A story at the periphery: Documenting, standardizing and reviving Cypriot Arabic
Marilena Karyolemou | University of Cyprus | makar@ucy.ac.cy
To be cited only with permission by the author
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present the current sociolinguistic situation of the Cypriot Maronite community and report on recent efforts to revitalize its language, Cypriot Arabic or Sanna. Cypriot Arabic is an indigenous form of Arabic not to be confused with Lebanese, Egyptian or any other form of Arabic spoken by Arab immigrants who live in Cyprus. After a brief historical account, the paper focuses on the sociodemographic and sociolinguistic characteristics of the community, which has steadily declined ever since its establishment on the island of Cyprus in the 7th-8th century AD; it then turns briefly to the structural, functional and sociolinguistic impact that insularity and isolation from the rest of the Arabic speaking world as well as contact with Cypriot and Standard Greek have had on the language. Finally, the revitalization efforts undertaken since 2007 as well as recent political and social developments that (de)favour the process of revitalization are discussed.
1. Introduction
Maronite Arabs are one of the many Eastern Christian communities that developed in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Minor, the Balkans and other nearby areas over a number of centuries. They are identified as followers of Saint Maron, a Christian Syriac hermit who lived in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and they retain the Catholic rite and a close connection to the Holy See. As a result of the Arab conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, a significant number of Maronite communities abandoned their native Aramaic varieties in favour of other varieties. Cypriot Maronite Arabs are medieval refugees who travelled to Cyprus in successive waves from the 7th to the 12th century in quest of a peaceful place to rebuild their lives (Hourani 1998). The last and largest immigration took place in the 12th century, in response to the economic advantages promised by the Lusignan kings of Cyprus. Unlike the other medieval communities that gradually deserted the island (Grivaud 2000), the Maronites remained and very soon were firmly rooted on the island and organized as a community.
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