The Euromosaic study
Other languages in Cyprus
- Armenian
- Cypriot Arabic
- Romani
1. Armenian
Armenian [Hayeren] is a language of the Indo-European family, though its
relationship to other Indo-European varieties is still debated. The Armenian
alphabet was created for religious and cultural purposes, since Christianity had
become the state religion of the Armenians as early as in the 4th century.
Armenian has more than 60 varieties. Eastern Armenian is the state language of
the Republic of Armenia [Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun], where literary Armenian is
used in education. The western dialects predominate in the diaspora communities,
including the one in Cyprus.
Currently there are some 2,600 Armenians in Cyprus, including many that are
not Cypriot citizens. Armenians first settled in Cyprus in the late 6th century,
retaining their ties with Syria — especially with its intellectual centre at
Edessa — until the arrival of the Arabs in the region during the 7th century.
The main migration wave to Cyprus followed the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 in
Turkey. Armenians have traditionally inhabited the towns of Larnaca, Limassol
and Nicosia; those living in Famagusta left after the Turkish invasion in 1974.
Armenians have apparently lost some properties in the northern part, including
the Makaravank and Kantsvor monasteries. In constitutional terms, Armenians form
a religious group in the Republic of Cyprus who opted for adherence to the Greek
Community; they have the right to elect a representative to the Cypriot
Parliament. Beside the non-discrimination clause (Art. 6 of the Constitution),
they are guaranteed the right to use their own language in private and in
public, and to receive instruction in it. All Armenians are bilingual in Greek
and Armenian.
Currently there are three Armenian churches and primary schools in Cyprus (Larnaca,
Limassol and Nicosia) and a secondary school in Nicosia. The Melkonian
Educational Institute is the most renowned co-educational institution of Cypriot
Armenians. Founded in 1926, the Melkonian Institute is open to students of all
nationalities and offers a comprehensive secondary school curriculum. All
subjects, except for the Armenian language, are taught in English. Foreign
languages offered include Greek, French, Arabic, Russian and Bulgarian. The
Board of the Institute, however, has announced the decision to close down in
2005. A daily radio programme by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation in Armenian
includes extensive interviews, news coverage, cultural reports and music. The
two main Armenian monthly newspapers, Artsankank (founded 1995) and Paros (founded
1997), provide national and international news, primarily in Armenian — although
certain columns and cultural reviews are printed in Greek and in English. The
Armenian Church in Cyprus publishes its own monthly bulletin Keghart in Armenian.
The Armenian community of Cyprus receives State funding for concerts, dance
performances, art and photographic exhibitions, and literary events.
Organisations include the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian
National Committee. The Cypriot-Armenian Friendship Society (est. in 1998)
organises concerts, lectures and exhibitions, so as to establish closer ties
between the two Republics. The Armenian churches have allocated space within
their premises to encourage cultural events such as the annual Autumn Book
Exhibition. The Middle/Near East Armenian Research Centre (established in 1996
by Vartan Malian) houses a reference library and archival material on its
Nicosia premises.
When the Republic of Armenia gained independence in 1991 new relations with
the Republic of Cyprus were established. Since 1994, parliamentary delegations
to and from Armenia have resulted in the signing of bi-lateral agreements and in
the creation of a forum for further discussions and co-operation between the two
governments. In 1995, the Armenian ambassador to Greece also became ambassador
to Cyprus. Armenian was explicitly declared to be a non-territorial language in
terms of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (ECRML).

2. Cypriot Arabic
Cypriot Arabic, or Kormakiti Arabic [Kormakiti Arabiyya] as it is named after
the place where it is still spoken, belongs to the Semitic language family. It
is the language traditionally used by the Maronite community, though the local
faithful speak Greek and the Liturgy is read in Greek. Like most of the Arabic
vernaculars, Cypriot Arabic is not written, and — given the isolated development
of the language — it is virtually unintelligible to speakers of standard Arabic.
There are connections with the Syrian and Mesopotamian dialects of Arabic, and
possibly even with the medieval dialects of Baghdad. A survey conducted among
Maronites in the late 60s revealed that none of the interviewees was able to
read or write standard Arabic.
At the end of 1996 the Maronites numbered approx. 4,500. Maronite colonies of
Syrian and Lebanese origin have settled in Cyprus since the 8th century.
Originally belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Church, Maronites are Christians of
a Uniate Church, i.e. in formal communion with Rome but retaining a separate
language and liturgy. This relationship was reinforced with the Crusades,
especially after 1182, when they sought union with the Patriarch of Antioch in
Lebanon. Many Maronites arrived in Cyprus when the Latin states of the Levant
fell to Islam; this emigration continued under the Venetians up to the Ottoman
conquest of the island (1570-71). Maronites survived as a distinct community
despite the ban on Catholicism. At the end of the 15th century there were approx.
1,500 Maronites distributed among 19 villages; in 1881 their number had dwindled
to 830 people, scattered in the villages of Kormakiti/Koruçam, Agia Marina/Gürpinar,
Asomatos/Özhan and Karpasha/Karpaşa in the northwest of the island, where
several monasteries and churches are also located. Although the number of
Maronites has increased to over 4,000 since then, after 1974 their distribution
pattern was disrupted: most Maronites resettled in the territory controlled by
the Republic of Cyprus, but were scattered in Nicosia and in the surrounding
villages. Only a few of them (165 according to UN estimates in 2001) have
remained in traditional villages within the area occupied by Turkey. There are
still contacts between the Maronites of Lebanon and Cyprus, although less
frequently than before.
Cypriot Arabic is now spoken almost exclusively by less that 1,000 members of
the Maronite community, all coming from the village of Kormakiti. The rest (and
therefore the majority) of the community is exclusively Greek-speaking, and the
use of Arabic is confined to family and religious purposes. The Maronite liturgy
is generally conducted in Greek rather than Syraic or Cypriot Arabic, though the
mass includes ancient hymns sung in Syraic. At the time of the Turkish invasion
the Maronites of Kormakiti were bilingual in Arabic and Greek. There is no
formal or educational setting for the language. The extremely reduced number of
(ageing) inhabitants in the traditional villages, the dispersal of the resettled
Maronites and a (consequent) lower degree of endogamy have been contributing to
a process of linguistic assimilation.
The Maronites of Cyprus have their own bishop but are subject to the
Patriarch of Antioch, who is appointed by the Pope; they opted for adherence to
the Greek Community under the terms of the 1960 Constitution. The
non-discrimination clause (Art. 6) of the Republic of Cyprus applies to Cypriot
Arabic as well as to Armenian and Turkish. In the Republic of Cyprus, the
leaders of the Maronite community have long requested their own schools and
housing areas or villages. The building of an elementary school was planned for
2002.

3. Romani
Romani [Romanes], or Romany, is an Indic (or Indo-Aryan) language — like
Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali — that belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the
Indo-European family. The dispersal and differentiation of the Roma since their
arrival in Europe (12th century) brought about a fragmentation of the language
in distinct groups, which include approximately 60 dialects and varieties. There
are no official records on the arrival of Roma in Cyprus, but they probably came
from the Crusader colonies on the eastern Mediterranean coast (now Lebanon and
Israel) in the 14th century. Their membership in Cyprus is between 500 and
1,000, and they are classified outside the religious groups. Most of them live
in the occupied area. There are no data available on language use.
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