Arabic, Cypriot Spoken

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A language of Cyprus

ISO 639-3
acy
Alternate Names
Cypriot Maronite Arabic, Maronite, Sanna
Population

1,300 (1995). Ethnic population: 6,000 in Cypriot Maronite ethnic group, 140 Maronites in Kormatiki, 80 to 100 in Limassol, the rest in the Maronite community in Nicosia.

Location

Northern Cyprus, Kormakiti, one of 4 Maronite villages in the mountains; Nicosia and Limassol refugee communities.

Language Maps
Language Status

7 (Shifting).

Classification
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
Language Use

All older than 30 years. 140 mainly older adults in Kormatiki. No diglossia with Standard Arabic [arb]. Those in Kormatiki also use Greek [ell] or Turkish [tur]. Those in southern Cyprus use Greek.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Cypriot Spoken
Other Comments

A hybrid language with roots in the Arabic of both Anatolia and Levant. Many borrowings from Syriac and Greek. Ethnonym: Maronites. Christian.