This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).... more This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
It is common knowledge in the field of Neo-Aramaic that the dialectal diversity of NENA (North-Ea... more It is common knowledge in the field of Neo-Aramaic that the dialectal diversity of NENA (North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic) is not only based on geographical distribution, but is also very much related to communal, ethnolinguistic factors, namely to the confessional affiliation of NENA speakers as Jews or Christians. 2 In no location throughout the entire NENA-speaking area is there a case of Jews and Christians speaking one and the same dialect. Their co-territorial dialects are rather always distinct from one another on the levels of phonology, morphology and lexicon, and in some regions also in syntax. Such confession-based dialectal differences are far more substantial in the eastern and southeastern peripheries of NENA, viz. in areas where Trans-Zab Jewish dialects 3 overlap (or rather overlapped) with Christian NE-1 Research on the Jewish dialect of Salmas was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 339/11) and is partly derived from my work on an etymological dictionary of the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) dialects. The data in this paper are primarily based on fieldwork on various NENA dialects and Neo-Mandaic (NM). Fieldwork was carried out on Christian Salamas (C.Sal.) in the Republic of Georgia and on Jewish Salmas (J.Sal.) in Israel. All my informants were born in Tbilisi, except one Salamas-born C.Sal. speaker. Western Neo-Aramaic (NA) data are extracted from Prof. Werner Arnold, personal communication. 2 Already a century ago Rhétoré suggested that "les divers parlers soureth peuvent se diviser d'abord en parlers chrétiens et en parlers juif; puis les uns et les autres peuvent se distin
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Apr 1, 2004
Koy Sanjaq, an Iraqi Kurdish town located fifty-five kilometers southeast of Arbil, once had two ... more Koy Sanjaq, an Iraqi Kurdish town located fifty-five kilometers southeast of Arbil, once had two small minority communities of Neo-Aramaic speakers, one Jewish and one Chris-tian, each speaking its own variety of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). In 1951 the Jews of Koy ...
The present article deals with twenty cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are no... more The present article deals with twenty cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not attested until the modern period, including seventeen substrate words and possible substrate words, and three highly plausible semantic loans, all in NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). One of these substrate words occurs in Neo-Mandaic as well, and another also in Western Neo-Aramaic. All these are added to a considerable number of cases already discussed in the scholarly literature. As the vast majority of Akkadian lexical influences that surface in Neo-Aramaic are confined to NENA, it seems that the main reasons for the lack of their attestation in pre-modern Aramaic is the strictly vernacular nature of the remote progenitor of NENA, and the fact that the history of this dialect group is not attested. Keywords. Substrate word-Semantic loan-Akkadian-NENA-Neo-Mandaic-Western Neo-Aramaic 1 I am grateful to Prof. Matthew Morgenstern and Prof. James Ford for their valuable comments on this article. Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based unless a reference is adduced, and except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming (more precisely, on a 2013 draft of this work kindly made available to me by the author). Notes on transcription : č̭ , k̭ are unaspirated phonemes whereas č, k are aspirated (in some NENA dialects). The retroflex ɻ (IPA value) is phonemic (in some NENA dialects). In Kurdish orthography r is IPA [ɾ], r̄ is a trill [r], ḧ is [ħ] and j is [ʒ]. Apart from the short vowel ə, vowels are generally long in open stressed syllables and short otherwise. Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Oct 1, 2008
The present article seeks to describe a major group of Jewish NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dia... more The present article seeks to describe a major group of Jewish NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects located across the Great Zab river in the eastern and southeastern parts of the dialectological map of NENA, hence the term ''Trans-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic'' (''Trans-Zab'', for short) chosen for this dialect group. A large set of phonological, morphophonological, morphological and lexical innovations, shared by all members of this group, is presented. Each of the Trans-Zab features is compared with contrastive parallel features in other, selected NENA varieties. Finally, an internal classification of Trans-Zab into three subdivisions is proposed, based on a comparison of three respective paradigms of the positive present copula. 1 Note the following abbreviations: Ar. 5 Arabic; C. 5 Christian dialect of… (e.g. C. Urmi); intr. 5 intransitive; J. 5 Jewish dialect of… (e.g. J.Urmi); JBA 5 Jewish Babylonian Aramaic; JKS 5 J. Koy Sanjaq; K 5 Kurdish; tr. 5 transitive. For abbreviations related to Neo-Aramaic dialects see note 2. 2 The comparative data offered in this paper are only a part of the data taken into consideration, and are mostly gleaned from my informants. The following Neo-Aramaic dialects are referred to in the present contribution:
Although folk etymology is a common linguistic phenomenon, it has hitherto hardly been touched up... more 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.
