Language of Cyprus

The official languages of the Republic of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish. Greek is spoken predominantly in the south while Turkish is a predominant language in the north. Historically, Greek was spoken by all Greek Cypriots and by many Turkish Cypriots too. The reason was probably because the Greek Cypriots formed the majority of the population in the island.

The Greek language spoken in Cyprus has a different dialect and is different from the Greek language of the mainland Greece.  Turkish Cypriots use Turkish as VO language and as a rather distinctive dialect of Turkish. However, the Turkish dialect spoken by Turkish Cypriots is quite similar to other dialects of Anatolia, but distinct from the prevailing urban dialects of Istanbul, Ankara, and Zmir.

Turkish Cypriots did face a few difficulties while communicating with mainland Turks. Nevertheless, the differences between the dialects of these two languages are much less significant than between Turkish and other Turkic languages of Central Asia.

The language and educational reforms brought over by Atatürk has made distinct changes in standard Turkish. Latin alphabet was introduced in place of the Arabic script and the heavily Arabic and Persian court dialect was rejected as the basis for standardization.

English is widely understood and spoken in Cyprus. It is also taught in schools from a very young age. With the increase in tourism activities in the country, several other languages are also spoken particularly in tourist spots such as French, German and Russian.

By: Shuchita Bist

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