This article is about the modern Greek dialect of Cyprus. For the ancient Greek dialect see Arcadocypriot. History of the Greek language (see also: Greek alphabet) Proto-Greek (c. 30001600 BC) Mycenaean (c. 16001100 BC) Ancient Greek (c. 800330 BC) Dialects: Aeolic Arcadocypriot Attic-Ionic Doric Locrian Pamphylian; Homeric Greek. Macedonian. Koine Greek (c. 330 BC330) Medieval Greek (3301453)

Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Cappadocian Cheimarriotika Cretan Cypriot Demotic Griko Katharevousa Pontic Tsakonian Maniot Yevanic This box: view talk

*Dates (beginning with Ancient Greek) from Wallace D. B. (1996). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p. 12. ISBN 0310218950. 

The Cypriot dialect of Modern Greek known as Kypriaka (Greek: ) Cypriot Greek (Greek: "Cypriot dialect")1 is spoken by 750000 people in Cyprus and diaspora Greek Cypriots. Cypriot Greek is distinct enough that it can be classified as a distinct dialect of the Standard Greek.2 In Cyprus the dialect is reportedly more similar to Classical Greek grc in vocabulary and grammar than that spoken in Greece. Contents 1 Usage and settings 2 History and literature 3 Technical characteristics 3.1 Phonology 3.2 Morphology 3.3 Vocabulary 3.4 Syntax 3.5 Spelling 3.6 Metathesis 4 Names 4.1 Insults 5 See also 6 References 7 References 8 External links 9 Software Usage and settings

It is the spoken everyday language of most Greek Cypriots. There is diglossia (in the linguistic sense) between Dhimotiki and the dialect. There are specific settings where speaking Standard Greek is demanded or considered polite such as in school classes (but not during breaks) in parliament in the media and in the presence of non-Cypriot Greeks. Cypriot Greek is common on the internet34 in e-mails and on SMSs

In general the stronger the use of dialect in a speaker (closer to the basilect) the more likely he is to be perceived as a peasant or of an uneducated and poor background. This can be particularly stigmatizing within formal and upper class circles.

The social consensus on the High and Low roles of the acrolect and basilect make Cypriot diglossia more like the diglossia of Greece in the mid 19th century (when Dhimotiki was stigmatised) and less like the diglossia of the 20th century (when the consensus had broken down and Dhimotiki and Katharevousa were competing to become the High language). Cypriot diglossia makes the dialect one of only four Greek dialects currently still widely used; the others Pontic Greek Cretan Greek and Tsakonian Greek. Pontic Greek is healthier in the former Soviet Union and Turkey than in Greece itself where its use is increasingly emblematic. Accordingly Cypriot is the only Greek dialect with a significant presence of spontaneous use online including blogs and bulletin boards and even a version of Greeklish reflecting the dialect's distinct phonology. History and literature

The modern Cypriot dialect is not an evolution of the ancient Arcadocypriot dialect but evolved from Koine; it belongs to the Southeastern group of Modern Greek dialects along with the dialects of the Dodecanese and Chios (with which it shares phonological phenomena such as gemination and intervocalic lenition). Cyprus was cut off from the rest of the Greek-speaking world from the 7th to the 10th century A.D due to Arab attacks. It was reintegrated in the Byzantine Empire in 962 to be isolated again in 1191 when it fell to the hands of crusaders. This isolation developed a lot of linguistic characteristics distinct from Byzantine Greek.

The legislation of the Kingdom of Cyprus in the Middle Ages was written in the dialect. Other important medieval works are the chronicles of Leontios Makhairas and George Boustronios as well as a collection of sonnets in the manner of Francesco Petrarca.

