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Western Neo-Aramaic

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Western Neo-Aramaic
ܣܪܝܘܢ (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ)
siryōn (arōmay)
Pronunciation[sirˈjo:n]
Native toSyria
RegionBab ToumaDistrict,Damascus;Anti-Lebanon Mountains:Maaloula,BakhʽaandJubb'adin
EthnicityAramean (Syriac)[1][2]
Native speakers
30,000 (2023)[3]
Early forms
Dialects
  • Maalouli, Bakh'a, Jubb'adin
Maalouli square script[a]
Syriac Alpha bet (Serṭā)
Phoenician Alpha bet[b]
Arabic Alpha bet
Language codes
ISO 639-3amw
Glottologwest2763
ELPWestern Neo-Aramaic
This article containsIPAphonetic symbols.Without properrendering support,you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbolsinstead ofUnicodecharacters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.

Western Neo-Aramaic(ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ, arōmay), more commonly referred to asSiryon[4](ܣܪܝܘܢ, siryōn,"Syriac" ),[5][6][7]is a modernWestern Aramaic language.Today, it is spoken by Christian and MuslimArameans (Syriacs)[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]in only two villages –MaaloulaandJubb'adin,until theSyrian Civil Waralso inBakhʽa– in theAnti-Lebanon Mountainsof westernSyria.[15]Bakhʽa was completely destroyed during the war and all the survivors fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon.[16]Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to thelanguage ofJesus,whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, wasGalilean Aramaicbelonging to the Western branch as well; all other remainingNeo-Aramaic languagesare of theEasternbranch.[17]

Distribution and history[edit]

Western Neo-Aramaic is the sole surviving remnant of the once extensiveWestern Aramaic-speakingarea, which also included thePalestine regionandLebanonin the 7th century CE.[18]It is now spoken exclusively by the inhabitants ofMaaloulaandJubb'adin,about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast ofDamascus.The continuation of this little cluster of Aramaic in a sea ofArabicis partly due to the relative isolation of the villages and their close-knitChristianandMuslimcommunities.

Following theMuslim conquest of the Levant,there was a linguistic shift to Arabic for local Muslims and later for remaining Christians; Arabic displaced various Aramaic dialects, including Western Aramaic varieties, as thefirst languageof the majority. Despite this, Western Aramaic appears to have survived for a relatively long time at least in some remote mountain villages in Lebanon andAnti-Lebanon.In fact, up until the 17th century, travelers in Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages.[19]

In the last three villages, where the language still survives, the dialect of Bakhʽa appears to be the most conservative. It has been less influenced by Arabic than the other dialects and retains some vocabulary that is obsolete in other dialects. The dialect of Jubb'adin has changed the most. It is heavily influenced by Arabic and has a more developed phonology. The dialect of Maaloula is somewhere in between the two, but is closer to that of Jubb'adin.[citation needed]Cross-linguistic influence between Aramaic and Arabic has been mutual, as Syrian Arabic itself (andLevantine Arabicin general) retains an Aramaicsubstratum.[20]Similar to theEastern Neo-Aramaiclanguages, Western Neo-Aramaic is usingKurdishloanwords unlike otherWestern Aramaicdialects, e. g. in their negation structure:”Čūndōmex “meaning" I do not sleep “in the Maalouli dialect.[21][22]These influences might indicate an older historical connection between Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Aramaic speakers.[23]Other strong linguistic influences on Western Neo-Aramaic includeAkkadianduring theNeo-Babylonianperiod, e. g. the names of the months:āšbaṯ(Akk.šabāṯu,"February" ),ōḏar(Akk.ad(d)aru,"March" ),iyyar(Akk.ayyaru,"May" ) or agricultural terms such asnīra(Akk.nīru,"yoke"),sekkṯa(Akk.sikkatu,"plowshare"),senta(Akk.sendu,"to grind" ) ornbūba(Akk.enbūbu,"fruit" ).[24][25]

As in most of the Levant prior to the introduction ofIslamin the seventh century, the three villages were originally all Christian until the 18th century.[26][27]Maaloula is the only village that retains a sizeableMelkiteChristian population (they belong to theRūm Orthodox Church of AntiochandMelkite Greek Catholic Church) as most of the inhabitants of Bakhʽa and Jubb’adin converted to Islam over the generations and are now all Muslim. However, the first Muslims were not native converts, but MuslimArabfamilies fromHomswho were settled in the three Aramean (Syriac) villages during theOttoman erato monitor the Christian population.[28]Maaloula glows in the pale blue wash with which houses are painted every year in honor ofMary, mother of Jesus.[citation needed]

