Hebrew Language - Jewish Languages - Judeo-Aramaic
Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used
to describe several Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages.
These include:
* Bijil Neo-Aramaic — originally spoken around Bijil in Iraqi Kurdistan.
* Hulaula language — originally spoken in Iranian Kurdistan.
* Lishana Deni — originally spoken around Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan.
* Lishan Didan — originally spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan.
* Lishanid Noshan — originally spoken around Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Aramaic:
Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the
language of administration of empires and the language of divine
worship. It is the original language of large sections of the biblical
books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud.
Aramaic is believed to have been the language spoken by Jesus, and it is
still spoken today as a first language by numerous small communities.
Aramaic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. Within that diverse
family, it belongs to the Semitic subfamily. Aramaic is a part of the
Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes the Canaanite
languages (including Hebrew).
Geographic distribution
During the twelfth century BCE, Aramaeans, the native speakers of
Aramaic, began to settle in great numbers in modern-day Syria, Iraq and
eastern Turkey. As the language grew in importance, it came to be spoken
throughout the Mediterranean coastal area of the Levant, and spread east
of the Tigris. Jewish settlers took the language with them into north
Africa and Europe, and Christian missionaries brought Aramaic into
Persia, India and even China. From the seventh century CE onwards,
Aramaic was replaced as the lingua franca of the Middle East by Arabic.
However, Aramaic remains a literary and liturgical language among Jews,
Mandaeans and some Christians, and is still spoken by small isolated
communities throughout its original area of influence. The turbulence of
the last two centuries has seen speakers of first-language and literary
Aramaic dispersed throughout the world.
Aramaic languages and dialects
Aramaic is really a group of related languages, rather than a single
monolithic language. The long history of Aramaic, its extensive
literature and its use by different religious communities are all
factors in the diversification of the language. Some Aramaic dialects
are mutually intelligible, whereas others are not. Some Aramaic
languages are known under different names; for example, Syriac is
particularly used to describe the Eastern Aramaic of Christian
communities. Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern"' or
"Western," the dividing line being roughly the Euphrates, or slightly
west of it. It is also helpful to draw a distinction between those
Aramaic languages that are modern living languages (often called
Neo-Aramaic), those that are still in use as literary languages, and
those that are extinct and are only of interest to scholars. Although
there are some exceptions to this rule, this classification gives
"Modern," "Middle" and "Old" periods, alongside "Eastern" and "Western"
areas, to distinguish between the various languages and dialects that
are Aramaic.
Writing system
The earliest Aramaic alphabet was based on the Phoenician script. In
time, Aramaic developed its distinctive 'square' style. The ancient
Israelites and other peoples of Canaan adopted this alphabet for writing
their own languages. Thus, it is better known as the Hebrew alphabet
today. This is the writing system used in Biblical Aramaic and other
Jewish writing in Aramaic.
The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by
Christian communities: a cursive form known as the Syriac alphabet (one
of the varieties of the Syriac alphabet, Serto, is shown to the left).
A highly modified form of the Aramaic alphabet, the Mandaic alphabet, is
used by the Mandaeans.
In addition to these writing systems, certain derivatives of the Aramaic
alphabet were used in ancient times by particular groups: Nabataean in
Petra, for instance, or Palmyrenean in Palmyra. In modern times, Turoyo
(see below) has sometimes been written in an adapted Latin alphabet.
History
Here follows a comprehensive history of Aramaic. The history is broken
down into three broad periods:
* Old Aramaic (1100 BCE–200 CE), including:
o The Biblical Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible.
o The Aramaic of Jesus.
o The Aramaic of the Targums.
* Middle Aramaic (200–1200), including:
o Literary Syriac.
o The Aramaic of the Talmuds and Midrashim.
* Modern Aramaic (1200–present), including:
o Various modern vernaculars.
This classification is based on that used by Klaus Beyer*.