The present article presents new findings related to Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) innovations in the ... more The present article presents new findings related to Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) innovations in the framework of NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). The dialectal spectrum of JNA is so wide and variegated, that some geographically distant JNA varieties are markedly different from each other on all levels of language structure. Despite this great heterogeneity, the JNA dialects share supra-regional features that bind these varieties together to the exclusion of all, or the vast majority of, the Christian NENA (C.NENA) dialects. There appear to be no grounds, however, for a genetic classification of NENA into two principal branches, JNA and C.NENA. Distinct Jewish versus Christian NENA isoglosses have, rather, most plausibly emerged by gradual diffusion of innovations throughout NENA-speaking communities of the same confession (Jewish or Christian), while skipping geographically adjacent, but religiously distinct, NENAspeaking communities. * Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based, except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming, Mlaḥsô, based on Jastrow 1994, and other cases where a reference is adduced. Notes on transcription: k̭ , p, ṱ are unaspirated phonemes whereas k, p, t are aspirated. The palatal c (IPA value) is phonemic in some NENA dialects. Apart from the short vowel phoneme ə, the phonemes i, e, o and u are generally short in closed syllables and open final ones, and half long or long otherwise. Vowel length is indicated only where it is phonemic, i.e., for ā vs. a. Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated.
Neo-Mandaic (nm) is the least known Neo-Aramaic language, despite recent progress in investigatio... more Neo-Mandaic (nm) is the least known Neo-Aramaic language, despite recent progress in investigations of its grammar and lexicon. Lexicographical coverage of nm is still particularly replete with lacunae, as many of the language's lexical items and lexical peculiarities remain beyond common scholarly knowledge. The present contribution discusses several hitherto unknown or misrepresented nm lexemes. Ten of these are inherited from pre-modern Mandaic antecedents that are, as far as can be established, not manifest in classical and post-classical Mandaic textual sources. Most of these inherited lexical items are of Aramaic origin, whereas a few are of ultimate Iranian provenance. 1 I am grateful to Dr. Samuel E. Fox for his valuable comments. Data on nm and other Neo-Aramaic varieties is fieldwork-based, except for Mlaḥsô, based on O. Jastrow, Der neuaramäische Dialekt von Mlaḥsô (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994), and for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Prof. Werner Arnold's forthcoming dictionary of this language, a copy of which was kindly made available to me by the author. Main sources for pre-modern Aramaic languages are E.
Page 1. 9. be bâ~b?d 7od hamazyäd - b-wáxt?d grâni k?mrí ?iôîa golíw a ta baqid ?od faqire. tarti... more Page 1. 9. be bâ~b?d 7od hamazyäd - b-wáxt?d grâni k?mrí ?iôîa golíw a ta baqid ?od faqire. tartine kiniwa faqire. kudfat ?od didew. тэп yá-tara. тэг b-?óxái x?¿ti¡, lá-тШй тэп к, 9. With regard to the househc Agha Ham. He used ...
Comparative lexical studies in Neo-Mandaic / by Hezy Mutzafi. pages cm.-(Studies in semitic langu... more Comparative lexical studies in Neo-Mandaic / by Hezy Mutzafi. pages cm.-(Studies in semitic languages and linguistics ; Volume 73) includes bibliographical references and index.
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, Jun 23, 2022
The spectrum of Neo-Aramaic languages and dialects, spoken in an arch of language-islets that str... more The spectrum of Neo-Aramaic languages and dialects, spoken in an arch of language-islets that stretch from south-western Syria to south-western Iran, exhibits rich lexical repositories inherited from early layers of the Aramaic language. Within this wealthy lexical legacy, some genuine Aramaic lexical items are not attested in any of the literary Aramaic sources, hence it is only by virtue of these modern lexical manifestations that the existence of the ancient Aramaic antecedents of these words can be inferred or reconstructed. Such historical lacunae concern also meanings that must be of considerable antiquity, yet these meanings, pertaining to well-known Aramaic words, have no evidence in literary Aramaic, having surfaced only in the modern era. This article discusses ten selected cases of pre-modern Aramaic words and meanings that were discovered by etymological and comparative examination of their modern reflexes in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), Western Neo-Aramaic and Ṭuroyo.