Historical accounts, as documented by theFrenchlinguistJean Parisotin 1898, suggest that the people of Maaloula and nearby areas claim to be descendants of migrants from theSinjarregion (modernIraq). According to their oral traditions, their ancestors embarked on a substantial migration in ancient times, driven by the challenges posed by theMuslim occupation of the northern part of Mesopotamia.Seeking refuge, they crossed theEuphrates Riverand traversed thePalmyrene desert,eventually finding a lasting sanctuary among Western Aramaic-speaking communities in thehighlands of eastern Syria.[c][29]In Maaloula and the surrounding villages, thesurname”Sinjar “(Aramaic:ܣܢܓܐܪ) is borne by some Christian and Muslim families.[30]

All three remaining Western Neo-Aramaic dialects are facing critical endangerment as living languages. As with any village community in the 21st century, young residents are migrating into major cities likeDamascusandAleppoin search of better employment opportunities, thus forcing them into monolingual Arabic-speaking settings, in turn straining the opportunity to actively maintain Western Neo-Aramaic as a language of daily use. Nevertheless, the Syrian government provides support for teaching the language.[31]

Unlike Classical Syriac, which has a rich literary tradition in Syriac-Aramaic script, Western Neo-Aramaic was solely passed down orally for generations until 2006 and was not utilized in a written form.[32]

Since 2006, Maaloula has been home to an Aramaic Language Institute established by theDamascus Universitythat teaches courses to keep the language alive. The institute's activities were suspended in 2010 amid concerns that the square Maalouli Aramaic Alpha bet, developed by the chairman of the Language Institute, George Rizkalla (Rezkallah), used in the program, closely resembled the square script of theHebrew Alpha bet.Consequently, all signs featuring the square Maalouli script were taken down.[33]The program stated that they would instead use the more distinctSyriac Aramaic Alpha bet,although use of theMaalouli square scripthas continued to some degree.[34]Al Jazeera Arabic also broadcast a program about Western Neo-Aramaic and the villages in which it is spoken with the square script still in use.[35]

In December 2016, during an Aramaic Singing Festival inMaaloula,a modified version of an older style of theAramaic Alpha betcloser to thePhoenician Alpha betwas used for Western Neo-Aramaic. This script seems to be used as a true Alpha bet with letters to represent both consonants and vowels instead of the traditional system of the Aramaic Alpha bet where it is used as anabjad.A recently published book about the Maalouli Aramaic dialect also uses this script.[36][37]

Aramaic Bible Translation (ABT) has spent over a decade translating theBibleinto Western Neo-Aramaic (Maalouli dialect) and recording audio for Portrait of Jesus. Rinyo, the Syriac language organization, has published ABT's content, developed by Kanusoft. On their website, theBook of PsalmsandPortrait of Jesusare available in Western Neo-Aramaic using the SyriacSertascript. Additionally, a translation of theNew Testamentinto Western Neo-Aramaic was completed in 2017 and is now accessible online.[38][39][40]

An electronicspeech corpusof the Western Neo-Aramaic dialect ofMaaloulahas been available online since 2022.[41][42]

Phonology[edit]

Thephonologyof Western Neo-Aramaic has developed quite differently from other Aramaic dialects/languages. Thelabial consonantsof older Western Aramaic,/p/and/f/,have been retained in Bakhʽa and Maaloula while they have mostly collapsed to/f/in Jubb'adin under influence from Arabic. The labial consonant pair/b~v/has collapsed to/b/in all three villages. Amongstdental consonants,the fricatives/θð/are retained while/d/have become/ð/in most places and/t/,while remaining a phoneme, has had its traditional position in Aramaic words replaced by/ts/in Bakhʽa, and/tʃ/in Maaloula and Jubb'adin. However,[ti]is the usual form for the relative particle in these two villages, with a variant[tʃi],where Bakhʽa always uses[tsi].Among thevelar consonants,the traditional voiced pair of/ɡɣ/has collapsed into/ɣ/,while /ɡ/ still remains a phoneme in some words. The unvoiced velar fricative,/x/,is retained, but its plosive complement/k/,while also remaining a distinct phoneme, has in its traditional positions in Aramaic words started to undergo palatalization. In Bakhʽa, the palatalization is hardly apparent; in Maaloula, it is more obvious, and often leads to[kʲ];in Jubb'adin, it has become/tʃ/,and has thus merged phonemically with the original positions of/t/.The original uvular plosive,/q/,has also moved forward in Western Neo-Aramaic. In Bakhʽa it has become a strongly post-velar plosive, and in Maaloula more lightly post-velar. In Jubb'adin, however, it has replaced the velar plosive, and become/k/.