Old Aramaic
Old Aramaic covers over thirteen centuries of the language. This vast
time span is chosen as it includes all Aramaic that is now effectively
extinct. The main turning point for Old Aramaic is around 500 BCE, when
the Ancient Aramaic (the language of Aramaeans) moves into Imperial
Aramaic (the language of powerful empires). The various spoken dialects
of Old Aramaic come to prominence when Greek replaces Aramaic as the
language of power in the region.
Ancient Aramaic
Ancient Aramaic refers to the Aramaic of the Aramaeans from its origin
until it becomes the official 'lingua franca' of the Fertile Crescent.
It is the language of the city-states of Damascus, Hamath and Arpad.
Early Ancient Aramaic
There are quite extensive inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of
the language, dating from the tenth century BCE. These inscriptions are
mostly diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states. The
orthography of Aramaic at this early period seems to be based on
Phoenician, and there is a unity in the written language. It seems that,
in time, a more refined orthography, suited to the needs of the
language, began to develop from this in the eastern regions of Aram.
Oddly, the dominance of Assyrian Empire of Tiglath-Pileser III over Aram
in the middle of the eighth century led to the establishment of Aramaic
as a lingua franca.
Late Ancient Aramaic
From 700 BCE, the language began to spread in all directions, but lost
much of its homogeneity. Different dialects began to emerge in
Mesopotamia, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. However, the Akkadian-influenced
Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore. As
described in 2 Kings 18:26, Hezekiah, king of Judah, negotiates with
Assyrian ambassadors in Aramaic so that the common people would not
understand. Around 600 BCE, Adon, a Canaanite king, uses Aramaic to
write to the Egyptian Pharaoh.
'Chaldee' or 'Chaldean Aramaic' used to be common terms for the Aramaic
of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylonia. It was used to describe Biblical
Aramaic, which was, however, written in a later style. It is not to be
confused with the modern language Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.
Imperial Aramaic
Around 500 BCE, Darius I made Aramaic the official language of the
western half of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The bureaucrats in
Babylon were already using the local dialect of Eastern Aramaic for most
of their work, but Darius's edict put Aramaic on firm, united
foundations. The new, Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised; its
orthography was based more on historical roots than any spoken dialect,
and the inevitable influence of Persian gave the language a new clarity
and robust flexibility. Imperial Aramaic is sometimes called Official
Aramaic or Biblical Aramaic. For centuries after the fall of the
Achaemenid Empire (in 331 BCE), Imperial Aramaic as prescribed by
Darius, or near enough for it to be recognisable, remained the dominant
language of the region.
'Achaemenid Aramaic' is used to describe the Imperial Aramaic of the
Achaemenid Empire. This period of Aramaic is usually dated from the
proclamation of Darius (c. 500 BCE) to about a century after the fall of
the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE. Many of the extant documents
witnessing to this form of Aramaic come from Egypt, and Elephantine in
particular. Of them, the most well known is the 'Wisdom of Ahiqar', a
book of instructive aphorisms quite similar in style to the biblical
book of Proverbs. Achaemenid Aramaic is sufficiently uniform that it is
often difficult to know where any particular example of the language was
written. Only careful examination reveals the occasional loan word from
a local language.
Post-Achaemenid Aramaic
The conquest by Alexander the Great did not destroy the unity of Aramaic
language and literature immediately. Aramaic that bears a relatively
close resemblance to that of the fifth century BCE can be found right up
to the early second century. The Seleucids imposed Greek in the
administration of Syria and Mesopotamia from the start of their rule. In
the third century, Greek overtook Aramaic as the common language in
Egypt and northern Palestine. However, a post-Achaemenid Aramaic
continued to flourish from Judaea, through the Syrian Desert, and into
Arabia and Parthia. This continuation of Imperial Aramaic was a
subversive, anti-Hellenistic statement of independence.
Biblical Aramaic is the Aramaic found in four discrete sections of the
Hebrew Bible:
* Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26 — documents from the Achaemenid period
(fourth century BCE) concerning the restoration of the temple in
Jerusalem.
* Daniel 2:4b–7:28 — five subversive tales and an apocalyptic vision.