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, May 15, 2018
The present article concerns twelve cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not ... more The present article concerns twelve cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not manifest until the modern period. These are added to several cases already discussed in scholarly works, and include ten substrate words and two loan translations, all in NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (nena), and in one case of loan translation apparently also in Western Neo-Aramaic (assuming a westward diffusion of the innovation involved). As most Akkadian lexical influences which surface in Neo-Aramaic are confined to nena, it seems that the main reasons for the lack of their attestation in pre-modern Aramaic is the strictly vernacular nature of the remote progenitor of nena, and the fact that the history of this dialect group is not attested. * Research on the Jewish dialects discussed in this article was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 339/11). Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based, except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming, a copy of which was kindly made available to me by the author. Notes on transcription: k̭ is an unaspirated phoneme whereas k is aspirated. The retroflex ɻ (ipa value) is phonemic in some nena dialects. Vowel length is indicated only where it is phonemic i.e. for ā vs. a (in some dialects). Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, 2015
The change of a rhotic consonant into a voiced dental one is unique to some dialects of Ṭyare Neo... more The change of a rhotic consonant into a voiced dental one is unique to some dialects of Ṭyare Neo-Aramaic amongst all other Aramaic and Semitic languages. It is a conditioned change, operating only on the Ṭyare retroflex rhotic phoneme /ɻ/ and only when the latter is geminated, whereas the two other rhotic phonemes of the Ṭyare cluster of dialects, alveolar /r/ and emphatic alveolar /ṛ/, are left unaffected. The diachronic background of Ṭyare ɻɻ…
The present article concerns salient Jewish Neo-Aramaic (jna) innovations in the framework of Nor... more The present article concerns salient Jewish Neo-Aramaic (jna) innovations in the framework of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (nena).jnais such a wide spectrum of varieties that in some cases geographically distant dialects are fundamentally different from each other on all levels of language structure and are mutually incomprehensible. Nevertheless, all these dialects share some typical or unique traits which transcend dialectal boundaries and bind thejnavarieties together to the exclusion of all or the vast majority of neighboring Christiannenadialects. Ethnolectal divisions and separate Jewish as opposed to Christian isoglosses innenahave likely emerged due to diffusional patterns dominated by the force of communal and confessional cohesiveness that has overridden convergence and affinity with geographically proximate, but religiously distinct,nena-speaking communities.
The present article refers to several selected lexical oddities which appear in Yona Sabar's A Je... more The present article refers to several selected lexical oddities which appear in Yona Sabar's A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary. The article seeks to clarify the etymologies of these lexical items, to refine their definitions whenever necessary, and to offer extensive comparative data related to cognates and missing links in various other Neo-Aramaic varieties, in particular NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. All lexical items in question are proven to be inherited from pre-modern Aramaic, and five of them appear to be part of the inventory of Akkadian loanwords in NENA and other Aramaic languages. Mere recourse to Classical Aramaic is inadequate for uncovering the origins of most of these lexical items due to far-reaching semantic, phonological and morphological changes that have distanced them *) This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 111/08) and is derived from my work on an etymological dictionary of the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) dialects. Notes on transcription: Apart from the short vowel phoneme ə, the phonemes i, e, ε, o, and u are generally short in closed syllables and open unstressed final ones, and half long or long otherwise. Vowel length is indicated only forā vs. a. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated. Superscript + preceding a word indicates word-emphasis. Unless another source is cited, the etymological references in this work are based on the following dictionaries: for Akkadian:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).... more This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
It is common knowledge in the field of Neo-Aramaic that the dialectal diversity of NENA (North-Ea... more It is common knowledge in the field of Neo-Aramaic that the dialectal diversity of NENA (North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic) is not only based on geographical distribution, but is also very much related to communal, ethnolinguistic factors, namely to the confessional affiliation of NENA speakers as Jews or Christians. 2 In no location throughout the entire NENA-speaking area is there a case of Jews and Christians speaking one and the same dialect. Their co-territorial dialects are rather always distinct from one another on the levels of phonology, morphology and lexicon, and in some regions also in syntax. Such confession-based dialectal differences are far more substantial in the eastern and southeastern peripheries of NENA, viz. in areas where Trans-Zab Jewish dialects 3 overlap (or rather overlapped) with Christian NE-1 Research on the Jewish dialect of Salmas was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 339/11) and is partly derived from my work on an etymological dictionary of the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) dialects. The data in this paper are primarily based on fieldwork on various NENA dialects and Neo-Mandaic (NM). Fieldwork was carried out on Christian Salamas (C.Sal.) in the Republic of Georgia and on Jewish Salmas (J.Sal.) in Israel. All my informants were born in Tbilisi, except one Salamas-born C.Sal. speaker. Western Neo-Aramaic (NA) data are extracted from Prof. Werner Arnold, personal communication. 2 Already a century ago Rhétoré suggested that "les divers parlers soureth peuvent se diviser d'abord en parlers chrétiens et en parlers juif; puis les uns et les autres peuvent se distin
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Apr 1, 2004
Koy Sanjaq, an Iraqi Kurdish town located fifty-five kilometers southeast of Arbil, once had two ... more Koy Sanjaq, an Iraqi Kurdish town located fifty-five kilometers southeast of Arbil, once had two small minority communities of Neo-Aramaic speakers, one Jewish and one Chris-tian, each speaking its own variety of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). In 1951 the Jews of Koy ...