Consonants[edit]

Labial Dental/Alveolar Palato-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal 		Glottal
plain emphatic
Nasal m n
Plosive p b t d tˤ (kʲ) k ɡ q ʔ
Affricate (ts) (tʃ dʒ)
Fricative f θ ð s z ðˤ sˤ zˤ ʃ (ʒ) x ɣ ħ ʕ h
Approximant w l j
Trill r

Vowels[edit]

Western Neo-Aramaic has the following set of vowels:[43]

Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Open-mid e o
Open a

Alphabet[edit]

Square Maalouli Alpha bet[edit]

Square Maalouli Alpha bet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[44]Words beginning with a vowel are written with an initial.Short vowels are omitted or written with diacritics, long vowels are transcribed with macrons (Āā, Ēē, Īī, Ōō, Ūū) and are written with mater lectionis (for /o/ and /u/,for /i/, which are also used at the end of a word if it ends with one of these vowels and if a word begins with any of these long vowels, they begin with+ the mater lectionis). Words ending with /a/ are written withat the end of the word, while words ending with /e/ are written withat the end. Sometimesis used both for finalandinstead of also using.

Maalouli letter:






Hebrew letter: א בּ ב גּ ג דּ ד ה ו ז ח ט י כּ ךּ כ ך ל מ ם נ ן ס ע פּ ףּ פ ף צ ץ ק ר שׁ תּ ת ת
Latin letter/Transliteration Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu
Āā, Ēē, Īī, Ōō, Ūū 		Bb Vv Gg Ġġ Dd Ḏḏ Hh Ww Zz Ḥḥ Ṭṭ Yy Kk H̱ẖ Ll Mm Nn Ss Ҁҁ Pp Ff Ṣṣ Qq Rr Šš Tt Ṯṯ Čč
Pronunciation ∅ /b/ /v/ /g/,/ʒ/ /ɣ/ /d/ /ð/ /h/ /w/ /z/ /ħ/ /tˤ/ /j/ /k/ /x/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /s/ /ʕ/ /p/ /f/ /sˤ/ /k/~/ḳ/ /r/ /ʃ/ /t/ /θ/ /tʃ/

Syriac and Arabic Alpha bet[edit]

Syriac (Serta) and Arabic Alpha bet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[45]

Syriac letter: ܐ‎ ܒ‎ ܒ݆‎ ܓ‎ ܔ‎ ܓ݂‎ ܕ‎ ܕ݂‎ ܗ‎ ܘ‎ ܙ‎ ܚ‎ ܚ݂‎ ܛ‎ ܜ‎ ܝ‎ ܟ‎ ܟ݂‎ ܠ‎ ܡ‎ ܢ‎ ܣ‎ ܥ‎ ܦ‎ ܨ‎ ܨ̇‎ ܩ‎ ܪ‎ ܫ‎ ܬ‎ ܬ݂‎ ܬ̤‎
Arabic letter: ا‎ ب‎ پ‎ گ‎ ج‎ غ‎ د‎ ذ‎ ه‎ و‎ ز‎ ح‎ خ‎ ط‎ ظ‎ ي‎ ک‎ خ‎ ل‎ م‎ ن‎ س‎ ع‎ ف‎ ص‎ ض‎ ق‎ ر‎ ش‎ ت‎ ث‎ چ‎
Pronunciation /ʔ/,∅ /b/ /p/ /g/ /dʒ/ /ɣ/ /d/ /ð/ /h/ /w/ /z/ /ħ/ /x/ /tˤ/ /dˤ/ /j/ /k/ /x/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /s/ /ʕ/ /f/ /sˤ/ /ðˤ/ /q/~/ḳ/ /r/ /ʃ/ /t/ /θ/ /tʃ/
Syriac letter: ܰ‎ ܶ‎ ܳ‎ ܺ‎ ܽ‎
Arabic letter: ـَ ـِ ـُ ي و
Pronunciation /a/ /e/ /o/ /i/ /u/

