Central Neo-Aramaic

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See Northeastern Neo-Aramaic for the other languages of the larger group.
Central Neo-Aramaic
Western Neo-Syriac
Geographic
distribution
Aramaic
Subdivisions
Glottologturo1240

Central Neo-Aramaic languages represent a specific group of

Mlahsô language that is recently extinct as a spoken language.[1][2]

Within Aramaic studies, several alternative groupings of Neo-Aramaic languages had been proposed by different researchers, and some of those groupings have used the term Central Neo-Aramaic in a wider meaning, including the widest scope, referring to all Neo-Aramaic languages except for Western Neo-Aramaic and Neo-Mandaic.[3][4]

Definition

Central Neo-Aramaic languages, also known as Western Neo-Syriac languages (represented in red color and shade)

The narrower definition of the term "Central Neo-Aramaic languages" includes only the

Mlahsô languages, while the wider definition also includes the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic
(NENA) group. In an attempt to avoid confusion, the narrower group is sometimes referred to as Northwestern Neo-Aramaic, and when combined with NENA it is called Northern Neo-Aramaic.

Both languages that are belonging to this group are termed as Syriac (ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Sūryoyo), and refer to the classical language as either Edessan (ܐܘܪܗܝܐ Ūrhoyo) or Literary (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kthobonoyo). The latter name is particularly used for the revived

Classical Syriac
.

Region

The smaller Central, or Northwestern, varieties of Neo-Aramaic are spoken by Assyrian Christians traditionally living in the Tur Abdin area of southeastern Turkey and areas around it. Turoyo itself is the closely related group of dialects spoken in Tur Abdin, while Mlahsô is an extinct language once spoken to the north, in Diyarbakır Province.

Other related languages all seem to now be extinct without record. A large number of speakers of these languages have moved to

al Hasakah. A number of Turoyo speakers are found in diaspora, with a particularly prominent community in Sweden
.

History

The Central Neo-Aramaic languages have a dual heritage. Most immediately, they have grown out of Eastern Aramaic colloquial varieties that were spoken in the

Edessa
. Perhaps the proximity of Central Neo-Aramaic to Edessa, and the closeness of their parent languages, meant that they bear a greater similarity to the classical language than do Northeastern Neo-Aramaic varieties.

However, a clearly separate evolution can be seen in Turoyo and Mlahsô. Mlahsô is grammatically similar to the classical language, and continued to use a similar tense-aspect system to it. However, Mlahsô developed a distinctively clipped phonological palette and systematically turns /θ/→/s/. On the other hand, Turoyo has a quite similar phonology to Classical Syriac, yet it has developed a radically different grammar, sharing similar features with NENA varieties.

First modern studies of Central Neo-Aramaic dialects were initiated during the 19th century,

Seyfo (genocide) against various Aramaic-speaking communities, including those in the Tur Abdin region.[6] Displacement of local Christian communities from their native regions created several new groups of Turoyo speakers throughout diaspora. Those events had a long-lasting impact on future development of Turoyo-speaking communities, affecting all spheres of their life, including culture, language and literature.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Kim 2008, p. 508.
  2. ^ Khan 2019b, p. 266.
  3. ^ Yildiz 2000, p. 23–44.
  4. ^ Kim 2008, p. 505-531.
  5. ^ a b Macuch 1990, p. 214.
  6. ^ Khan 2019b, p. 271.

Sources

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