Suret language

Suret, also known as Assyrian, is a group of dialects spoken by Christians called Assyrians. These dialects belong to a language family called Northeastern Neo-Aramaic, which comes from Old Aramaic. Old Aramaic was widely used during the time of the Assyrian Empire and gradually replaced the much older Akkadian language.

People who speak Suret originally lived in Upper Mesopotamia, northwestern Iran, southeastern Anatolia, and the northeastern Levant. This area includes places like Urmia in Iran and regions such as the Nineveh Plains, Erbil, Kirkuk, and Duhok in northern Iraq, as well as parts of Syria and Turkey. Because of troubles in the Middle East over the last hundred years, many Suret speakers now live far from their homeland, in countries across the world such as North and South America, Australia, Europe, and Russia.

Suret is a language with some influences from Akkadian and is written from right-to-left using a special version of the Syriac alphabet. Even though it is considered an endangered language because fewer young people are learning it fully, efforts are underway to keep it alive. These include digital projects and more people studying the language than ever before.

History

Akkadian and Aramaic have been closely connected since ancient times. Around 700 BCE, Aramaic began to replace Akkadian in many areas because it was easier to learn. Aramaic became the common language for trade and communication across large empires like the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian Empires.

By the 1st century AD, Akkadian was no longer spoken, but its influence remained in modern languages. Churches started using Classical Syriac for worship, and important translations of the Bible were made into this language. Over time, Aramaic split into different forms, especially after religious separations in the 5th century. Sadly, invasions in the 13th century caused the language to decline in many places. Today, some areas recognize Aramaic as an official language.

Script

Main article: Syriac alphabet

See also: Aramaic alphabet

The Syriac script is a way of writing mainly used for the Syriac language since the 1st century AD. It is one of the writing systems that comes from the old Aramaic letters. It looks similar to other ancient writings like Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic, and some Mongolian letters. The Syriac alphabet has 22 letters, and they are all symbols for sounds without vowels. Some letters can connect to each other when they are next to each other in a word.

Over time, the script changed. The oldest form is called ʾEsṭrangēlā, which means "round" and was used a long time ago. When Arabic became more common, some people wrote Arabic words using the Syriac letters. This way of writing is called Garshuni.

Today, many Assyrians like to use the Latin alphabet, especially on the internet, because it is easier. Even though there is a special Latin alphabet for Syriac, most people just use the regular Latin letters we use every day. This helps people who do not know the Syriac script to read Assyrian words.

Phonology

Consonants

Notes:

• In all NENA dialects, different kinds of consonants are recognized, though there can be some overlap in how they sound.
• In Iraqi Koine and many Urmian & Northern dialects, certain sounds are considered the main ways to say /k/, /g/ and aspirate /kʰ/.
• In the Koine and Urmi dialects, certain sounds are usually heard as [χ ʁ].
• The sound /ħ/ is in most dialects realised as [x]. The one exception to this is the dialect of Hértevin, which merged the two historical sounds into [ħ], thus lacking [x] instead.
• The pharyngeal /ʕ/, represented by the letter 'e, is a sound that is generally used in formal or religious speech. Among most Suret speakers, 'e would be realised as [aɪ̯], [eɪ̯], [ɛ], [j], deleted, or even geminating the previous consonant, depending on the dialect and sound context.
• /r/ may also be heard as a tap sound [ɾ].
• /f/ is a sound heard in the Tyari, Barwari and Chaldean dialects. In most of the other varieties, it merges with /p/, though [f] is found in loanwords.
• The phonemes /t/ and /d/ have different sounds in most Lower Tyari, Barwari and Chaldean dialects, which is a carryover of begadkefat from the Ancient Aramaic period.
• In the Upper Tyari dialects, /θ/ is realised as [ʃ] or [t]; in the Marga dialect, the /t/ may at times be replaced with [s].
• In the Urmian dialect, /w/ has a widespread sound [ʋ] (it may change to [v] for some speakers).
• In the Jilu dialect, /q/ is said as a tense [k]. This can also occur in other dialects.
• In the Iraqi Koine dialect, a certain sound is also heard.
• /ɡ/ is said as [d͡ʒ] in some Urmian, Tyari and Nochiya dialects. /k/ would be said as [t͡ʃ] in the same way.
• /ɣ/ is a sound that occurs across all dialects. Either a result of the historic splitting of /g/, through loanwords, or by contact of [x] with a voiced consonant.
• /ʒ/ is found mainly from loanwords, but, in some dialects, also from the voicing of /ʃ/ (e.g. ḥašbunā /xaʒbuːnaː/, "counting", from the root ḥ-š-b, "to count") as in the Jilu dialect.
• /n/ can be pronounced [ŋ] before certain consonants, [x] and [q], and as [m] before labial consonants.
• In some speakers, a certain sound (English "tsk") may be used as a negative response to a "yes or no" question. This feature is more common among those who still live in the homeland or in the Middle East, than those living elsewhere.