Alternate Aramaic Alpha bet[edit]

Characters of the script system similar to the Old Aramaic or Phoenician Alpha bet used occasionally for Western Neo-Aramaic with matching transliteration. The script is used as a true Alpha bet with distinct letters for all phonemes including vowels instead of the traditional abjad system with plosive-fricative pairs.[46][37]

Letter
Transliteration b ġ ḏ h w z ḥ ṭ y k x l m n s ʕ p f ṣ ḳ r š t ṯ č ž ᶄ ḏ̣ ẓ '
Pronunciation /b/ /ɣ/ /ð/ /h/ /w/ /z/ /ħ/ /tˤ/ /j/ /k/ /x/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /s/ /ʕ/ /p/ /f/ /sˤ/ /k/~/ḳ/ /r/ /ʃ/ /t/ /θ/ /tʃ/ /ʒ/ /kʲ/ /ðˤ/ /dˤ/ /ʔ/
Letter
Transliteration a ā e ē i ī o ō u ū ᵊ
Pronunciation /a/ /a:/ /e/ /e:/ /i/ /i:/ /o/ /o:/ /u/ /u:/ /ə/

Liturgical language and sample of Lord's Prayer[edit]

Lord's Prayer in Western Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo Neo-Aramaic, Classical Syriac (Eastern accent) and Hebrew.

There are various versions of the Lord's Prayer in Western Neo-Aramaic, incorporating altered loanwords from several languages, notably Arabic:Šēḏa(fromAkk.šēdu,meaning "evil" or "devil" ),[47]yiṯkan(fromAr.litakun,meaning "that it may be" or "to be" ),ġfurlēḥ&nġofrin(from Ar.yaghfir,meaning "to forgive" ) andčaġribyōṯa(from Ar.jareeb,meaning "temptation" ).[48]

Several decades ago, the Christian inhabitants of Maaloula began translating Christian prayers and texts into their vernacular Aramaic dialect, given that their actual liturgical languages are Arabic andKoine Greek.

Pastor Edward Robinson reported that his companion, Eli Smith, found several manuscripts in theSyriac languagein Maaloula in 1834, but no one could read or understand them.[49]Classical Syriac, the Aramaic dialect ofEdessa,was utilized as the liturgical language by local Syriac Melkite Christians following theByzantine rite.There was a compilation of Syriac manuscripts from the monasteries and churches of Maaloula. However, a notable portion of these manuscripts met destruction upon the directives of a bishop in the 19th century.[50][51][52][53]

Western Neo-Aramaic Turoyo Neo-Aramaic Classical Syriac(Eastern accent) Hebrew
Ōboḥ/Ōbay/Abūnaḥ ti bišmō/bišmoya yičqattaš ešmaẖ Abuna d-këtyo bišmayo miqadeš ešmoḵ Aḇūn d-ḇa-šmayyāʾ neṯqaddaš šmāḵ Avinu šebašamayim yitkadeš šimḵa
yṯēle molkaẖ/malkuṯaẖ yiṯkan ti čbaҁēleh g-dëṯyo i malkuṯayḏoḵ howe u ṣebyonayḏoḵ tēṯēʾ malkūṯāḵ nēhwēʾ ṣeḇyānāḵ tavo malḵutḵa, ya'aseh retsonẖa
iẖmel bišmō/bišmoya ẖet ҁalarҁa. ḵud d'kit bi šmayo hawḵa bi arҁo ste ʾaykannāʾ d-ḇa-šmayyāʾ ʾāp̄ b-ʾarʿāʾ. kevašamayim ken ba'arets.
Aplēḥ leḥmaḥ uẖẖil yōmaḥ Haw lan u laḥmo d-sniquṯayḏan adyawma Haḇ lan laḥmāʾ d-sūnqānan yawmānā Et leẖem ẖukenu ten lanu hayom
ġfurlēḥ ḥṭiyōṯaḥ eẖmil wa šbaq lan a-ḥṭohayḏan ḵud d-aḥna ste wa-šḇōq lan ḥawbayn wa-ḥṭāhayn uselaẖ lanu al ẖata'enu
nġofrin lti maḥiṭ ҁemmaynaḥ sbaq lan lanek laf elan ʾaykanāʾ d-āp̄ ḥnan šḇaqn l-ḥayāḇayn kefi šesolẖim gam anaẖnu laẖot'im lanu
wlōfaš ttaẖlennaḥ bčaġribyōṯa w lo maҁbret lan l'nesyuno w-lāʾ taʿlan l-nesyōnāʾ ve'al tavienu lide nisayon
bes ḥaslannaḥ m-šēḏa elo mfaṣay lan mu bišo ʾelāʾ paṣān men bīšāʾ ki im ẖaltsenu min hara

