Page Type: languageArabic, Cypriot Spoken | Ethnologue

ACY ISO 639-3

Arabic, Cypriot Spoken

Sanna Autonym

A language of Cyprus

ISO 639
acy
Alternate Names
Cypriot Maronite Arabic, Kormakiti, Maronite
Autonym
Sanna
Population
9,760 (2013 UNSD).
Location:
Kyrenia district: north shore; Limassol district: south shore; Lefkosia district: Kormakiti, Nicosia city, and Peristonem; several Maronite mountain villages. Mainly urban communities.
Language Status
7 (Shifting).
Classification
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
Dialects
A member of macrolanguage Arabic [ara].
Language Use
Adults only. Shifting to Greek [ell] (Walter 2020). Also use Standard Arabic [arb]. No diglossia with Standard Arabic [arb]. Also use Turkish [tur].
Language Development
Dictionary. Grammar. Revitalization effort producing written materials.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Cypriot Spoken
Writing
Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab], no longer in use. Greek script [Grek], no longer in use. Latin script [Latn], revitalization efforts in one town.
Other Comments
A hybrid language with roots in the Arabic of both Anatolia and Levant. Many borrowings from Syriac [syc] and Greek [ell]. Ethnonym: Maronites. Christian.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Kyrenia district: north shore; Limassol district: south shore; Lefkosia district: Kormakiti, Nicosia city, and Peristonem; several Maronite mountain villages. Mainly urban communities.