SOME NOTABLE FEATURES IN NORTH-EASTERN NEO-ARAMAIC DIALECTS OF IRAQ

Northeastern Neo-Aramaic and Language Contact

The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199945092.013.19 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 493-518

Author(s):

Eleanor Coghill

Keyword(s):

Language Contact ◽

Language Family ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Languages In Contact ◽

The North ◽

North Eastern ◽

Turkic Languages ◽

Aramaic Dialects

The North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects form one of the surviving branches of the Aramaic language family. Extremely diverse, they are or were spoken by Christian and Jewish minorities originating in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. They have been in intense contact with other languages of the region, most notably Kurdish, but also Arabic, Turkic languages and Persian. As a result, they show a great deal of contact influence, not only in lexicon and phonology but also in morphology and syntax. The precise forms of the borrowings, as well as their behavior, usually reflect the local dialects of the donor language, showing how important fine-grained dialectal data is in a study of language contact. While some of the languages in contact, namely Kurdish, Turkish and Persian, are structurally very different to NENA, structural congruence or compatibility plays at best a fluctuating role in facilitating borrowings.

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Remarks on the Historical Development and Syntax of the Copula in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects

Aramaic Studies ◽

10.1163/17455227-01602010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 234-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Geoffrey Khan

Keyword(s):

Historical Development ◽

Functional Explanation ◽

The North ◽

North Eastern ◽

Diachronic Development ◽

Aramaic Dialects

Abstract This paper examines some aspects of the morphology and syntax of the copula in the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. The first part proposes a possible pathway for the diachronic development of the morphology of the copula, with particular attention to the innovative inflection of the 3rd person. It is argued that this originated in deictic constructions that were reanalysed as deictic copulas. The second part offers a functional explanation for the position of the copula before or after the predicate. It is argued that many constructions that place the copula before the predicate should be interpreted as thetic sentences, whereas those that place the copula after the predicate should be interpreted as categorical sentences. The thetic structures are likely to have developed by the replication of the pattern of copula constructions in Kurdish.

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Folk Etymology in the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects

Aramaic Studies ◽

10.1163/17455227-01602007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 215-233

Author(s):

Hezy Mutzafi

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

The North ◽

North Eastern ◽

Lexical Items ◽

Linguistic Phenomenon ◽

Aramaic Dialects

Abstract Although folk etymology is a common linguistic phenomenon, it has hitherto hardly been touched upon in lexicological and other works related to varieties of Neo-Aramaic. The present article concerns twelve cases of folk etymology selected from some of the dialects of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), the largest and most variegated division of modern Aramaic. Among these are three folk-etymological interpretations that did not induce structural or other changes, as well as nine cases of folk-etymological processes that reshaped NENA lexical items.

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The Morphology of Adjectives in the Neo-Aramaic Dialects of ʿAqra

Aramaic Studies ◽

10.1163/17455227-bja10020 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Aziz Emmanuel Eliya Al-Zebari

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

Kurdistan Region ◽

Economic Crises ◽

North Eastern ◽

The Sixties ◽

Inflectional Features ◽

Aramaic Dialects

Abstract The present article presents a synchronic description of the morphology of adjectives in the highly endangered Neo-Aramaic dialects of ʿAqra in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It discusses the morphology of adjectives in these dialects as used in the sixties of the last century. In particular, the article highlights adjectival patterns, inflectional features, and the adaptation of loanwords from Kurdish, Arabic, and Turkish. The article contributes to the description of the grammar of some 150 North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects in the Kurdistan region that are gradually falling into disuse, due to internal disputes, wars, economic crises, and globalisation.

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