* Jeremiah 10:11 — a single sentence in the middle of a Hebrew text
denouncing idolatry.
* Genesis 31:47 — translation of a Hebrew place-name.
Biblical Aramaic is a somewhat hybrid dialect. Some Biblical Aramaic
material probably originated in both Babylonia and Judaea before the
fall of the Achaemenid dynasty. During Seleucid rule, defiant Jewish
propaganda shaped Aramaic Daniel. These stories probably existed as oral
traditions at their earliest stage. This might be one factor that led to
differing collections of Daniel in the Greek Septuagint and the
Masoretic Text, which presents a lightly Hebrew-influenced Aramaic.
Under the category of post-Achaemenid is Hasmonaean Aramaic, the
official language of Hasmonaean Judaea (142–37 BCE). It influenced the
Biblical Aramaic of the Qumran texts, and was the main language of
non-biblical theological texts of that community. The major Targums,
translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed
in Hasmonaean. Hasmonaean also appears in quotations in the Mishnah and
Tosefta, although smoothed into its later context. It is written quite
differently from Achaemenid Aramaic; there is an emphasis on writing as
words are pronounced rather than using etymological forms.
Babylonian Targumic is the later post-Achaemenid dialect found in the
Targum Onqelos and Targum Jonathan, the 'official' targums. The
original, Hasmonaean targum had reached Babylon sometime in the second
or third centuries CE. They were then reworked according to the
contemporary, dialect of Babylon to create the language of the standard
targums. This combination formed the basis of Babylonian Jewish
literature for centuries to follow.
Galilean Targumic is similar to Babylonian Targumic. It is the mixing of
literary Hasmonaean with the dialect of Galilee. The Hasmonaean targum
reached Galilee in the second century CE, and were reworked into this
Galilean dialect for local use. The Galilean Targum was never considered
an authoritative work, and documentary evidence shows that its text was
amended wherever and whenever 'improvement' was needed. From the
eleventh century CE onwards, once the Babylonian Targum had become
normative, the Galilean version became heavily influenced by it.
Babylonian Documentary Aramaic is a dialect in use from the third
century CE onwards. It is the dialect of Babylonian private documents,
and, from the twelfth century, all Jewish private documents in Aramaic.
It is based on Hasmonaean with very few changes. This was perhaps due to
the fact that many of the documents in BDA are legal documents, the
language in them had to be sensible throughout the Jewish community from
the start, and Hasmonaean was the old standard.
Nabataean Aramaic is the language of the Arab kingdom of Petra. The
kingdom (c. 200 BCE–106 CE covered the east bank of the Jordan River,
the Sinai Peninsula and northern Arabia. Perhaps because of the
importance of the caravan trade, the Nabataeans began to use Aramaic in
preference to Old North Arabic. The dialect is based on Achaemenid with
a little influence from Arabic: 'l' is often turned into 'n', and there
are a few Arabic loan words. Some Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions exist
from the early days of the kingdom, but most are from the first four
centuries CE. The language is written in a cursive script that is the
precursor to the modern Arabic alphabet. The number of Arabic loan words
increases through the centuries, until, in the fourth century, Nabataean
merges seamlessly with Arabic.
Palmyrene Aramaic is the dialect that was in use in the city of Palmyra
in the Syrian Desert from 44 BCE to 274 CE. It was written in a rounded
script, which later gave way to cursive Estrangela. Like Nabataean,
Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a lesser degree.
Arsacid Aramaic was the official language of the Parthian Empire (247
BCE–224 CE). It, more than any other post-Achaemenid dialect, continues
the tradition of Darius I. Over time, however, it came under the
influence of contemporary, spoken Aramaic, Georgian and Persian. After
the conquest of the Parthians by the Persian-speaking Sassanids, Arsacid
exerted considerable influence on the new official language.
