Western Neo-Aramaic (), more commonly referred to as Siryon ( "Syrian"), is a modern Western Aramaic language. Today, it is only spoken in three villages – Maaloula, Bakhah and

Jubb'adin Jubb'adin or Ġuppaҁōḏ ( ar, جبعدين, arc, ܓܦܥܘܕ - ) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus in the Qalamoun Mountains. Nearby localities include Saidnaya ...

– in the

Anti-Lebanon Mountains The Anti-Lebanon Mountains ( ar, جبال لبنان الشرقية, Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah, Eastern Mountains of Lebanon; Lebanese Arabic: , , "Eastern Mountains") are a southwest–northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of t ...

of western

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to the language of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

, whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, was Western Aramaic; all other remaining Neo-Aramaic languages are of the Eastern branch.

Distribution and history

Western Neo-Aramaic is probably the last surviving remnant of a Western Middle Aramaic dialect which was spoken throughout the

Orontes River The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey. A ...

Valley area and into the

in the 6th century. It now is spoken solely by the villagers of Maaloula,

and Bakh'a, about northeast of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. The continuation of this little cluster of Aramaic in a sea of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

is partly due to the relative isolation of the villages and their close-knit

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

communities. Following the

Muslim conquest of the Levant The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...

, there was a linguistic shift to Arabic for local Muslims and later for remaining Christians; Arabic displaced various Aramaic languages, including Western Aramaic varieties, as the

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...

of the majority. Despite this, Western Aramaic appears to have survived for a relatively long time at least in some villages in mountainous areas of Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon (in modern Syria). In fact, up until the 17th century, travellers in the Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages. In the last three villages where the language still survives, the dialect of Bakh'a 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 between the two, but is closer to that of Jubb'adin. Cross-linguistic influence between Aramaic and Arabic has been mutual, as Syrian Arabic itself (and

Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami ( autonym: or ), is a group of mutually intelligible vernacular Arabic varieties spoken in the Levant, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey (historically in Adana, Mersin and Hatay on ...

in general) retains an Aramaic

substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

. As in most of the Levant prior to the introduction of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

in the seventh century, the villages were originally all Christian. However, Maaloula is the only village that retains a sizeable Christian population (they belong to the

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...

and

Melkite Greek Catholic Church el, Μελχιτική Ελληνική Καθολική Εκκλησία , image = Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = , abbreviatio ...

) as most of the inhabitants of Bakh'a and Jubb Adin adopted Islam over the generations, and are now all Muslim. Maaloula glows in the pale blue wash with which houses are painted every year in honour of

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

. 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 like

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

and

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

in 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. Since 2007, Maaloula has been home to an Aramaic institute established by the Damascus University that teaches courses to keep the language alive. The institute's activities were suspended in 2010 amidst fears that the square

Aramaic alphabet The ancient Aramaic alphabet was adapted by Arameans from the Phoenician alphabet and became a distinct script by the 8th century BC. It was used to write the Aramaic languages spoken by ancient Aramean pre-Christian tribes throughout the Fert ...

used in the program too closely resembled the square script of the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewi ...

and all the signs with the square Aramaic script were taken down. The program stated that they would instead use the more distinct

Syriac alphabet The Syriac alphabet ( ) is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language since the 1st century AD. It is one of the Semitic languages, Semitic abjads descending from the Aramaic alphabet through the Palmyrene alphabet, and shares ...

, although use of the

has continued to some degree. 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. In December 2016 during an Aramaic Singing Festival in Maaloula, a modified version of an older style of the

closer to the

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician al ...

was used for Western Neo-Aramaic. This script seems to be used as a true alphabet with letters to represent both consonants and vowels instead of the traditional system of the Aramaic alphabet where it's used as an abjad. A recently published book about Maaloula Aramaic also uses this script. The Syriac language organization Rinyo has published the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

from the Old Testament in writing and the book ''Portrait of Jesus'' in writing with audio in Aromay in the Syriac Serto script on their website and a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

into Aromay has been finished in 2017 and is now available online.https://scriptureearth.org/data/amw/PDF/amwMaLuliNT-web.pdf In July 2017 a free course in Western Neo-Aramaic started at Damascus University.

