STEPHAN PROCHÁZKA, Die arabischen Dialekte der Çukurova (Südtürkei), Semitica Viva 27 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002). Pp. 350. €49.00 paper

Extract

This thorough study deals with the dialects of the Arabic-speaking minority of Cilicia (Çukurova in southern Turkey), who live in some thirty localities. Before Procházka's fieldwork, Cilicia had been a dialectological terra incognita. The only information available consisted of some remarks on the dialect of Adana by O. Jastrow (ZAL 11, pp. 72–79). Procházka estimates the total number of Arabic speakers at about 70,000 (p. 12). They belong to different confessions—some 1,000 are Christians, 4,000–5,000 are Sunnis, both living in Mersin. The Christians claim origin from the Turkish province of Hatay, Syria, and Lebanon; the Sunnis claim origin from the Syrian coast. The most important group are the Alevites, a smaller group of them originating from Hatay. A list and maps of the Arabic-speaking localities are given (p. 4–9).