Cypriot Dialect of Greek
As such, the concept of “Cypriot language” does not exist. The population of the southern part of the island speaks Greek, more precisely the modern Greek language and, more specifically, its dialect.
The Greek language is included in the western group of Indo-European languages, which is represented by a separate branch. The most ancient population of Cyprus spoke one of the forms of the Arcado-Cypriot dialect. In a slightly different “version,” this dialect was common among the inhabitants of Arcadia (the region of the Peloponnese).
This fact is very unusual, considering the distance separating Cyprus from the area from which the dialect came. In ancient times, Cyprus had its written language, replaced by common Greek only in the 4th century BC.
For centuries, there has been an ethnic, cultural, and religious connection between Cyprus and Greece, despite the significant remoteness of the two countries from each other (for example, the distance to the nearest Greek island of Rhodes is 400 km, and to the coast of Greece itself – more than 700 km). Know here the list of languages spoken in Greece.
This connection could not be broken by the numerous foreign conquerors who seized the island. In this regard, the language of Cyprus developed in line with the common Greek language and now differs slightly from modern Greek, retaining only the features of a dialect.
The remoteness of Cyprus from Greece has affected the fact that the Cypriot dialect is one of the purest among the existing forms of the Greek language, having largely preserved the ancient and medieval language forms (the endings of nouns and adjectives, the doubling of consonants, etc.
).
A distinctive feature of pronunciation in the Cypriot dialect is the presence of hissing consonants, which are absent in the primary language of mainland Greece. At the same time, in some Greek words, Cypriots pronounce the letter “x” as “sh.” So, the term “exet'” – “you have” in Cyprus will be pronounced as “eshis” and not as “ehis.”
The island’s vocabulary contains many words that are used only in Cyprus. This is because for many centuries, while Cyprus was under the rule of different rulers (Venetians, Ottomans, British), words were actively borrowed from the languages of the conquerors.
According to the testimony of residents, the Cypriot dialect is preserved in its purest form in the dialect of the inhabitants of the Paphos district. Greek is quite difficult to learn. However, it is much easier for the Russian-speaking population to learn than other foreigners. According to the grammatical composition and some words and letters, the Greek language is somewhat similar to Russian.