Miscellaneous words and sample phrases[54][55][edit]

English Western Neo-Aramaic
Hello/Peace šlōma
Altar server šammōša
Morning ṣofra
Mountain ṭūra
Water mōya
God alo (defined)/iloha (undefined)
Sun šimša
Mouth femma
Head rayša
Village qriṯa
I swear (by the Cross) bsliba
Nice ḥalya
Here/Here it is hōxa/hōxa hū
Liar daglōna
After bōṯar min
Son ebra
Daughter berča
Brother/Brothers ḥōna/ḥuno
Sister ḥōṯa
Donkey ḥmōra
Tongue/Language liššōna
Money kiršo
Nation omṯa
Year ešna
Moon ṣahra
King malka
Earth arʕa
Dove yawna
Long live! tiḥi!
Grave qabra
Food xōla
(Paternal) Uncle ḏōḏa
(Maternal) Uncle ḥōla
(Paternal) Aunt ʕamṯa
(Maternal) Aunt ḥōlča
Father ōbu
Mother emma
My mother emmay (lit. "my mothers", archaic phrase)
Grandfather žetta
Grandmother žičča
Way tarba
Ocean yamma
Congratulations! ibrex!
Aramean (Syriac) sūray
Sky šmōya/šmō
Who? mōn?
Love rḥmōṯa
Kiss nōšqṯa
How are you? ex čōb? (m)/ex čiba? (f)
Fast ṣawma
Human barnōša
Holy Spirit ruḥa qutšō
Poison samma
Sword seyfa
Bone ġerma
Blood eḏma
Half felka
Skin ġelta
Hunger xafna
Stone/Rock xefa
Vineyard xarma
Back ḥaṣṣa
Goat ʕezza
Lip sefta
Chin/Beard ḏeqna
Tooth/Crag šenna
Past zibnō
Queen malkṯa
The little man ġabrōna zʕōra
Peace to all of you šlōma lxulḥun
Who is this? mōn hanna? (m)/mōn hōḏ? (f)
I am Aramean (Syriac) and my language is Aramaic (Syriac) ana sūray w lišōni siryōn
We are Arameans (Syriacs) and our language is Aramaic (Syriac) anaḥ suroy w lišonaḥ siryōn
Church klēsya (Greekloanword)
Shirt qameṣča (fromlat."camisia" )
What's your name? (m) mō ušmax? (m)
Dream ḥelma
Old man sōba

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

Literature[edit]

  • Arnold, Werner:Das Neuwestaramäische(Western Neo-Aramaic), 5 volumes. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden (Semitica Viva4),
    • Volume 1:Texte aus Baxʿa(Texts from Baxʿa), 1989, ISBN 3-447-02949-8,
    • Volume 2:Texte aus Ğubbʿadīn(Texts from Ğubbʿadīn), 1990, ISBN 3-447-03051-8,
    • Volume 3:Volkskundliche Texte aus Maʿlūla(Texts of folk tradition from Maʿlūla), 1991, ISBN 3-447-03166-2,
    • Volume 4:Orale Literatur aus Maʿlūla(Oral Literature from Maʿlūla), 1991, ISBN 3-447-03173-5,
    • Volume 5:Grammatik(Grammar), 1990, ISBN 3-447-03099-2/
  • Arnold, Werner:Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen(A Manual to Western Neo-Aramaic), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-447-02910-2.
  • Wehbi, Rimon (2021)."Zwei neuwestaramäische Texte über die Wassermühlen in Maalula (Syrien)".Mediterranean Language Review.28:135–153.doi:10.13173/medilangrevi.28.2021.0135.S2CID245214675.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^It is a modified version of theHebrew Alpha betsince 2006, but its usage is declining.
  2. ^Since 2016, a rarely utilized, slightly modified version of the Old Phoenician Alpha bet has been used for Western Neo-Aramaic.
  3. ^The Anti-Lebanon mountains were geographically located in the eastern part of formerOttoman Syriain the year 1898, thus Jean Parisot wrote, "highlands of eastern Syria".

