| Cypriot Greek | |
|---|---|
| κυπριακή ελληνική κυπριακά | |
| Pronunciation | [cipriaˈcielːiniˈci] [cipriaˈka] |
| Native to | Cyprus Rhodes,Greece |
| Ethnicity | Greek Cypriots |
Native speakers | c. 700,000 in Cyprus (2011)[1][note 1] |
| Greek alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | cypr1249 |
| Linguasphere | 56-AAA-ahg |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Cypriot Greek (Greek:κυπριακή ελληνική,locally[cipriaˈcielːiniˈci] orκυπριακά[cipriaˈka]) is thevariety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of theCypriot populace andGreek Cypriot diaspora. It is considered a divergent dialect as it differs fromStandard Modern Greek[note 2] in various aspects of itslexicon,[2]phonetics,phonology,morphology,syntax and evenpragmatics,[3] not only for historical reasons but also because of geographical isolation, and extensive contact withtypologically distinct languages.[4]
Cypriot Greek is not an evolution of ancientArcadocypriot Greek, but derives from ByzantineMedieval Greek.[5] It has traditionally been placed in thesoutheastern group of Modern Greek varieties, along with the dialects of theDodecanese andChios (with which it shares several phonological phenomena).
Though Cypriot Greek tends to be regarded as adialect by its speakers, it is unintelligible to speakers of Standard Modern Greek without adequate prior exposure.[6] Greek-speaking Cypriot society isdiglossic, withvernacular Cypriot Greek (the "low" variety) and Standard Modern Greek (the "high" variety).[7][8] Cypriot Greek is itself adialect continuum with an emergingkoine.[9] Davy, Ioannou & Panayotou (1996) have argued that diglossia has given way to a "post-diglossic [dialectal] continuum [...] a quasi-continuous spread of overlapping varieties".[10]
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Cyprus was cut off from the rest of the Greek-speaking world from the 7th to the 10th centuries AD due to Arab attacks. It was reintegrated in theByzantine Empire in 962 to be isolated again in 1191 when it fell to the hands of theCrusaders. These periods of isolation led to the development of various linguistic characteristics distinct fromByzantine Greek.
The oldest surviving written works in Cypriot date back to theMedieval period. Some of these are: the legal code of theKingdom of Cyprus, theAssizes of Jerusalem; the chronicles ofLeontios Machairas andGeorgios Boustronios; and a collection of sonnets in the manner ofFrancesco Petrarca. In the past hundred years, the dialect has been used in poetry (with major poets beingVasilis Michaelides andDimitris Lipertis). It is also traditionally used in folk songs andτσιαττιστά (tsiattistá, battle poetry, a form of playingthe Dozens) and the tradition ofποιητάρηες (poiitáries, bards).
Cypriot Greek had been historically used by some members of theTurkish Cypriot community, especially after the end ofOttoman control and consequentBritish administration of the island. In 1960, it was reported that 38% of the Turkish Cypriots were able to speak Greek along withCypriot Turkish. Some Turkish Cypriots of Nicosia andPaphos were also speaking Cypriot Greek as theirmother tongue according to early 20th century population records.[11]
In the late 1970s, Minister of EducationChrysostomos A. Sofianos upgraded the status of Cypriot by introducing it in education. More recently, it has been used inmusic, e.g. in reggae by Hadji Mike and in rap by several Cypriot hip hop groups, such asDimiourgoi Neas Antilipsis (DNA). Locally produced television shows, usually comedies or soap operas, make use of the dialect, for example withVourate Geitonoi (βουράτε instead ofτρέξτε) orOi Takkoi (Τάκκος being a uniquely Cypriot name). The 2006 feature filmPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest features actor Jimmy Roussounis arguing in Cypriot with another crew member speakingKibrizlija (Cypriot Turkish) about a captain's hat they find in the sea.Peter Polycarpou routinely spoke in Cypriot in his role as Chris Theodopolopoudos in the British television comedy seriesBirds of a Feather. In a July 2014 episode of the American TV seriesThe Leftovers, Alex Malaos's character uses the dialect saying "Εκατάλαβα σε" ('I understood'). In the Americanmockumentarycomedy horror television seriesWhat We Do in the Shadows, actressNatasia Demetriou, as the vampiric character Nadja, occasionally exclaims phrases in Cypriot.
Today, Cypriot Greek is the other only variety of Modern Greek apart fromStandard Modern Greek[note 3] with a significant presence of spontaneous use online, includingblogs andinternet forums, and there exists a variant ofGreeklish that reflects its distinctphonology.
