1.1 Area and range

The Arabic dialects of Cilicia (Southern Turkey) are spoken in the three large cities of the Cilician Plain (Çukurova), namely Adana, Tarsus, and Mersin, as well as in about 25 villages situated to the south of these towns (see map). The total number of an estimated 70,000 Arabic speakers comprises three communities who differ in both religion and dialect: 66,500 Nusayri-Alawis, 4,000 Sunnis and 1,000 Christians (the latter two groups found only in Mersin). Cilician Arabic is i…