Late Old Eastern Aramaic
The dialects mentioned in the last section were all descended from
Achaemenid Imperial Aramaic. However, the diverse regional dialects of
Late Ancient Aramaic continued alongside these, often as simple, spoken
languages. Early evidence for these spoken dialects is known only
through their influence on words and names in a more standard dialect.
However, these regional dialects became written languages in the second
century BCE. These dialects reflect a stream of Aramaic that is not
dependent on Imperial Aramaic, and shows a clear division between the
regions of Mesopotamia, Babylon and the east, and Palestine and the
west.
In the east, the dialects of Palmyrene and Arsacid Aramaic merged with
the regional languages to create languages with a foot in Imperial and a
foot in regional Aramaic. Much later, Arsacid became the liturgical
language of the Mandaean religion, Mandaic.
In the kingdom of Osrhoene, centred on Edessa and founded in 132 BCE,
the regional dialect became the official language: Old Syriac. On the
upper reaches of the Tigris, East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with
evidence from Hatra, Assur and the Tur Abdin. Tatian, the author of the
gospel harmony the Diatessaron came from Assyria, and perhaps wrote his
work (172 CE) in East Mesopotamian rather than Syriac or Greek. In
Babylonia, the regional dialect was used by the Jewish community, Jewish
Old Babylonian (from c. 70 CE). This everyday language increasingly came
under the influence of Biblical Aramaic and Babylonian Targumic.
Late Old Western Aramaic
The western regional dialects of Aramaic followed a similar course to
those of the east. They are quite distinct from the eastern dialects and
Imperial Aramaic. The Semitic languages of Palestine gave way to Aramaic
during fourth century BCE; Phoenician, however, continued into the first
century BCE.
The form of Late Old Western Aramaic used by the Jewish community is
best attested, and is usually referred to as Jewish Old Palestinian. Its
oldest form is Old East Jordanian, which probably comes from the region
of Caesarea Philippi. This is the language of the oldest manuscript of
Enoch (c. 170 BCE). The next distinct phase of the language is called
Old Judaean (into the second century CE). Old Judaean literature can be
found in various inscriptions and personal letters, preserved quotations
in the Talmud and receipts from Qumran. Josephus' first, non-extant
edition of his Jewish War was written in Old Judaean.
The Old East Jordanian dialect continued to be used into the first
century CE by pagan communities living to the east of the Jordan. Their
dialect is often then called Pagan Old Palestinian, and it was written
in a cursive script somewhat similar to that used for Old Syriac. A
Christian Old Palestinian dialect may have arisen from the pagan one,
and this dialect may be behind some of the Western Aramaic tendencies
found in the otherwise eastern Old Syriac gospels (see Peshitta).
The spoken dialects of Jesus' time
Seven dialects of Western Aramaic were spoken in Jesus' time. They were
probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judaean was the
prominent dialect of Jerusalem and Judaea. The region of Engedi had the
South-east Judaean dialect. Samaria had its distinctive Samaritan
Aramaic, where the consonants 'he', 'heth' and '`ayin' all became
pronounced as 'aleph'. Galilean Aramaic, the language of Jesus' home
region, is only known from a few place names, the influences on Galilean
Targumic, some rabbinic literature and a few private letters. It seems
to have a number of distinctive features: diphthongs are never
simplified into monophthongs. East of the Jordan, the various dialects
of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region of Damascus and the
Anti-Lebanon, Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern
Western Aramaic). Finally, as far north as Aleppo, the western dialect
of Orontes Aramaic was spoken.
Besides these dialects of Aramaic, Greek was used extensively in urban
centres. There is little evidence for the use of Hebrew during this
period. Some Hebrew words continued as part of Jewish Aramaic vocabulary
(mostly technical religious words, but also some everyday words like
`ēṣ, tree), and the written language of the Tanakh was read and
understood by the educated classes. However, the Hebrew language had
ceased to be the language of everyday life. In addition, the various
words in the Greek context of the New Testament that are untranslated
are clearly Aramaic rather than Hebrew. From the little evidence there
is, this Aramaic is not Galilean Aramaic but Old Judaean. This suggests
that the words of Jesus were transmitted in the dialect of Judaea and
Jerusalem rather than that of his hometown.