Studies of the phonology of Cypriot Greek are few and tend to examine very specific phenomena, e.g.gemination, "glide hardening". A general overview of the phonology of Cypriot Greek has ever been attempted only once, byNewton 1972, but parts of it are now contested.
Cypriot Greek has geminate andpalato-alveolar consonants, which Standard Modern Greek lacks, as well as a contrast between[ɾ] and[r], which Standard Modern Greek also lacks.[12] The table below, adapted fromArvaniti 2010, p. 4, depicts the consonantal inventory of Cypriot Greek.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | ||
| Nasal | m | mː | n | nː | |||||||||
| Stop | p | pʰː | t | tʰː | t͡s | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʰː | c | cʰː | k | kʰː | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | fː | θ | θː | s | sː | ʃ | ʃː | ç | çː | x | xː |
| voiced | v | ð | z | ʒ | ʝ | ɣ | |||||||
| Lateral | l | lː | |||||||||||
| Rhotic | ɾ | r | |||||||||||
Stops/ptck/ and affricate/t͡ʃ/ areunaspirated and may be pronounced weaklyvoiced in fast speech.[13]/pʰːtʰːcʰːkʰː/ are always heavilyaspirated and they are never preceded by nasals,[14] with the exception of someloans, e.g./ʃamˈpʰːu/ "shampoo".[15]/t͡ʃ/ and/t͡ʃʰː/ arelaminal post-alveolars.[16]/t͡s/ is pronounced similarly to/t͡ʃʰː/, in terms of closure duration and aspiration.[16]
Voiced fricatives/vðɣ/ are often pronounced asapproximants and they are regularlyelided whenintervocalic.[13]/ʝ/ is similarly often realised as an approximant[j] in weak positions.[17]
The palatal lateral approximant[ʎ] is most often realised as a singleton or geminate lateral[ʎ(ː)] or a singleton or geminate fricative[ʝ(ː)], and sometimes as a glide[j] (cf.yeísmo).[18] The circumstances under which all the different variants surface are not very well understood, but[ʝ(ː)] appear to be favoured in stressed syllables and word-finally, and before/ae/.[19]Pappas 2009 identifies the following phonological and non-phonological influencing factors: stress, preceding vowel, following vowel, position inside word; and sex, education, region, and time spent living in Greece (where[ʎ] is standard).[19]Arvaniti 2010 notes that speakers of some local varieties, notably that ofLarnaca, "substitute" the geminate fricative for/ʎ/,[20] butPappas 2009 contests this, saying that, "[ʝ(ː)] is robustly present in the three urban areas of Lefkosia, Lemesos and Larnaka as well as the rural Kokinohoria region, especially among teenaged speakers ... the innovative pronunciation[ʝ(ː)] is not a feature of any localpatois, but rather a supra-local feature."[21]
The palatal nasal[ɲ] is produced somewhat longer than other single nasals, though not as long as geminates./z/ is similarly "rather long".[13]
The alveolar trill/r/ is the geminate counterpart of the tap/ɾ/.[16]
In analyses that posit a phonemic (but not phonetic)glide/j/, palatals and postalveolars arise fromCJV (consonant–glide–vowel) clusters, namely:[22]
The glide is not assimilated, but hardens to anobstruent[c] after/ptfvθð/ and to[k] after/ɾ/.[22] At any rate, velar stops and fricatives are incomplementary distribution with palatals and postalveolars before front vowels/ei/;[16] that is to say, broadly,/kkʰː/ arepalatalised to either[ccʰː] or[t͡ʃt͡ʃʰː];/xxː/ to[ççː] or[ʃʃː]; and/ɣ/ to[ʝ].
There is considerable disagreement on how to classify Cypriot Greek geminates, though they are now generally understood to be "geminates proper" (rather than clusters of identical phonemes or "fortis" consonants).[23] Geminates are 1.5 to 2 times longer than singletons, depending, primarily, on position and stress.[24] Geminates occur both word-initially and word-medially. Word-initial geminates tend to be somewhat longer.[25]Tserdanelis & Arvaniti 2001 have found that "for stops, in particular, this lengthening affects both closure duration andVOT",[26] butDavy & Panayotou 2003 claim that stops contrast only in aspiration, and not duration.[27]Armosti 2010 undertook a perceptual study with thirty native speakers of Cypriot Greek,[28] and has found that both closure duration and (the duration and properties of) aspiration provide important cues in distinguishing between the two kinds of stops, but aspiration is slightly more significant.[29]
Word-final/n/assimilates with succeeding consonants—other than stops and affricates—at word boundaries producing post-lexical geminates.[30] Consequently, geminate voiced fricatives, though generally not phonemic, do occur as allophones. Below are some examples of geminates to arise fromsandhi.