References[edit]

  1. ^Abū al-Faraj ʻIshsh.اثرنا في الايقليم السوري(in Arabic). Al-Maṭbaʻah al-Jadīdah. p. 56.السريان في معلولا وجبعدين ولا يزال الأهلون فيها يتكلمون
  2. ^iنصر الله، إلياس أنطون.إلياس أنطون نصر الله في معلولا(in Arabic). لينين. p. 45.... معلولا السريان منذ القديم ، والذين ثبتت سريانيتهم بأدلة كثيرة هم وعين التينة وبخعا وجبعدين فحافظوا على لغتهم وكتبهم أكثر من غيرهم. وكان للقوم في تلك الأيام لهجتان ، لهجة عاميّة وهي الباقية الآن في معلولا وجوارها ( جبعدين وبخعا )...
  3. ^Western Neo-AramaicatEthnologue(27th ed., 2024)Closed access icon
  4. ^Daniel King (12 December 2018).The Syriac World.Taylor & Francis.ISBN9781317482116.There are no significant differences in the dialect of Malula between the speech of Christians and Muslims. The native name is siryōn or arōmay.
  5. ^Jules Ferrette (1863).On a Neo-Syriac language still spoken in the Anti-Lebanon.Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. p. 433.I then requested them to translate for me the Lord's Prayer into Ma'lulan Syriac for me; but a universal outcry was raised from every side as to the exorbitant nature of my demand. Some of the priests affirmed, ex cathedra, that not only had the Lord's Prayer never been uttered in modern Syriac, but that to translate it would be a mere impossibility.
  6. ^Western Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of Jubaadin, p. 446
  7. ^Maaloula (XIXe-XXIe siècles). Du vieux avec du neuf, p. 95
  8. ^Rafik Schami(25 July 2011).Märchen aus Malula(in German). Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Company KG. p. 151.ISBN9783446239005.Ich kenne das Dorf nicht, doch gehört habe ich davon. Was ist mit Malula?‹ fragte der festgehaltene Derwisch. >Das letzte Dorf der Aramäer< lachte einer der…
  9. ^Yaron Matras; Jeanette Sakel (2007).Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective.De Gruyter. p. 185.doi:10.1515/9783110199192.ISBN9783110199192.The fact that nearly all Arabic loans in Ma'lula originate from the period before the change from the rural dialect to the city dialect of Damascus shows that the contact between the Aramaeans and the Arabs was intimate…
  10. ^Dr. Emna Labidi (2022).Untersuchungen zum Spracherwerb zweisprachiger Kinder im Aramäerdorf Dschubbadin (Syrien)(in German). LIT. p. 133.ISBN9783643152619.Aramäer von Ǧubbˁadīn
  11. ^Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold; P. Behnstedt (1993).Arabisch-aramäische Sprachbeziehungen im Qalamūn (Syrien)(in German). Harassowitz. p. 42.ISBN9783447033268.Die arabischen Dialekte der Aramäer
  12. ^Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold; P. Behnstedt (1993).Arabisch-aramäische Sprachbeziehungen im Qalamūn (Syrien)(in German). Harassowitz. p. 5.ISBN9783447033268.Die Kontakte zwischen den drei Aramäer-dörfern sind nicht besonders stark.
  13. ^Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold (2006).Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen(in German). Harrassowitz. p. 133.ISBN9783447053136.Aramäern in Ma'lūla
  14. ^Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold (2006).Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen(in German). Harrassowitz. p. 15.ISBN9783447053136.Viele Aramäer arbeiten heute in Damaskus, Beirut oder in den Golfstaaten und verbringen nur die Sommermonate im Dorf.
  15. ^"Brock Introduction"(PDF).meti.byu.edu.
  16. ^Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad (2020-01-26)."The Village of Bakh'a in Qalamoun: Interview".Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.Retrieved2024-02-06.
  17. ^"Easter Sunday: A Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ".Christian Science Monitor.2010-04-02.ISSN0882-7729.Retrieved2022-11-07.
  18. ^Jared Greenblatt (7 December 2010).The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amədya.Brill. p. 2.ISBN9789004192300.…. 7th century C.E. initiated the demise of the Aramaic language….
  19. ^Owens, Jonathan (2000).Arabic as a Minority Language.Walter de Gruyter. p. 347.ISBN3-11-016578-3.
  20. ^Studies in the Grammar and Lexicon of Neo-Aramaic by Geoffrey Khan, Paul M. Noorlander
  21. ^Studies in the Grammar and Lexicon of Neo-Aramaic, Geoffrey Khan, Paul M. Noorlander