The 2004 film The Passion of the Christ is notable for its use of much
dialogue in an Aramaic specially reconstructed by a lone scholar,
William Fulco. However, modern Aramaic speakers found the language
stilted and unfamiliar.
Middle Aramaic
The third century CE is taken as the threshold between Old and Middle
Aramaic. During that century, the nature of the various Aramaic
languages and dialects begins to change. The descendents of Imperial
Aramaic ceased to be living languages, and the eastern and western
regional languages began to form vital, new literatures. Unlike many of
the dialects of Old Aramaic, much is known about the vocabulary and
grammar of Middle Aramaic.
Eastern Middle Aramaic
Only two of the Old Eastern Aramaic languages continued into this
period. In the north of the region, Old Syriac moved into Middle Syriac.
In the south, Jewish Old Babylonian became Jewish Middle Babylonian. The
post-Achaemenid, Arsacid dialect became the background of the new
Mandaic language.
Middle Syriac
See Syriac language for more information.
Middle Syriac is the classical, literary and liturgical language of
Syriac Christians to this day. Its golden age was the fourth to sixth
centuries. This period began with the translation of the Bible into the
language: the Peshitta and the masterful prose and poetry of Ephrem the
Syrian. Middle Syriac, unlike its forebear, is a thoroughly Christian
language, although in time it became the language of those opposed to
the Byzantine leadership of the church in the east. Missionary activity
led to the spread of Syriac through Persia and into India and China.
(audio) Abun dbashmayo (info)
The Lord's Prayer, Abun dbashmayo, sung in Syriac
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
Jewish Middle Babylonian Aramaic
Jewish Middle Babylonian is the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which
was completed in the seventh century). Although it is the main language
of the Talmud, in its setting, many works in (reconstructed) Hebrew and
earlier dialects of Aramaic are carefully marshalled. Jewish Middle
Babylonian is also the language behind the Babylonian system of pointing
(marking of vowels in an otherwise mainly consonantal text) of the
Hebrew Bible and its Targum.
Mandaic
See Mandaic language for more information.
Mandaic is essentially the same language as Middle Babylonian in a
different script. The earliest Mandaean literature is in Arsacid
Aramaic. From 224 CE, Mandaean writings were increasingly put in the
more colloquial Middle Babylonian, or Mandaic.
Western Middle Aramaic
The dialects of Old Western Aramaic continued with Jewish Middle
Palestinian (in Hebrew 'square script'), Samaritan Aramaic (in the old
Hebrew script) and Christian Palestinian (in cursive Syriac script). Of
these three, only Jewish Middle Palestinian continued as a written
language.
Jewish Middle Palestinian Aramaic
In 135, after Bar Kokhba's revolt, many Jewish leaders, expelled from
Jerusalem, moved to Galilee. The Galilean dialect thus rose from
obscurity to become the standard among Jews in the west. This dialect
was spoken not only in Galilee, but also in the surrounding parts. It is
the linguistic setting for the Palestinian Talmud (completed in the
fifth century) and midrashim (biblical commentaries and teaching). The
modern standard of vowel pointing for the Hebrew Bible, the Tiberian
system (tenth century), was most probably based on the pronunciation of
the Galilean dialect of Jewish Middle Palestinian. The inscription in
the synagogue at Dura-Europos are either in Middle East Jordanian or
Middle Judaean.
Middle Judaean, the descendent of Old Judaean, is no longer the dominant
dialect, and was used only in southern Judaea (the variant Engedi
dialect continued throughout this period). Likewise, Middle East
Jordanian continues as a minor dialect from Old East Jordanian.
Samaritan Aramaic
The Aramaic dialect of the Samaritan community is earliest attested by a
documentary tradition that can be dated back to the fourth century. Its
modern pronunciation is based on the form used in the tenth century.