In contrast, singleton stops and affricates do not undergo gemination, but become fully voiced when preceded by a nasal, with the nasal becominghomorganic.[13] This process is not restricted to terminal nasals; singleton stops and affricates always become voiced following a nasal.[31]
Word-final/n/ is altogetherelided before geminate stops and consonant clusters:[32]
Like with/n/, word-final/s/ assimilates to following[s] and[ʃ] producing geminates:[33]
Lastly, word-final/s/ becomes voiced when followed by a voiced consonant belonging to the same phrase, like in Standard Greek:[32]
Cypriot Greek has a five-vowel system/i,u,e,o,a/[34][35] that is nearly identical to that of Standard Modern Greek.[note 4]
Close vowels/iu/ following/t/ at the end of an utterance are regularly reduced (50% of all cases presented in study) to "fricated vowels" (40% of all cases, cf. Slavicyers), and are sometimeselided altogether (5% of all cases).[36]
In glide-less analyses,/i/ may alternate with[k] or[c],[37] e.g.[kluvi] "cage" →[klufca] "cages", or[kulːuɾi] "koulouri" →[kulːuɾ̥ka] "koulouria"; and, like in Standard Modern Greek, it is pronounced[ɲ] when found between/m/ and another vowel that belongs to the same syllable,[31] e.g.[mɲa] "one" (f.).
Cypriot Greek has"dynamic" stress.[32] Both consonants and vowels are longer in stressed than in unstressed syllables, and the effect is stronger word-initially.[38] There is only one stress per word, and it can fall on any of the last four syllables. Stress on the fourth-last syllable in a word is rare and normally limited to certain verb forms. Because of that possibility, however, when words with antepenultimate stress are followed by an enclitic in Cypriot Greek, no extra stress is added unlike Standard Modern Greek in which stress falls only on one of the last three syllables),[32] e.g. Cypriot Greekτο ποδήλατον μου[topoˈðilato‿mːu], Standard Modern Greekτο ποδήλατό μου[topoˌðilaˈto‿mu] "my bicycle".
An overview of syntactic and morphological differences between Standard Modern Greek and Cypriot Greek can be found inHadjioannou, Tsiplakou & Kappler 2011, pp. 568–9.
Cypriot Greek is known for having a more conservative grammatical system than Standard Modern Greek. One of the most distinctive conservative features of Cypriot Greek is the preservation of older verb forms and aspectual distinctions that have been lost in the standard language. For instance, where Standard Modern Greek uses a single form έκανε for both the simple past "he did" and the past continuous "he was doing", Cypriot Greek maintains a clear morphological distinction: έκαμεν "he did" and έκαμνεν "he was doing". This mirrors Classical Ancient Greek, which similarly distinguished ἔκαμεν and ἐκάμνεν for those respective meanings. These distinctions are still actively used in spoken Cypriot today, showcasing the dialect's conservative grammatical structure.
Another example is the third person plural present tense form. Where Standard Modern Greek uses κάνουν "they do", Cypriot Greek preserves the older form κάμνουσιν, identical to the Classical Attic Greek κάμνουσιν. This ουσιν ending, now archaic or lost in most other varieties of Greek, remains productive in the Cypriot dialect, further illustrating its retention of ancient morphological patterns.
More loanwords are in everyday use than in Standard Modern Greek.[2], largely because Standard Greek, now the official language of Cyprus, introduced many foreign borrowings into the island. In addition to these shared influences, Cypriot Greek also preserves a number of unique, locally developed loanwords from Old French, Italian, Occitan, and, increasingly, English. As a result, the vocabulary of Cypriot Greek is broader and more varied, drawing from both the standard and its own historical linguistic layers. Despite this lexical diversity, the dialect as a whole is more conservative than Standard Modern Greek, especially in terms of verbs, grammar and certain archaisms. For example, Cypriot Greek retains older forms such as πόθεν for “from where?”, an equivalent of the archaic English “whence.” Many everyday words also differ, such as συντυχάννω alongside μιλώ "I talk" and θωρώ in place of βλέπω "I look".
