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Cypriot has tended to be written only in jocular or folksy form. Normal modern Greek spelling conventions are inadequately equipped to do justice to a number of age-old characteristics of Cypriot pronunciation. As a result, written Cypriot has often come across as a confused and inconsistent self-parody, rather than as an elegant language worthy of serious expression of thought.
To address this and to facilitate the use and appreciation of written Cypriot by Cypriots outside Cyprus, by Cypriots not educated in Greek and indeed by non-Cypriots, the Cypriot Academy has adopted and adapted the internationally recognised Latin alphabet (itself a derivation of the Greek alphabet) as an alternative means of writing Cypriot. The methodology used, devised specifically for Cypriot norms of pronunciation, is set out below:
| Latin letters |
Pronunciation |
Greek alphabet equivalents |
|
a |
u as in up |
alpha |
| b |
b |
pi |
| ch |
ch as in chap |
tau-sigma(-iota) |
| d |
d |
tau |
| dh |
th as in the |
delta |
| e |
e as in egg |
epsilon, alpha-iota |
| f |
f |
phi |
| g |
g as in got |
kappa |
| gh |
like g but uttered without the tongue touching the palate |
gamma except before e, i sounds |
| h |
harsh h |
chi |
| i |
i as in in; sometimes |
iota, eta, upsilon, epsilon-iota, |
| |
y as in yes if unstressed |
omicron-iota, upsilon-iota |
| |
before a vowel |
|
| j |
j as in jam |
tau-zeta(-iota) |
| k |
k |
double kappa, unvoiced kappa |
| kh |
as h, used after s to |
chi |
| |
avoid confusion with sh |
|
| l |
l |
lambda |
| m |
m |
mu |
| n |
n |
nu |
| ng |
ng as in anger |
double gamma, gamma-kappa |
| o |
o as in on |
omicron, omega |
| p |
p |
double pi, unvoiced pi |
| ps |
ps as in caps |
psi |
| psh |
psh as in chip-shop |
psi(-iota) |
| r |
rolled r |
rho |
| s |
s as in sad; z before |
sigma |
| |
gh, m, n, v |
|
| sh |
sh as in shop |
sigma(-iota) |
| shh |
shsh as in fish-shop |
double sigma(-iota) |
| t |
t |
double tau, unvoiced tau |
| th |
th as in thin |
theta |
| thh |
thth as in bath things |
double theta |
| u |
u as in put |
omicron-upsilon |
| v |
v |
beta |
| x |
x as in ox |
xi |
| xh |
ksh as in book-shop |
xi(-iota) |
| y |
y as in yes |
gamma before e, i sounds; |
| |
|
gamma-iota before vowels |
| z |
z |
zeta |
| zh |
French j as in jour |
zeta(-iota) |
We have elected to use b, d and g for voiced pi, tau and kappa to reflect more clearly the softer Cypriot pronunciation of these sounds and to avoid the clumsy use of kk, pp and tt to distinguish unvoiced k, p and t sounds.
Some points to note with regard to the pronunciation of Cypriot:
• Double vowels and double consonants, such as aa and nn, are always emphasised with double or elongated pronunciation; the pronunciation of z and zh also tends to be elongated in the middle of words.
• The ubiquitous Cypriot terminal n is, in speech, often rolled into any following consonant, imbuing the latter with a nasal or elongated quality; thus, following a terminal n, b sounds like mb, while s sounds like ss.
• Before vowels, k, p and t are uttered in an aspirated manner, ie with a burst of air.
• Some traditional speakers tend to voice certain consonant clusters beginning with f, h and th, rendering flanjin (liver) as vlanjin, fkiolin (violin) as vgiolin, hloros (fresh) as ghloros, athrobos (man) as adhrobos, and thkiaolos (devil) as dhgiaolos.
The Cypriot Academy’s approach to writing Cypriot is illustrated below in the Cypriot numbers one to ten:
1 – enas, enan, mia
2 – thkio
3 – dris, dria
4 – desseris, dessera
5 – bende
6 – exi
7 – efta
8 – ohto
9 – ennia
10 – dhega
For those who prefer to use the customary Greek alphabet to write Cypriot, the following modifications and simplifications are recommended by the Cypriot Academy:
• iota to replace eta, upsilon, epsilon-iota, omicron-iota, upsilon-iota
• omicron to replace omega
• epsilon to replace alpha-iota
• alpha-beta, epsilon-beta, iota-beta or alpha-phi, epsilon-phi, iota-phi, as appropriate, to replace alpha-upsilon, epsilon-upsilon, eta-upsilon
• double kappa, double pi, double tau to be used consistently to designate k, p, t sounds when lack of voicing needs to be made clear
• ’ (or other appropriate marking) to be used after zeta, xi, sigma, tau-zeta, tau-sigma, psi to designate the distinctive zh, ksh, sh, j, ch, psh sounds
In line with leading world languages, and to avoid cluttering the visual impact of the text, we further recommend omitting all stress and other accents in writing Cypriot, whether using the Latin or Greek alphabets.
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