Vowels

According to linguist Edward Odisho, there are six vowel sounds in Iraqi Koine. They are as follows:

• /a/, as commonly said in words like naša ("man; human"), is central [ä] for many speakers. It is usually [a] in the Urmian and Nochiya dialects. For some Urmian and Jilu speakers, [æ] may be used instead. In those having a more pronounced Jilu dialect, this vowel is mostly fronted and raised to [ɛ]. In the Tyari and Barwari dialects, it is usually more back [ɑ].
• /ɑ/, a long sound, as heard in raba ("much; many"), may also be realised as [ɒ], depending on the speaker. It is more rounded and higher in the Urmian dialect, where it is realised as [ɔ].
• /e/, heard in beta ("house") is generally changed to [eɪ̯] in the Halmon dialect (a Lower Tyari tribe). To note, the [aj] diphthong is an old trait of classical Syriac and thereby may be used in formal speech as well, such as in liturgy and hymns.
• /ɪ/, uttered in words like dədwa ("housefly"), is sometimes realised as [ə] (a schwa).
• The middle sounds, preserved in Tyari, Barwari, Baz and Chaldean dialects, are sometimes raised and merged with higher sounds in Urmian and some other dialects:
  • /o/, as in gora ("big"), is raised to [u]. The Urmian dialect may change it to [ʊj].
  • /e/, as in kepa ("rock"), is raised to [i].
• /o/, as in tora ("bull") may be changed to [ɑw] in some Tyari, Barwari, Chaldean and Jilu dialects.
• Across many dialects, higher and close-mid vowels are lax when they occur in a closed syllable:
  • /u/ or /o/ is usually realised as [ʊ];
  • /i/ or /e/ is usually realised as [ɪ].

East Syriac dialects may recognize half-close sounds as [ɛ] and also recognize the back sound [ɒ] as a long form of /a/.

Phonetics of Iraqi Koine

Iraqi Koine is a merged dialect that developed in the mid-20th century, influenced by both the prestigious Urmian dialects of Iran and the Hakkari Assyrian dialects of southeastern Turkey. It forms part of the wider Assyrian Neo-Aramaic dialect continuum extending from northern Iraq into western Iran, and emerged primarily in urban Iraqi centres following the displacement and resettlement of Assyrians after World War I.

• Iraqi Koine, like the majority of the Suret dialects, realises /w/ as [w] instead of [ʋ].
• Iraqi Koine generally realises the interdental fricatives /θ/, /ð/ in words like maṯa ("village") and rqaḏa ("dancing") as alveolar stops [t], [d] respectively.
• Dorsal fricatives /x ɣ/ are heard as uvular as [χ ʁ].
• Predominantly, /q/ in words like qalama ("pen") does not merge with /k/.
• The diphthong /aw/ in words like tawra ("bull"), as heard in most Hakkari dialects, are realised as [o]: tora.
• The [ʊj] diphthong in zuyze ("money") is kept as [u]: zuze.
• Depending on the speaker, the velar stops /k/ and /ɡ/ may be said as [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] respectively.
• The [t͡ʃ] in some present progressive verbs like či'axla ("[she] eats") is kept as [k]: ki'axla.

Phonology of Chaldean-Neo-Aramaic

Consonants

• The Chaldean dialects are generally characterised by the presence of the sounds /θ/ (th) and /ð/ (dh) which correspond to /t/ and /d/, respectively, in other Assyrian dialects (excluding the Tyari dialect).
• In some Chaldean dialects /r/ is realised as [ɹ]. In others, it is either a tap [ɾ] or a trill [r].
• Unlike in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, the guttural sounds of [ʕ] and [ħ] are used mainly in Chaldean varieties; this is a feature also seen in other Northeastern Neo-Aramaic languages.

Vowels

Grammar

NENA is a language where the subject isn’t always clearly stated, and it uses special word endings to show who is doing what. Suret shares some grammar rules with Persian and Kurdish, especially when saying negative things.

Suret uses special endings to show who is doing an action and how many people are involved. For example, adding “-e” to a word can show it’s plural, like turning “warda” (flower) into “warde” (flowers). Possessive endings also attach to nouns, similar to saying “my,” “your,” or “his” in English.

Unlike many languages, Suret doesn’t add prefixes or suffixes to words to create new ones. Instead, it uses templates applied to root words. For example, the root “š-q-l” means “taking,” and from this root, words like “he has taken” or “she takes” can be formed.

Suret marks the present tense by using a participle after the subject pronoun, which is often left out for third-person subjects. This creates a system of tenses that is a bit like Indo-European languages. The language also uses an infinitive form combined with a helper word to show ongoing actions, similar to constructions in Kurdish and Turkish.