  22. ^Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar - p. 464
  23. ^Brockelmann (GVG 1 §19)
  24. ^Akkadian influences on Aramaic (Assyriological Studies) by Kaufman, Stephan A.
  25. ^Folmer, Margaretha (11 March 2022).Elephantine Revisited.Penn State Press. p. 89.ISBN9781646022083.…especially since in the eighth century BCE an Akkadian influence had already exerted itself even on Aramaic in the west.…
  26. ^Shannon Dubenion-Smith; Joseph Salmons (15 August 2007).Historical Linguistics 2005.John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 247.ISBN9789027292162.…Western Neo-Aramaic (Spitaler 1938; Arnold 1990), which is attested in three villages whose speakers just a few generations ago were still entirely Christian.
  27. ^Wolfhart Heinrichs (14 August 2018).Studies in Neo-Aramaic.Brill. p. 11.ISBN9789004369535.The inhabitants of Bakh'a and Jubb'Adin are Muslims (since the eighteenth century), as is a large portion of the people of Ma'lula, while the rest have remained Christian, mostly of Melkite (Greek Catholic) persuasion. The retention of the "Christian" language after conversion to Islam is noteworthy.
  28. ^Studies in Islamic History and Civilization, p.308
  29. ^Parisot, Jean (1898a, "Le dialecte de Maʕlula. Grammaire, vocabulaire et textes.", p. 270): "D'áprès leurs traditions,ġaddan ʕan ġaddin,les habitants de ce village et des lieux avoisinants raient des émigrés du pays de Sendjar. Ils disent qu'à une époque ancienne, urs ancêtres voulant se soustraire aux vexations des musulmans qui avaient ivahi la partie septentrionale de la Mésopotamie, auraient traverse l'Euphrate le désert de la Palmyrène, pour se réfugier définitivement sur les hauts ateaux de la Syrie orientale, à trois cents lieues de leur pays d'origine. "
  30. ^Ma'ayeh, Suha Philip (2012-10-14)."Syria's Christians face uncertain future".The National.Retrieved2024-02-06.
  31. ^Sabar, Ariel (18 February 2013)."How To Save A Dying Language".Ankawa.Retrieved2 April2013.
  32. ^Oriens Christianus(in German). 2003. p. 77.As the villages are very small, located close to each other, and the three dialects are mutually intelligible, there has never been the creation of a script or a standard language. Aramaic is the unwritten village dialect...
  33. ^Maissun Melhem (21 January 2010)."Schriftenstreit in Syrien"(in German). Deutsche Welle.Retrieved15 November2023.Several years ago, the political leadership in Syria decided to establish an institute where Aramaic could be learned. Rizkalla was tasked with writing a textbook, primarily drawing upon his native language proficiency. For the script, he chose Hebrew letters.
  34. ^Beach, Alastair (2010-04-02)."Easter Sunday: A Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ".Christian Science Monitor.Retrieved2010-04-02.
  35. ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:"أرض تحكي لغة المسيح".YouTube.11 February 2016.
  36. ^"Aramaic singing festival in Maaloula for preserving Aramaic language – Syrian Arab News Agency".10 September 2016.
  37. ^abFrancis, Issam (10 June 2016).L'Arameen Parle A Maaloula – Issam Francis.Lulu.ISBN9781365174810.
  38. ^"Ma'luli".Aramaic Bible Translation.
  39. ^"Bible - Rinyo.org".rinyo.org.
  40. ^"Data"(PDF).scriptureearth.org.
  41. ^Eid, Ghattas; Seyffarth, Esther; Rihan, Emad; Arnold, Werner; Plag, Ingo (2022)."The Maaloula Aramaic Speech Corpus (MASC)".doi:10.5281/zenodo.6496714.
  42. ^Eid, Ghattas, Esther Seyffarth & Ingo Plag. 2022. The Maaloula Aramaic Speech Corpus (MASC): From printed material to a lemmatized and time-aligned corpus. In Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2022), 6513–6520. Marseille.http:// lrec-conf.org/proceedings/lrec2022/pdf/2022.lrec-1.699.pdf.
  43. ^Werner, Arnold (2011).Western Neo-Aramaic.In Stefan Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook: Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 685–696.
  44. ^"الأبجدية المربعة | PDF".
  45. ^New Testament in Western Neo-Aramaic (Serta/Arabic)
  46. ^"Tương Dương ngại tượng trang trí công trình công ty hữu hạn".aramia.net.
  47. ^"Search Entry".assyrianlanguages.org.Retrieved2024-02-06.
  48. ^Das Neuwestaramäische: Volkskundliche Texte aus Maʻlūla, p. 144