Some Arabic expressions, such as μάσ̌σ̌αλλα [ˈmaʃːalːa] "mashallah" and ίσ̌σ̌αλλα [ˈiʃːalːa] "inshallah", are sometimes used in Cypriot Greek, typically in an ironic or humorous context. Speakers are generally aware of their Turkish origins, and these phrases are not part of the standard or traditional Cypriot Greek vocabulary.Ethnologue reports that thelexical similarity between Cypriot Greek andDemotic Greek is in the range of 84–93%.[39]
There is no established orthography for Cypriot Greek.[40][41] Efforts have been made to introducediacritics to theGreek alphabet to representpalato-alveolar consonants found in Cypriot, but not in Standard Modern Greek, e.g. thecombining caron⟨ˇ⟩, by the authors of the"Syntychies" lexicographic databaseArchived 2021-04-13 at theWayback Machine at theUniversity of Cyprus.[42] When diacritics are not used, an epenthetic⟨ι⟩—often accompanied by the systematic substitution of the preceding consonant letter—may be used to the same effect (as inPolish), e.g. Standard Modern Greekπαντζάρι[paˈ(n)d͡zaɾi] → Cypriot Greekππαντζιάρι[pʰːaˈnd͡ʒaɾi], Standard Modern Greekχέρι[ˈçeɾi] → Cypriot Greekσιέρι[ˈʃeɾi].
Geminates (andaspirates) are represented by two of the same letter, e.g.σήμμερα[ˈsimːeɾa] "today", though this may not be done in cases where the spelling would not coincide with Standard Modern Greek's, e.g.σήμμερα would still be speltσήμερα.[note 5]
Despite the centuries-long existence of Greek Cypriot literature, the dialect wasn't widely written until the rise ofcomputer-mediated communication in the 2000s. Online and intext messaging, Cypriot Greek, like Standard Modern Greek, is commonly written in theLatin script,[43] and English spelling conventions may be adopted for shared sounds,[44] e.g.⟨sh⟩ for/ʃ/ (and/ʃː/).
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Cypriot Greek demonstrates a prevalence of archaic elements. The following comparisons provide a visual representation of this phenomenon.
The tables below do not imply that they were written down the same in Attic Greek but it is simply using the modern Greek alphabet's pronunciation system applied on attic Greek for comparison purposes.
Theclassical attic Greek X was pronounced as an aspirated Κ similar to the English K. Θ = aspirated Τ, Γ = ΓΚ/ΓΓ and Β = ΜΠ. In classical attic Greek Η was pronounced a long Ε and not like the modern Greek I, Y[45]
| Standard[45] | Classical Attic pronunciation[46][45] |
|---|---|
| Χ | kʰ |
| Θ | tʰ |
| Γ | ΓΚ |
| Β | ΜΠ |
| Η | ΕΕ |
| Standard[45] | Cypriot | Classical Attic |
|---|---|---|
| άργησα | άρκησα | άργκησα |
| άρχισα | άρκεψα | άρkʰισα |
| έρχομαι | έρκομαι έρκουμαι | έρkʰομαι |
| ευχαριστώ | ευκαριστώ | ευkʰαριστώ |
| πάσχα | πάσκαν | πάσkʰαν |
| έρθω | έρτω | έρtʰω |
| βλέπω | ημπλέπω | μπλέπω |
| είδα | άμπλεψα/έμπλεψα | έμπλεψα |
| αγρίζω | αγκρίζω | αγκρίζω |
| ποτέ | ποtʰέ | ποτέ |
αγκρίζω is often confused for an English loan word but it's actually derived from the ancient αγρίζω, from άγριος.
