas in the south |
Ethnicity | Maronite Cypriots, Lebanese Cypriots |
Speakers | No L1 speakers in the south (2011)[1] 9,800 total speakers (2013 UNSD)[2] |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | acy |
Glottolog | cypr1248 |
ELP | Cypriot Spoken Arabic |
Linguasphere | 12-AAC-ehx |
Cypriot Arabic |
Cypriot Arabic (
History and classification
Cypriot Arabic was first introduced to Cyprus by
Cypriot Arabic has in the past been assigned to a Syrian-Lebanese or Levantine Arabic classification, likely owing to the contemporary presence of a large Lebanese-speaking Maronite community on the mainland.[11] However, more recently it has been shown to share a large number of common features with the qeltu or North Mesopotamian Arabic dialects of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and a pre-Cypriot medieval antecedent has been deduced as belonging to this dialect area.[12] Indications of an Aramaic substrate suggest it was close to the time of the language shift from Aramaic to Arabic; other features are common to those of Syro-Lebanese and Palestinian, which go back to a period in which there was a dialect continuum between the Mesopotamian dialects and the Syrian dialect area.[4][7]
In the Cypriot stage, the language was extensively restructured through contact with Cypriot Greek, acquiring numerous features and constraints not typical of Arabic.[13] Essentially unintelligible to mainland Arabic speakers, it is characterized as an isolated "peripheral Arabic" along with others such as Maltese.[14] Its Arabic component is a hybrid of dialects from diverse areas and times of Southeastern Anatolia, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia, as well as the Levant, offering unique insights into the historical evolution of Eastern Arabic.[15]
Phonology
This section is missing information about what Old Arabic /ħ, ʔ, ʁ/ became in Cypriot Maronite Arabic. (January 2017) |
The consonant
- Historical stop + stop clusters are dissimilated to fricative+ stop.
- /k x/ are assimilated.
- /j/ between an obstruent and a vowel surfaces as [kj].
- An epenthetic stop occurs between a nasal and a continuant or sonorant. The place of articulation is inherited from the nasal before it and the voicing from the continuant or sonorant that follows.
Phenomena similar to the first three are also observed in Cypriot Greek.
Vocabulary
Cypriot Arabic has a large number[]
Writing system
In May 2009, the Committee of Experts for the Codification of Cypriot Maronite Arabic submitted an action plan for the codification and revitalisation of the language to the Cypriot government.
Alexander Borg, a linguist specialising in the language, created a Latin-based alphabet with elements from Maltese and Greek that the
Cypriot Arabic Latin Alphabet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | B | C | D | Δ | E | F | G | Ġ | Ċ | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Θ | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Ş |
a | b | c | d | ẟ | e | f | g | ġ | ċ | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | θ | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | ş |
All letters loosely represent their IPA values, with some exceptions:
Examples
- Phrases[24]
Ismi o Kumetto. Ayşo ismak l-id? | My name is Kumetto. What is your name? |
Ismi l-ana o Pavlo. Ayşo ismik l-idi? | My name is Pavlo. What is your name? (fem.) |
L-aẟa aş pikulullu? | What is his name? |
L-ism tel l-yapati o Antoni | My father's name is Antoni |
Xmenye u tisca aşka pisawnna? | What do eight and nine make? |
Pisawnna caşra u sapca. | They make seventeen |
Aş xar kan imps? Imps kan Yamuxmis | What day was yesterday? Yesterday was Thursday |
Aş xar tte kun pukra? Pukra tte kun Yamussift | What day is tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday |
Yamuxxat marrux fi li knise | On Sunday we go to church |
Kilt xops ma zaytun, xaytċ casel u şraft xlip tel pakra | I ate bread with olives, some honey and drank some cow's milk |
Ye | Yes |
La | No |
See also
Notes and references
- ^ a b Council of Europe (2014), p. 4.
