Emanating from Anatolia and evolved for four centuries, Cypriot Turkish is the vernacular spoken by Cypriots with Ottoman ancestry, as well as by Cypriots who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule.[1] It is understood by expatriate Cypriots living in the UK, United States, Australia and other parts of the world.
Since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkish is found almost exclusively in Northern Cyprus, with approximately 300,000 native Turkish speakers (including all dialects of Turkish) as of 2016 and 1,400 speakers in the south as of 2013.[2] Of these, a significant number are immigrants from Turkey who do not speak the Cypriot variety of Turkish. Cypriot Turkish is not used officially in the north, where modern standard Turkish became the de facto official language of schools, government, and the media.[3]
Phonology
Differences between standard Turkish and Cypriot Turkish
Cypriot Turkish is distinguished by a number of sound alternations not found in standard Turkish, but some of which are also quite common in other Turkish vernaculars:
Standard Turkish hiç ↔ Cypriot Turkish hiş "no, none"
The last two alternations are more specific to Cypriot Turkish and are seen less often in other Turkish vernacular.
Consonants
Cypriot Turkish consonants are mostly the same as standard Turkish consonants. However, Cypriot Turkish has retained the phonemes /ŋ/ and /ɣ/, whereas standard Turkish lost them.
Cypriot Turkish is structured as a VO language as opposed to standard Turkish which is an OV language. It is very typical in forming a question.
Standard Turkish Okula gidecek misin? is, in Cypriot Turkish, Gideceŋ okula? ("Will you go to school?")
Cypriot Turkish uses the aorist tense instead of the present continuous tense, and very often in place of the future tense as well.
Standard Turkish Okula gidiyorum or Okula gideceğim ("I am going to school") are, in Cypriot Turkish, Giderim okula ("I go to school" / "I am going to school" / "I will go to school")
Cypriot Turkish does not use the narrative/indefinite past, and only uses the simple past instead.
Standard Turkish Eve gitmiş ("He is reported to have gone home") is, in Cypriot Turkish, not used. Instead Eve gitti or Gitti eve ("He went home") suffices.
Cypriot Turkish also lacks the question suffix of mi.[4] This is similar to colloquial Azerbaijani.
Standard Turkish Annen evde midir? ("Is your mother at home?") is, in Cypriot Turkish, Anneŋ evdedir?
In Cypriot Turkish, the reflexive pronoun in third person is different, namely geŋni ("him, himself, them, themself"). In Standard Turkish, this would be kendisi.
Semantics
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2017)
Typical question usually do not qualify as standard Turkish questions (see the example above) because question suffixes are usually dropped by native Turkish Cypriots. Another subtle difference is the emphasis on verbs.
^Jennings, Ronald (1993), Christians and Muslims in Ottoman Cyprus and the Mediterranean World, 1571-1640, New York University Press ISBN0-814-74181-9.
^Evripidou, Dimitris; Çavuşoǧlu, Çişe (2015). "Turkish Cypriots' Language Attitudes: The Case of Cypriot Turkish and Standard Turkish in Cyprus". Mediterranean Language Review. 22: 119–138. ISSN0724-7567. JSTOR10.13173/medilangrevi.22.2015.0119.
^Demir, Nurettin. "Kıbrıs Ağızları Üzerine Notlar"(PDF). Journal of Turcology (in Turkish). Çukurova University. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
Bibliography
Erdoğan Saracoğlu (1992). Kıbrıs Ağzı: Sesbilgisi Özellikleri, Metin Derlemeleri, Sözlük. K.K.T.C. Millî Eğitim ve Kültür Bakanlığı. ISBN975-17-1015-4.
Yıltan Taşçı (1986). Kıbrıs Ağzı Dil Özellikleri. Lefkoşa: Akar Yayıncılık.