  49. ^Frédéric Pichon (27 September 2011).Maaloula (XIXe-XXIe siècles). Du vieux avec du neuf(in French). Presses de l’Ifpo. p. 95.ISBN9782351593196.…Eli Smith raconte son court séjour de 1834: "In our journey in 1834, instead of taking the direct road to Hums, we turned to the left, and ascended among the higher parts of the mountain. (...) We found Saidnaya with its nunnery, resembling a formidable fortress, situated high up on the third. From hence, we proceeded on the eastern side of this ridge to Maaloula, which is situated in a sublime glen at its foot. Beyond Maaloula, we crossed to the western side by a remarkable gap, and found Yebrud at its northern extremity. At Nebk we joined the ordinary road from Damascus to Hums. District of Maaloula. The three villages in this district, are remarkable for speaking still a corrupted Syriac. It is spoken equally by Muslims and Christians. I found among them many Syriac manuscripts; but they were unable to read or understand them. So far as I have been able to learn, after extensive and careful inquiry, Syriac is now spoken in no other places in Syria. The Syrians, i.e. Jacobites, and papal Syrians, mentioned in the lists as inhabiting other places, speak only Arabic."
  50. ^Bosworth; Van Donzel; Lewis; Pellat.THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM.Brill. p. 308.Since the Aramaic of Edessa was formerly the liturgical language of these Christians of Byzantine rite, a certain number of Syriac manuscripts from the monasteries and churches of Maʿ lūlā have come down to us, but most were burnt on the orders of a bishop in the 19th century.
  51. ^CLASSICAL SYRIAC.Gorgias Handbooks. p. 14.In contrast to "Nestorians" and "Jacobites", a small group of Syriacs accepted the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. Non-Chalcedonian Syriacs called them "Melkites" (from Aramaic malka "king" ), thereby connecting them to the Byzantine Emperor's denomination. Melkite Syriacs were mostly concentrated around Antioch and adjacent regions of northern Syria and used Syriac as their literary and liturgical language. The Melkite community also included the Aramaic-speaking Jewish converts to Christianity in Palestine and the Orthodox Christians of Transjordan. During the 5th-6th centuries, they were engaged in literary work (mainly translation) in Palestinian Christian Aramaic, a Western Aramaic dialect, using a script closely resembling the Estrangela cursive of Osrhoene.
  52. ^"The west Syriac tradition covers the Syriac Orthodox, Maronite, and Melkite churches, though the Melkites changed their Church's rite to that of Constantinople in the 9th-11th centuries, which required new translations of all its liturgical books.", quote from the book The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, p.917
  53. ^Arman Akopian (11 December 2017). "Other branches of Syriac Christianity: Melkites and Maronites".Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies.Gorgias Press. p. 573.ISBN9781463238933.The main center of Aramaic-speaking Melkites was Palestine. During the 5th-6th centuries, they were engaged in literary, mainly translation work in the local Western Aramaic dialect, known as "Palestinian Christian Aramaic", using a script closely resembling the cursive Estrangela of Osrhoene. Palestinian Melkites were mostlyJewishconverts to Christianity, who had a long tradition of using Palestinian Aramaic dialects as literary languages. Closely associated with the Palestinian Melkites were the Melkites of Transjordan, who also used Palestinian Christian Aramaic. Another community of Aramaic-speaking Melkites existed in the vicinity of Antioch and parts of Syria. These Melkites used Classical Syriac as a written language, the common literary language of the overwhelming majority of Christian Arameans.
  54. ^Das Neuwestaramäische Wörterbuch: Neuwestaramäisch von Werner Arnold, The Western Neo-Aramaic Dictionary: Western Neo-Aramaic by Werner Arnold
  55. ^Western Neo-Aramaic Vocabulary by Lambert Jungmann

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External links[edit]

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