Although Aramaic historically used a different system, Suret developed a special pattern in certain tenses through contact with ergative Iranian languages like Kurdish. In these cases, the subject of the action is shown differently depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive.

Vocabulary

Suret has many words, with one online dictionary listing over 40,000 words, half of which are root words. Because of where Suret is spoken, it has borrowed many words from nearby languages. These include words from Persian, Kurdish, Arabic, Russian, Azeri, and Ottoman Turkish, and more recently, English.

Suret also has words that came from an even older language called Akkadian. Some of these words are used in other languages too, like Arabic and Hebrew. Many of these words are about farming, which helps explain why they survived in rural areas. There are also some small differences in how these words are pronounced compared to the original Akkadian language.

Dialects

Further information: List of Assyrian tribes

SIL Ethnologue groups five main types of Suret dialects: Urmian, Northern, Central, Western, and Sapna, each having smaller variations. People speaking these dialects can usually understand each other about 80%–90% of the time.

The Urmia dialect became important after 1836 when an American missionary chose it to create a standard literary form. Another standard form called "Iraqi Koine" developed in the 20th century.

Grouping

• Iranian group:
  • Urmia (west of Lake Urmia) (Christian Neo-Aramaic dialect of Urmia)
  • Sopurghan (north of Urmia)
  • Naghadeh (south of Lake Urmia)
  • Salmas (north west of Lake Urmia)
  • Sanandaj (Iranian Kurdistan) (Senaya dialect)
• Turkey group:
  • Nochiya
  • Jilu (west of Gavar and south of Qudshanis)
  • Gawar (between Salmas and Van)
  • Diza
  • Baz
  • Lower Tyari – Dialects of the Tyari group share features with both the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic dialects in Northern Iraq (below) and Urmian (above).
    • Ashita
    • Zawita
    • Halmon/Geramon
    • Mangesh
  • Upper Tyari
    • Walto
  • Upper Barwari
    • Qudshanis (just south of Lake Van)
  • Tkhuma
  • Tal
  • Lewin
  • Bohtan (Neo-Aramaic dialect of Bohtan)
• Northern Iraq (Nineveh Plains):
  • Tel Keppe
    • Alqosh
    • Batnaya
    • Qaraqosh
    • Tesqopa
    • Zakho
    • Araden
  • Lower Barwari – The dialect within this group has more in common with Tyari than with Upper Barwari dialect
    • Dooreh
    • Hayes

Iraqi Koine

Iraqi Koine, also called Iraqi Assyrian and "Standard" Assyrian, is a mix of rural accents from Hakkari and the Nineveh Plains with the Urmia dialect. It formed when many Assyrians were forced to leave their homes during the First World War and moved to cities like Baghdad, Basra, and Kirkuk in Iraq. By the 1950s, many Assyrians were speaking Iraqi Koine, and today it is the main way Assyrians talk to each other in cities. It is also used in music and formal speaking. Even though Iraqi Koine is common, the older rural dialects are still spoken by many people.

Dialect continuum

The Neo-Aramaic dialects form a range, starting from northern Iraq (like Alqosh and Batnaya) to western Iran (Urmia). People from northern Iraq might find it a bit hard to understand those in western Iran. Near the Iraqi-Turkey border, the Barwari and Tyari dialects sound more traditional and share features with both Assyrian and Chaldean sounds. As you move east toward Iran, the Nochiya dialect starts to sound more like the Urmian dialect in Urmia, West Azerbaijan province. Both Urmian and Iraqi Koine are seen as standard forms of Assyrian, with Iraqi Koine being more commonly used today.

Literature

Main article: Syriac literature

Early Syriac texts go back to the 2nd century, including the Syriac Bible and the Diatesseron Gospel harmony. Most Syriac books were written between the 4th and 8th centuries. Classical Syriac writing lasted into the 9th century, but after that, many Syriac Christian authors started writing in Arabic.

Spoken Neo-Aramaic began to appear around the 13th century, but writers kept creating works in Syriac for many years after that. Today, Assyrian and Turoyo are the most common forms of Syriac spoken, and modern Syriac literature is usually written in these varieties.

After the Mongols turned to Islam, times got harder for Syriac Christianity and its followers. Still, Syriac literature has continued in Upper Mesopotamia and the Levant from the 14th century until now. This includes many works in the everyday Eastern Aramaic Neo-Aramaic languages still used by Assyrians.

The first big growth of this new Syriac literature happened in the 17th century with the School of Alqosh in northern Iraq. This helped make Assyrian Aramaic a written language.

In the 19th century, printing presses were set up in Urmia, in northern Iran. This made the 'General Urmian' version of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic the main one used in much Neo-Syriac Assyrian writing until the 20th century. The Urmia Bible, printed in 1852 by Justin Perkins, was based on the Peshitta and included a translation in the Urmian dialect. Today, with easier printing, other Neo-Aramaic languages like Turoyo are also starting to create their own literature.