Christian Palestinian Aramaic
The language of Western-Aramaic-speaking Christians is evidenced from
the sixth century, but probably existed two centuries earlier. The
language itself comes from Christian Old Palestinian, but its writing
conventions were based on early Middle Syriac, and it was heavily
influenced by Greek. The name Jesus, although Yešû` in Aramaic, is
written Yesûs in Christian Palestinian.
Modern Aramaic
Over four hundred thousand people speak Aramaic to this day. They are
Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Mandaeans, living in remote areas and
preserving their traditions with printing presses, and now electronic
media. The Modern Aramaic (or Neo-Aramaic) languages are now farther
apart in their comprehension of one another than perhaps they have ever
been. The last two-hundred years have not been good to Aramaic speakers.
Instability throughout the Middle East has lead to a worldwide diaspora
of Aramaic speakers. The year 1915 is especially prominent for
Aramaic-speaking Christians: called Shaypā, or the Sword, many Christian
groups living in eastern Turkey were the subject of the persecutions
that marked the end of the Ottoman Empire. For Aramaic-speaking Jews
1950 is a watershed year: the newly founded state of Israel led most
Aramaic-speaking Jews to emigrate there. However, removal to Israel has
led to Jewish Neo-Aramaic being swamped in a sea of Modern Hebrew, and
the practical extinction of many Jewish dialects is imminent.
Modern Eastern Aramaic
Modern Eastern Aramaic exists in a wide variety of dialects and
languages. There is significant difference between the Aramaic spoken by
Jews, Christians and Mandaeans.
The Christian languages are often called Modern Syriac (or Neo-Syriac,
particularly when referring to their literature), being deeply
influenced by the literary and liturgical language of Middle Syriac.
However, they also have roots in numerous, previously unwritten, local
Aramaic dialects, and are not purely the direct descendants of the
language of Ephrem the Syrian.
Modern Western Syriac (also called Central Neo-Aramaic, being in between
Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Neo-Syriac) is generally represented by
Turoyo, the language of the Tur Abdin. A related language, Mlahsö, has
recently become extinct.
The eastern Christian languages (Modern Eastern Syriac or Eastern
Neo-Aramaic) are often called Sureth or Suret, from a native name. They
are also sometimes called Assyrian or Chaldean, but these names are not
accepted by all speakers. The dialects are not all mutually
intelligible. East Syriac communities are usually either Chaldean
Catholics or Assyrians.
The Jewish Modern Aramaic languages are now mostly spoken in Israel, and
most are facing extinction (older speakers are not passing the language
to younger generations). The Jewish dialects that have come from
communities that once lived between Lake Urmia and Mosul are not all
mutually intelligible. In some places, for example Urmia, Christians and
Jews speak unintelligible dialects of Modern Eastern Aramaic in the same
place. In others, the plain of Mosul for example, the dialects of the
two faith communities are similar enough to allow conversation.
A few Mandaeans living in the province of Khuzestan in Iran speak Modern
Mandaic. It is quite distinct from any other Aramaic dialect.
Modern Western Aramaic
Very little remains of Western Aramaic. It is still spoken in the
Christian village of Ma`loula in Syria and the Muslim villages of Bakh`a
and Jubb`adin in Syria's Anti-Lebanon, as well as by some people who
migrated from these villages to Damascus and other larger towns of
Syria. All these speakers of Modern Western Aramaic are fluent in
Arabic, which has now become the main language in these villages.
Sounds
Each dialect of Aramaic has its own distinctive pronunciation, and it
would not be possible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has
a phonological palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. In general, older
dialects tended to have a richer phonology than more modern ones. In
particular, some modern Jewish Aramaic pronunciations lack the series of
'emphatic' consonants. Other dialects have borrowed from the inventories
of surrounding languages, particularly Arabic, Azeri, Kurdish, Persian
and Turkish.
Vowels
As with most Semitic languages, Aramaic can be thought of as having
three basic sets of vowels:
* Open a-vowels
* Close front i-vowels
* Close back u-vowels
These vowel groups are relatively stable, but the exact articulation of
any individual is most dependent on its consonantal setting.
