Chaldean Neo-Aramaic

Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language. Originally, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic was spoken on the Plain of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is now the language of a worldwide Assyrian diaspora. Most speakers are Chaldean Assyrians adhering to the Chaldean Catholic Church.

Called Neo-Aramaic, it is not to be confused with the original "Chaldean language" referring to the late Old Aramaic dialect of the Chaldean Dynasty of Babylon (6th century BC).

Origin, history and use today

Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is one of a number of modern Eastern Aramaic languages spoken in the region between Lake Urmia in Iranian Azerbaijan and Mosul in northern Iraq. Jews and Christians speak different dialects of Aramaic that are often mutually unintelligible. The Christian dialects have been heavily influenced by the Syriac language, a dialect of Eastern Middle Aramaic, that became the literary and liturgical language of many churches in the Fertile Crescent. Therefore Christian Neo-Aramaic has a dual heritage: literary Syriac and colloquial Eastern Aramaic. The Christian dialects are often called Soureth, or Syriac. In Iraqi Arabic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is sometimes called فلّيحي, or Fallîħî.

Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is the Soureth language of the Plain of Mosul and Iraqi Kurdistan. The village of Alqosh carried the prestige dialect of the region, and Alqoshi is the basis for standardisation of Chaldean. Other dialects are Mangesh, Tel Keipeh, Tisqopa, Bartella, Sirnak-Cizre (Bohtan), Araden, and Dahuk. Before the 16th century, most Christians in this region were members of the Assyrian Church of the East. When schism split the church, most of the Christians of the region opted for communion with the Roman Catholic Church and became members of the Eastern Rite Chaldean Catholic Church. Despite having a different name, Chaldean has a good degree of inteligibility with the western dialect group of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (spoken originally in Hakkâri Province, Turkey) and the Jewish language Lishana Deni (originally spoken in northwestern Iraq).

Chaldean is written in the Madenhaya version of the Syriac alphabet, which is also used for classical Syriac. The School of Alqosh produced religious poetry in the colloquial Chaldean rather than classical Syriac, in the 17th century, and the Dominican Press in Mosul has produced a number of books in the language.

References

• Heinrichs, Wolfhart (ed.) (1990). Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. ISBN 1-55540-430-8.
• Maclean, Arthur John (1895). Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul. Cambridge University Press, London.

See also

• Aramaic language
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
• Chaldeans
• Chaldean Catholic Church
• Syriac alphabet
• Syriac language

External links

• Semitisches Tonarchiv: Dokumentgruppe "Aramäisch/Neuostaramäisch (christl.)" (text in German)

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