In the past hundred years the dialect has been used in poetry major poets being Vasilis Michaelides and Dimitris Lipertis. It is also traditionally used for folk songs and poetry including (battle poetry a form of Playing the dozens) and the tradition of (bards). More recently it has been used in Reggae by Hadji Mike and rap by several Cypriot hip hop groups. DNA (Dimiourgoi Neas Antilipsis) a hiphop group from Cyprus released an album named "sihnotites" with 2 tracks in Cypriot. (See also Music of Cyprus). Locally produced television shows usually comedies or soap operas make use of the dialect. For example Vourate Geitonoi ( instead of ) Oi Takkoi ( being a uniquely Cypriot name) and Istories tou Horkou ( rather than ). Cypriot Greek is closer to classical Greek in some respects such as vocabulary and grammar than standard Greek is.citation needed The 2006 feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest features actor Jimmy Rousanis arguing in the Greek Cypriot dialect with another crew member speaking Gibrizlidja about a captain's hat they find in the sea.Peter Polycarpou routinely spoke in the Greek Cypriot dialect in his role as Chris Theodopolopoudos in the British television comedy series Birds of a Feather. Technical characteristics Phonology Double consonants preserved the stressed pronunciation of Ancient Greek. Double unvoiced plosives (Greek: Greek: Greek: ) are pronounced aspirated (t p k or c depending on the succeeding vowel). The rest of the double consonants are pronounced as geminates. (e.g. as l as m etc.) Extreme "palatalization" of Greek velars to palato-alveolars when followed by the front vowels e and i and the semivowel j very similar to how standard Italian developed from Latin. It should be noted that Standard Greek pronunciation exhibits true palatalization of velars to palatals (k > c and x > ). The palato-alveolars in Cypriot Greek can be found both as affricates (t) and fricatives (): The "palatalization" of kappa i.e. Greek: > Greek: Standard Greek c becomes a soft affricate t. This sound is usually represented with Greek: or Greek: . For example Standard Greek Greek: ce meaning "and" becomes Cypriot Greek Greek: or Greek: te. Also Standard Greek ecinos becomes Cypriot Greek Greek: tinos. Note however this is not a hard and fast rule (counter-examples include loans from Standard Greek: ). The "palatalization" of kappa after a sigma i.e. Greek: > Greek: Standard Greek sc becomes the double fricative . The "palatalization" of double kappa i.e. Greek: > Greek: Pronounced in Standard Greek as single k in Cypriot Greek it becomes an aspirated affricate t. The "palatalization" of chi i.e. Greek: > Greek: Similarly Standard Greek becomes . This sound is usually represented with or Greek: . For example Standard Greek Greek: eri meaning "hand" becomes Cypriot Greek Greek: or Greek: eri. Voicing of and (aspirated consonants in Ancient Greek) before liquids and nasals to and respectively. (e.g. (Cypriot dialect) instead of (Modern Greek) ( year) (man) (Cypriot dialect) instead of (Modern Greek) ( human). In Cypriot dialect means man and not human. uman is called .This process is partially reversed in younger speakers due to the influence of Standard Greek. Deletion of voiced intervocalic fricatives; e.g. > "little child". In linguistic texts the deleted fricative is sometimes put in brackets for clarity: (). /x/ > //: e.g. > "human" Defrication of / that function as semi-vowels in Modern Greek to c with most of the time modification of the preceding consonant. (e.g. pos in Cypriot Greek would be pronounced as pcos spita in Cypriot Greek would be pronounced as spika). This is carried further in some parts of Cyprus where speakers use e.g. pos External sandhi rules for word-final nasal consonants: /n/ before bilabials becomes m: e.g. to moron the baby (acc.). /n/ before velars becomes : e.g. ti raticin the governmental (acc.). Standard Greek sandhi rules for word-final n do not apply to Cypriot Greek; the /n/ is used much more frequently in Cypriot Greek. The vowel eta is in some words pronounced which according to the "Erasmian" understanding is ancient Greek. A basic common example would be in Cypriot . Morphology Present participles ending in - instead of Modern Greek -. Archaisms such as the use of infinitives as nouns (e.g. the gaze) In slang the Turkish derivational suffix -lik added as -() is used to transform a concrete noun to an abstract noun as noted here. For example: " " (the president) becomes " " (the presidency). Note: The incorporation of this particular type of Turkish morphology is also found in Standard Greek however as the suffix -. Cypriot Greek used two to phonologically imitate the aspirated k of Turkish. The suffixes -/-/-() for masculine feminine and neuter respectively are used to derive diminutives of nouns in place of Standard Greek -/-/-. The Cypriot Greek suffixes derive from the original -/-/-() with the drop of intervocalic . For example would be a heavily Cypriot version of (kitty). Vocabulary The Modern Cypriot lexicon contains loanwords mostly from Old French Italian Provenal Arabic and other languages as well as words unique to Cyprus. Additionally non-Muslim speakers use standard Muslim