Phonology

The

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

of Western Neo-Aramaic has developed quite differently from other Aramaic languages. The

labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. The two common labial articulations are bilabials, articulated using both lips, and labiodentals, articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth, b ...

s of older Western Aramaic, and , have been retained in Bakh'a and Maaloula while they have mostly collapsed to in Jubb'adin under influence from Arabic. The labial consonant pair has collapsed to in all three villages. Amongst

dental consonant A dental consonant is a consonant articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth, such as , . In some languages, dentals are distinguished from other groups, such as alveolar consonants, in which the tongue contacts the gum ridge. Dental ...

s, the fricatives are retained while have become in most places and , while remaining a phoneme, has had its traditional position in Aramaic words replaced by in Bakh'a, and in Maaloula and Jubb'adin. However, is the usual form for the relative particle in these two villages, with a variant , where Bakh'a always uses . Among the

velar consonant Velars are consonants place of articulation, articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the Soft palate, velum). Since the velar region of the roof of ...

s, the traditional voiced pair of has collapsed into , while /ɡ/ still remains a phoneme in some words. The unvoiced velar fricative, , is retained, but its plosive complement , while also remaining a distinct phoneme, has in its traditional positions in Aramaic words started to undergo palatalization. In Bakh'a, the palatalization is hardly apparent; in Maaloula, it is more obvious, and often leads to ; in Jubb'adin, it has become , and has thus merged phonemically with the original positions of . The original uvular plosive, , has also moved forward in Western Neo-Aramaic. In Bakh'a 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 .

Consonants

Vowels

Western Neo-Aramaic has the following set of vowels: * Close front unrounded vowel – * Close-mid front unrounded vowel – *

Open front unrounded vowel The open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language b ...

– *

Open back rounded vowel The open back rounded vowel, or low back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . It is called "turned script ''a''", being a rotated ...

– *

Close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u. I ...

–

Alphabet

Square Aramaic Alphabet

Square Aramaic Alphabet used for Aromay/Western Neo-Aramaic. Words beginning with a vowel are written with an initial Maaloula square alef

. 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 ( Maaloula square wawf

for /o/ and /u/, Maaloula square yod

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 Maaloula square alef

+ the mater lectionis). Words ending with /a/ are written with Maaloula square alef

at the end of the word, while words ending with /e/ are written with Maaloula square hi

at the end. Sometimes Maaloula square kaf 2

is used both for final Maaloula square kaf

and

instead of also using Maaloula square khaf 2

Syriac and Arabic Alphabet

Serto Syriac and Arabic alphabet used for Aromay/Western Neo-Aramaic.

Alternate Aramaic Alphabet

Characters of the script system similar to the Old Aramaic/Phoenician alphabet used occasionally for Western Neo-Aramaic with matching transliteration. The script is used as a true alphabet with distinct letters for all phonemes including vowels instead of the traditional abjad system with plosive-fricative pairs.http://aramia.net/

Sample of Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer in Western Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo, Syriac and Hebrew.

Miscellaneous words and sample phrases

Gallery

Literature

* Arnold, Werner: ''Das Neuwestaramäische'' (''Western Neo-Aramaic''), 5 volumes. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden (''Semitica Viva'' 4), ** 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.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Yawna Maaloula Aramaic
Non-profit educational project to preserve Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and the culture and heritage of Maaloula.

at ''Omniglot'' * http://semarch.uni-hd.de/dokumentgruppen.php4?ST_ID=5&DT_ID=8 . * ''The dialect of Maaloula. Grammar, vocabulary and texts.'' (1897–1898) By Jean Parisot (in French): Part
123
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{Languages of Syria Central Semitic languages Neo-Aramaic languages Languages of Syria Western Aramaic languages