Cypriot Greek
| Cypriot Greek | |
|---|---|
| κυπριακά ελληνικά; κυπριακά | |
| Pronunciation | [cipɾiaˈka elːiniˈka]; [cipɾiaˈka] |
| Native to | Cyprus |
|
Native speakers
|
c. 700,000 in Cyprus (2011) |
| Greek alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | cypr1249 |
| Linguasphere | 56-AAA-ahg |
Cypriot Greek (Greek: κυπριακά) is the variety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of the Cypriot populace and Greek Cypriot diaspora. It is a markedly divergent variety as it differs from Standard Modern Greek in its lexicon,phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and even pragmatics, not only for historical reasons, but also because of geographical isolation, different settlement patterns, and extensive contact with typologically distinct languages.
Cypriot Greek is not an evolution of ancient Arcadocypriot Greek, but derives from Byzantine Medieval Greek. It has traditionally been placed in the southeastern group of Modern Greek varieties, along with the dialects of the Dodecanese and Chios (with which it shares several phonological phenomena).
Though Cypriot Greek tends to be regarded as a dialect by its speakers, it is unintelligible to speakers of Standard Modern Greek without adequate prior exposure. Greek-speaking Cypriots are diglossic in the vernacular Cypriot Greek (the "low" variety) and Standard Modern Greek (the "high" variety). Cypriot Greek is itself a dialect continuum with an emerging .Davy, Ioannou & Panayotou (1996) argue that diglossia has given way to a "post-diglossic [dialectal] continuum [...] a quasi-continuous spread of overlapping varieties".
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Wikipedia