| Standard[45] | Cypriot | Classical Attic |
|---|---|---|
| σκληρό | σκλερό | σκλεερό |
| μην | μεν | μεεν |
| Standard[45] | Cypriot | Classical Attic |
|---|---|---|
| αρέσει | αρέσκει | αρέσκει |
| κάνω | κάμνω | κάμνω |
| κάνουν | κάμνουσιν | κάμνουσιν |
| από που | πόθεν | πόtʰεν |
| Standard[45] | Cypriot | Classical Attic | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| κάνω | κάμνω | κάμνω | I'm doing |
| έκανες | έκαμες | έκαμε | You did |
| έκανες | έκαμνες | έκαμνες | You were doing |
| έκανε | έκαμεν | έκαμεν | He did |
| έκανε | έκαμνεν | έκαμνεν | He was doing |
| κάνουν | κάμνουσιν | κάμνουσιν | They are doing |
| κάνουμε | κάμνουμεν | κάμνομεν | We are doing |
| κάνετε | κάμνετε | κάμνετε | You are doing (plural) |
| κάνετε | κάμετε | κάμετε | Do it (plural) |
| κάνατε | εκάματε | εκάματε | You did (plrural) |
| κάνουμε | κάμνουμεν | κάμνομεν | We are doing |
| το κάνεις | κάμνειστο | κάμνεις αὐτό | You are doing it |
| το κάνει | κάμνειτο | κάμνει αὐτό | He is doing it |
| Η 9η Ιουλίου του 1821 (Written around 1884–1895)[48] |
|---|
| 18 «Η Ρωμιοσύνη εν φυλή συνότζαιρη του κόσμου, κανένας δεν εβρέθηκεν για να την ι-ξηλείψη, κανένας, γιατί σιέπει την που τα 'ψη ο Θεός μου. Η Ρωμιοσύνη εν να χαθή, όντες ο κόσμος λείψει! 19 Σφάξε μας ούλους τζι ας γενεί το γαίμαν μας αυλάτζιν, κάμε τον κόσμον ματζιελλειόν τζαι τους Ρωμιούς ταούλλια, αμμά ξέρε πως ύλαντρον όντες κοπεί καβάτζιν τριγύρου του πετάσσουνται τρακόσια παραπούλια. Το 'νιν αντάν να τρώ' την γην, τρώει την γην θαρκέται μα πάντα τζιείνον τρώεται τζαι τζιείνον καταλυέται. Είσαι πολλά πικράντερος, όμως αν θεν να σφάξης, σφάξε τους λας που πολεμούν αλλού αρματωμένοι. Εμάς με σιέρκα όφκαιρα γιατί να μας πειράξεις, πού 'μαστον δίχως άρματα, τζι είμαστον νεπαμέν 8 Η νύχτα πκιον αρκίνησεν περίτου ν' αναρκώνη, εγίνην η ανατολή κροκότσιηνη περίτου, άρτζιεψεν πκιον το Σάββατον να πικροξημερώννη τζι ακούστηκεν του ξύλενου σημάντρου η φωνή του. Εξέβην ο Τζιυπριανός με τζιείνον τον καμόν του, τζι επήεν εις την εκκλησ'ιάν τζαι βάλλει τον σταυρόν του τζι ήτουν όσον τζι εκάμασιν αρκήν της λειτουργίας, τζι εστάθηκεν περίλυπος τζαι σγιαν να δκιαλοίστην, τζι επήεν τζι εγονάτισεν ομπρός της Παναίας τζαι κάτι εψουψούρισεν τζι ευτύς εκλαμουρίστην. 27 «Εγιώ, αφέντη, μανιχά άκουσα να λαλούσιν, πως ήρτεν ένας τοπκιανός καλόηρος που πέρα τζι έφερεν κάμποσα χαρκιά πο τζιει που πολεμούσιν τζι έδωκεν τα τζαι χάθηκεν, δεν έμεινεν με μέραν, τζαι τζιείνα ούλλα τα χαρκιά πως ήταν του πολέμου. Τα άλλα ούλλα που λαλείς εν τάκουσα ποττέ μου.» «Είντα μας περιπαίζεις, βρε, είμαστον μισταρκοί σου; Είπες το με το στόμαν σου μεσ' σ' τόσον παναύριν, πε το, γιατί σκοτώννω σε, κόβκω την τζιεφαλήν σου. Φέρτε μου τον τζιελλάττην δα, ναν δαχαμαί χαζίριν!» 30 Τότες πκιον εσυντύχασιν ούλοι κάμποσην ώραν, για τζιείνους πων να κόψουσιν τζι αννοίξαν το δεφτέριν τζι είδασιν πόσοι εν π' αλλού τζιαι πόσοι που την Χώραν τζιαι πόσοι για συρτοθηλειάν τζιαι πόσοι για μασιαίριν. τζι είσιεν πεντ' έξι πούπασιν πως εν πολλοί τζι εν κρίμαν, τζι ο Μουσελλίμης είπεν τους: «Εν ούλλοι για το μνήμαν»! Ο ήλιος πκιον εστύλλωσεν, εγίνην μεσομέριν τζι ακούστην εις τον μιναρέν ο χότζ'ας να φωνάζη τζι επάψασιν την συντυσιάν τζι αφήκαν το δεφτέριν τζι εσηκωθήκαν ούλοι τους τζι επήαν στο ναμάζι. |
| English translation of "Η 9η Ιουλίου του 1821" |
| 18 Romaness is a race as old as the world, No one has ever been found to erase it, No one, because my God shields it from above. Romaness will vanish only when the world ceases to exist! 19 Slaughter us all, let our blood become a stream, Turn the world a slaughterhouse and the Romans herds of sheep But know that when a stump is cut at the base, Around it, three hundred new sprouts will burst forth. |
Explanatory notes
Citations
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