Kurbetcha (or Gurbetcha) is a

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

with what appears to be predominantly

Domari language Domari is an endangered Indo-Aryan language, spoken by Dom people scattered across the Middle East and North Africa. The language is reported to be spoken as far north as Azerbaijan and as far south as central Sudan, in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pales ...

vocabulary and

Cypriot Turkish Cypriot Turkish (''Kıbrıs Türkçesi'') is a dialect of the Turkish language spoken by Turkish Cypriots both in Cyprus and among its diaspora. History Emanating from Anatolia and evolved for four centuries, Cypriot Turkish is the vernacular s ...

grammar, spoken by the ''

Gurbeti Gurbeti (also Kurbet or Kurbat) are a sub-group of the Romani people living in Cyprus and North Cyprus, Turkey, Crimea, Albania, Serbia and former Yugoslavia whose members are Eastern Orthodox and predominantly Muslim Roma. The Gurbeti make up a ...

'' of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and

North Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Recog ...

. The Gurbetler have traditionally also spoken

. They Gurbetler of Ottoman Cyprus, are of mixed Ancestry. Muslim

Dom people The Dom (also called Domi; ar, دومي / ALA-LC: ', / , Ḍom / or , or sometimes also called Doms) are descendants of the Dom (caste), Dom with origins in the Indian subcontinent which through ancient migrations are found scattered across ...

from Ottoman Syria, settled there after

Siege of Famagusta The siege of Famagusta happened in Venetian-controlled Famagusta, the last Christian possession in Cyprus. Famagusta fell to the Ottomans in August 1571 after a siege that lasted nearly a year. Background The large and wealthy island of C ...

. Some of them were settled at the end of the 17th century in Ottoman Balkan. The majority settled in the

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

after 1974. The language is not protected by the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, th ...

, unlike

Cypriot Maronite Arabic Cypriot Arabic ( ar, العربية القبرصية), also known as Cypriot Maronite Arabic or Sanna, is a moribund variety of Arabic spoken by the Maronite community of Cyprus. Formerly speakers were mostly situated in Kormakitis, but follow ...

and Armenian. Kurbetcha has been very little studied. A recent dissertation on its linguistics was done by Chryso Pelekani. Children are not learning the language; it has been supplanted by Turkish in the north and Greek in the south.

References

Languages of Cyprus Romani in Cyprus {{pidgincreole-lang-stub

See also

References