The cardinal open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel ('short'
a, like the first vowel in the English 'batter', IPA: /a/). It usually
has a back counterpart ('long' a, like the a in 'father', IPA: /ɑ/, or
even tending to the vowel in 'caught', IPA: /ɔ/), and a front
counterpart ('short' e, like the vowel in 'head', IPA: /ɛ/). There is
much correspondence between these vowels between dialects. There is some
evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the
short a and short e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle
Galilean, the long a became the o sound. The open e and back a are often
indicated in writing by the use of the letters 'alaph' (a glottal stop)
or 'he' (like the English h).
The cardinal close front vowel is the 'long' i (like the vowel in
'need', IPA: /i/). It has a slightly more open counterpart, the 'long'
e, as in the final vowel of 'café' (IPA: /e/). Both of these have
shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced slightly more open.
Thus, the short close e corresponds with the open e in some dialects.
The close front vowels usually use the consonant y as a mater lectionis.
The cardinal close back vowel is the 'long' u (like the vowel in
'school', IPA: /u/). It has a more open counterpart, the 'long' o, like
the vowel in 'low' (IPA: /o/). There are shorter, and thus more open,
counterparts to each of these, with the short close o sometimes
corresponding with the long open a. The close back vowels often use the
consonant w to indicate their quality.
Two basic diphthongs exist: an open vowel followed by y (ay), and an
open vowel followed by w (aw). These were originally full diphthongs,
but many dialects have converted them to e and o respectively.
The so-called 'emphatic' consonants (see the next section) cause all
vowels to become mid-centralised.
Consonants
The various alphabets used for writing Aramaic languages have twenty-two
letters (all of which are consonants). Some of these letters, though,
can stand for two or three different sounds (usually a plosive and a
fricative at the same point of articulation). Aramaic classically uses a
series of lightly contrasted plosives and fricatives:
* Labial set: p/f and b/v,
* Dental set: t/θ and d/ð,
* Velar set: k/x and g/ɣ.
Each member of a certain pair is written with the same letter of the
alphabet in most writing systems (that is, p and f are written with the
same letter), and are near allophones.
A distinguishing feature of Aramaic phonology (and that of Semitic
languages in general) is the presence of 'emphatic' consonants. These
are consonants that are pronounced with the root of the tongue
retracted, with varying degrees of pharyngealization and velarisation.
Using their alphabetic names, these emphatics are:
* 'Heth', a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, IPA: /ħ/ (like the sound
made breathing on glass),
* 'Teth', a pharyngealized t, IPA: /tˁ/,
* 'Ayn', a pharyngealized glottal stop (sometimes considered to be a
voiced pharyngeal fricative), IPA: /ʕ/ or /ʔˁ,
* 'Sadhe', a pharyngealized s, IPA: /sˁ/,
* 'Qoph', an uvular k (a voiceless uvular plosive), IPA: /q/.
Ancient Aramaic may have had a larger series of emphatics. Not all
dialects of Aramaic give these consonants their historic values.
Overlapping with the set of emphatics are the 'guttural' consonants.
They include 'heth' and 'ayn' from the emphatic set, and add 'alaph' (a
glottal stop) and 'he' (as the English 'h').
Aramaic classically has a set of four sibilants (Ancient Aramaic may
have had six):
* /s/ (as in English 'sea'),
* /z/ (as in English 'zero'),
* /ʃ/ (as in English 'ship'),
* /sˁ/ (the emphatic 'sadhe' listed above).
In addition to these sets, Aramaic has the nasal consonants m and n, and
the approximants r (usually an alveolar trill), l, y and w.
Historical sound changes
Six broad features of sound change can be seen as dialect differentials:
1. Vowel change — This occurs almost too frequently to document fully,
but is a major distinctive feature of different dialects.