- ^ Cypriot Arabic at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ "Cyprus Maronite Minority Sees Chance to Save Ancient Language".
- ^ a b Versteegh (2001), p. 212.
- ^ a b Hadjioannou, Tsiplakou & Kappler (2011), p. 507.
- ^ Cypriot Arabic at Ethnologue (13th ed., 1996).
- ^ a b Versteegh (2011), p. 536-537.
- ^ Hadjioannou, Tsiplakou & Kappler (2011), p. 535.
- ^ "Implementation of the Charter in Cyprus". Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ Hadjioannou, Tsiplakou & Kappler (2011), p. 508.
- ^ Borg (2004a).
- ^ Owens (2006), p. 274.
- ^ Versteegh (2011), p. 539.
- ^ Borg (2004b), p. xviii-xix.
- ^ Versteegh (2011), p. 541.
- ^ a b Borg (1997), p. 228.
- ^ Borg (1997), p. 229.
- ^ Borg (1997), pp. 228–229.
- ^ Borg (1997), pp. 222–223.
- ^ Borg (1997), pp. 223–225.
- ^ Council of Europe (2011), p. 3.
- ^ Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research (2006), p. 12.
- ^ Hki Fi Sanna & Ztite (2008), p. 3.
- ^ Katsioloudis, Koumettos (2008). "First steps in Cypriot Maronite Arabic (CMA), Lesson 1/Μάθημα 1" (PDF) (handout). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-18.
Bibliography
- "Cypriot Maronite Arabic in Cyprus through the lenses of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages". Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. 2006. Archived from the original on 2013-05-08.
- Borg, Alexander (1985). Cypriot Arabic: A Historical and Comparative Investigation into the Phonology and Morphology of the Arabic Vernacular Spoken by the Maronites of Kormakiti Village in the Kyrenia District of North-Western Cyprus. Stuttgart: Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-515-03999-6.
- Borg, Alexander (1997). "Cypriot Arabic Phonology". In Kaye, Alan S. (ed.). Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus). Vol. 1. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 219–244. ISBN 1-57506-017-5.
- Borg, Alexander (2004a). Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East. ISBN 978-90-04-13198-9.
- Borg, Alexander (2004b). A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic-English). Brill. ISBN 90-04-13198-1.
- Council of Europe (2011-01-18). "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Third periodical presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter. CYPRUS" (PDF).
- Council of Europe (2014-01-16). "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Fourth periodical presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter. CYPRUS" (PDF).
- Hadjioannou, Xenia; Tsiplakou, Stavroula; Kappler, Matthias (2011). "Language policy and language planning in Cyprus". Current Issues in Language Planning. 12 (4). Routledge: 503–569. S2CID 143966308.
- Hki Fi Sanna; Ztite, Kermia (2008). "Comments in accordance with Article 16.2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" (PDF). Hki Fi Sanna. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-26.
- Owens, Jonathan (2006). A Linguistic History of Arabic. ISBN 0-19-929082-2.
- Thomas, George J. (2000). "The Spoken Arabic Dialect Of The Maronites Of Cyprus". The Journal of Maronite Studies. 4 (1).
- Tsiapera, Maria (1969). A Descriptive Analysis of Cypriot Maronite Arabic. The Hague: Mouton.
- Versteegh, Kees (2001). The Arabic Language. ISBN 0-7486-1436-2.
- Versteegh, Kees (2011). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. ISBN 978-90-04-14976-2.
- Walter, Mary Ann (2020-04-08). Cypriot Maronite Arabic. Berlin: Language Science Press. pp. 159–175. )</ref>
External links
- Cypriot Maronite Arabic grammar (in Greek), includes a list of published literature on the language
- "Cypriot Arabic alphabet, pronunciation and language". omniglot.com. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- "Κυπριακά αραβικά: Ακούστε την άγνωστη διάλεκτο της Κύπρου". www.koutipandoras.gr (in Greek). 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2022-09-27.