English in Northern Cyprus: A sociolinguistic profile

Abstract

Much has been written and said about the roles, functions, and status of English and its diverse implications in local contexts and for people therein. However, Northern Cyprus stands out as a ‘blind spot’ as it is often annexed in studies related to Turkey or diluted within discussions focusing on Cyprus – which collectively leads to limited, partial, and tangential accounts of the complexities embedded in the local context. Departing from this premise, the current paper offers a comprehensive sociolinguistic profile of English in Northern Cyprus. More specifically, it portrays a historical account of the sociolinguistic situation with present‐day connections to statuses, roles, attitudes, functions, domains, policies, and practices in the local context. It is concluded that as the island morphed first into a postcolonial context and later into a partitioned sociopolitical entity, the linguacultural hegemony of English remained in Turkish Cypriots’ linguistic repertoires, collective psyche, and educational curricula.