2. Plosive/fricative pair reduction — Originally, Aramaic, like Tiberian
Hebrew, had fricatives as conditioned allophones for each plosive. In
the wake of vowel changes, the distinction eventually became phonemic;
still later, it was often lost in certain dialects. For example, Turoyo
has mostly lost /p/, using /f/ instead; other dialects (for instance,
standard Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) have lost /θ/ and /ð/ and replaced them
with /t/ and /d/. In most dialects of Modern Syriac, /f/ and /v/ become
/w/ after a vowel.
3. Loss of emphatics — Some dialects have replaced emphatic consonants
with non-emphatic counterparts, while those spoken in the Caucasus often
have glottalized rather than pharyngealized emphatics.
4. Guttural assimilation — This is the main feature of Samaritan
pronunciation, also found in Samaritan Hebrew: all the gutturals are
reduced to a simple glottal stop. Some Modern Aramaic dialects do not
pronounce h in all words (the third person masculine pronoun 'hu'
becomes 'ow').
5. Proto-Semitic */θ/ */ð/ are reflected in Aramaic as */t/, */d/,
whereas they become sibilants in Hebrew (the number three in Hebrew is
'shalosh', but 'tlath' in Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still
happening in the modern dialects.
6. New phonetic inventory — Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from
the surrounding, dominant languages. The usual inventory is /ʒ/ (as the
first consonant in 'azure'), /ʤ/ (as in 'jam') and /ʧ/ (as in 'church').
The Syriac alphabet has been adapted for writing these new sounds.
Grammar
As with other Semitic languages, Aramaic morphology (the way words are
put together) is based on the triliteral root. The root consists of
three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, k-t-b has the
meaning of 'writing'. This is then modified by the addition of vowels
and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning:
* Kthâvâ, handwriting, inscription, script, book.
* Kthâvê, the Scriptures.
* Kâthûvâ, secretary, scribe.
* Kthâveth, I wrote.
* Ekhtûv, I shall write.
Aramaic has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine. Nouns can
be either singular or plural, but an additional 'dual' number exists for
nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared
from Aramaic over time and has little influence in Middle and Modern
Aramaic.
Aramaic nouns and adjectives can exist in one of three states; these
states correspond in part to the role of cases in other languages. The
'absolute' state is the basic form of a noun (for example, kthâvâ,
'handwriting'). The 'construct' state is a truncated form of the noun
used to make possessive phrases (for example, kthâvath malkthâ, 'the
handwriting of the queen). The 'emphatic' or 'determined' state is an
extended form of the noun that functions a bit like a definite article
(which Aramaic lacks; for example, kthâvtâ, 'the handwriting'). In time,
the construct state began to be replaced by other possessive phrases,
and the emphatic state became the norm in most dialects. Most dialects
of Modern Aramaic use only the emphatic state.
The various forms of possessive phrases (for 'the handwriting of the
queen') are:
1. Kthâvath malkthâ — The oldest construction: the possessed object is
in the construct state.
2. Kthâvtâ d(î)-malkthâ — Both words are in the emphatic state and the
relative particle d(î)- is used to mark the relationship.
3. Kthâvtâh d(î)-malkthâ — Both words are in the emphatic state, and the
relative particle is used, but the possessed is given an anticipatory,
pronominal ending (literally, 'her writing, that (of) the queen').
In Modern Aramaic, the last form is by far the most common. In Biblical
Aramaic, the last form is virtually absent.
(audio) Different variations of the possessive construction in Aramaic
(info)
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
The Aramaic verb knows six 'conjugations': alterations to the verbal
root than can imply the passive voice (ethkthev, 'it was written'),
intensive (kattev, 'he decreed (in writing)') and the extensive (akhtev,
'he composed'). Aramaic also has two proper tenses, the perfect and the
imperfect. In Imperial Aramaic, the participle began to be used for a
historic present. Perhaps under influence from other languages, Middle
Aramaic developed a system of composite tenses (combinations of forms of
the verb with pronouns or an auxiliary verb), allowing for narrative
that is more vivid.
The syntax of Aramaic (the way sentences are put together) usually
follows the order verb-subject-object (VSO).
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language
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