Arabic expressions such as mashalla(h) and halali which have become part of the vocabulary while Muslim speakers use Christian expressions form Greek such as "a panayia mou!" The Cypriot lexicon also contains Ancient Greek vocabulary which is no longer used in Standard Greek for instance: / (talk) or (I like) with the in tact from classical and (people). Different names for foodstuffs to standard modern Greek. For example prickly pears are commonly found both on Crete and Cyprus. In Greece including Crete they are known as (i.e. "Frankish figs") and in Cyprus they are known as (i.e. "shoe figs"). Syntax The verb is: and instead of (Modern Greek). is ambiguous between the negative particle (Standard Greek ) in front of a verb (e.g. "it doesn't matter") and the copula (e.g. "he/she/it is well"). "" used as the Future particle in contrast to standard Greek "" (each of these being a different contraction from ) Personal pronouns   strong weak Nom. Acc. Gen. Acc. Gen. 1st Person Sg. Pl. / / () 2nd Person Sg. Pl. / () 3rd Person Sg. m. f. n. () () ()/() ()/() ()/() / / / () () Pl. m. f. n. / / / / / / Note: / and / are currently not in use as much as standard Greek and . is a contraction of etc. Both forms can be used e.g. . Besides as a generic demonstrative there is also the more specific spatial demonstrative pronoun - - ('him/her/that there'). (From Standard Greek ). Order of personal pronoun-verb is different than modern Greek example: "(He) told me" in Cypriot is " " instead of standard modern Greek " " Spelling While the spelling is commonly used to represent it presupposes a following vowel e.g. . When is found at the end of the word or before a consonant (in loan words) the spelling cannot be used. For example the word /pa/ < the Turkish ba meaning "main"(or "head") cannot be spelled as since that will be interpreted as pasi. Since diacritics are not used outside linguistics Cypriots will frequently double as or recourse to the English spelling instead: or sh. Metathesis Sometimes two-syllable words are inverted. For example instead of (socks). Names Cypriot Greeks may have standard Greek patronyms like Papadopoulos but there are some which are clearly Cypriot Greek. There are some names which indicate place of birth or origin e.g. being from Paphos or being from Kaimakli or professional occupation e.g. (shoemaker) (smith) etc. As most cypriots used patronymics until independence (1960) when surnames became officially used in public registers a similar process of creation of surnames took place to that of other Greek speaking populations outside the Hellenic Republic e.g. the Pontians . A good example would be (bearing the also commonly Pontian - (masc.)/ - (fem.) ending). Additionally Cypriot patronymy includes a couple of semi-diphthongs in some names i.e. beginning with or marking aspirated unvoiced plosives e.g. .5 Cypriot first names include: . Also there are names which whilst normal names elsewhere are unusual except in Cyprus where they are more highly concentrated. Examples include: and . In keeping with older traditions of Greeks Cypriots often have as their patronym literally the name of the father. At the same time the first-born son may take as a first name his paternal grandfather's name6 (sometimes a second-born son taking as his name the maternal grandfather's name) leading to repetition. For example a grandfather being called his son being named and the grandson called (/). Insults Whereas in Greece the imperative "!" now is more often used in jest and comes close to meaning something like "mate!"7 in Cyprus it remains highly offensive and literally "wanker!". Cypriots also use a Turkish word for pimp namely "() !" See also Cypriot Turkish List of Cypriots References Beaudouin M. 1884: tude du dialecte chypriote moderne et medieval Study of the Modern and Medieval Cypriot Dialect (Paris). Horrocks G. 1997: Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (London) . . . & . ( 2006). Thumb A. 1909: Handbuch der griechischen Dialekte Handbook of Greek Dialects (Heidelberg). . 1994(2): Dialects and Properties of Neo-Hellenic (). . 1969: Language Studies (). . 1987: Assimilation of Nasal with Silent Closed Sounds in the Greek Language . 3 . 253-283 (). . 2000: Phonetics and Etymologies of the Cypriot Dialect 3 . 151-188 Newton B. 1972: Cypriot Greek. Its phonology and inflexion (The Hague: Mouton). . 1929: Phonetics of Neo-Hellenic Dialects of Cyprus Dodecanese and Icaria (). . 1996: Etymological Dictionary of the Spoken Cypriot Dialect (). . 1999: Grammar of the Spoken Cypriot Dialect (). . 1970: " " The Position of the Cypriot Dialect within the Dialectical Zones of the Neo-Hellenic Language - . 3 . 119-138. References According to the Oxford English Dictionary Cypriot is "the dialect of Greek used in Cyprus". B D Joseph 2006. "Modern Greek". In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition. http://www.varkoume.com is the Cypriot word corresponding standard modern Greek http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/greekcypriot/6/1257600926/tpod.html Greek Naming Conventions http://www.malakas.org/malakas.html External links () () (I) Software Cypriot Greek Keyboard with IPA Symbols Cypriot Greek Keyboard Polytonic