The present article deals with twenty cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are no... more The present article deals with twenty cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not attested until the modern period, including seventeen substrate words and possible substrate words, and three highly plausible semantic loans, all in NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). One of these substrate words occurs in Neo-Mandaic as well, and another also in Western Neo-Aramaic. All these are added to a considerable number of cases already discussed in the scholarly literature. As the vast majority of Akkadian lexical influences that surface in Neo-Aramaic are confined to NENA, it seems that the main reasons for the lack of their attestation in pre-modern Aramaic is the strictly vernacular nature of the remote progenitor of NENA, and the fact that the history of this dialect group is not attested. Keywords. Substrate word-Semantic loan-Akkadian-NENA-Neo-Mandaic-Western Neo-Aramaic 1 I am grateful to Prof. Matthew Morgenstern and Prof. James Ford for their valuable comments on this article. Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based unless a reference is adduced, and except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming (more precisely, on a 2013 draft of this work kindly made available to me by the author). Notes on transcription : č̭ , k̭ are unaspirated phonemes whereas č, k are aspirated (in some NENA dialects). The retroflex ɻ (IPA value) is phonemic (in some NENA dialects). In Kurdish orthography r is IPA [ɾ], r̄ is a trill [r], ḧ is [ħ] and j is [ʒ]. Apart from the short vowel ə, vowels are generally long in open stressed syllables and short otherwise. Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Oct 1, 2008
The present article seeks to describe a major group of Jewish NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dia... more The present article seeks to describe a major group of Jewish NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects located across the Great Zab river in the eastern and southeastern parts of the dialectological map of NENA, hence the term ''Trans-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic'' (''Trans-Zab'', for short) chosen for this dialect group. A large set of phonological, morphophonological, morphological and lexical innovations, shared by all members of this group, is presented. Each of the Trans-Zab features is compared with contrastive parallel features in other, selected NENA varieties. Finally, an internal classification of Trans-Zab into three subdivisions is proposed, based on a comparison of three respective paradigms of the positive present copula. 1 Note the following abbreviations: Ar. 5 Arabic; C. 5 Christian dialect of… (e.g. C. Urmi); intr. 5 intransitive; J. 5 Jewish dialect of… (e.g. J.Urmi); JBA 5 Jewish Babylonian Aramaic; JKS 5 J. Koy Sanjaq; K 5 Kurdish; tr. 5 transitive. For abbreviations related to Neo-Aramaic dialects see note 2. 2 The comparative data offered in this paper are only a part of the data taken into consideration, and are mostly gleaned from my informants. The following Neo-Aramaic dialects are referred to in the present contribution:
Although folk etymology is a common linguistic phenomenon, it has hitherto hardly been touched up... more 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.
The present article presents new findings related to Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) innovations in the ... more The present article presents new findings related to Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) innovations in the framework of NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). The dialectal spectrum of JNA is so wide and variegated, that some geographically distant JNA varieties are markedly different from each other on all levels of language structure. Despite this great heterogeneity, the JNA dialects share supra-regional features that bind these varieties together to the exclusion of all, or the vast majority of, the Christian NENA (C.NENA) dialects. There appear to be no grounds, however, for a genetic classification of NENA into two principal branches, JNA and C.NENA. Distinct Jewish versus Christian NENA isoglosses have, rather, most plausibly emerged by gradual diffusion of innovations throughout NENA-speaking communities of the same confession (Jewish or Christian), while skipping geographically adjacent, but religiously distinct, NENAspeaking communities. * Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based, except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming, Mlaḥsô, based on Jastrow 1994, and other cases where a reference is adduced. Notes on transcription: k̭ , p, ṱ are unaspirated phonemes whereas k, p, t are aspirated. The palatal c (IPA value) is phonemic in some NENA dialects. Apart from the short vowel phoneme ə, the phonemes i, e, o and u are generally short in closed syllables and open final ones, and half long or long otherwise. Vowel length is indicated only where it is phonemic, i.e., for ā vs. a. Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated.
Neo-Mandaic (nm) is the least known Neo-Aramaic language, despite recent progress in investigatio... more Neo-Mandaic (nm) is the least known Neo-Aramaic language, despite recent progress in investigations of its grammar and lexicon. Lexicographical coverage of nm is still particularly replete with lacunae, as many of the language's lexical items and lexical peculiarities remain beyond common scholarly knowledge. The present contribution discusses several hitherto unknown or misrepresented nm lexemes. Ten of these are inherited from pre-modern Mandaic antecedents that are, as far as can be established, not manifest in classical and post-classical Mandaic textual sources. Most of these inherited lexical items are of Aramaic origin, whereas a few are of ultimate Iranian provenance. 1 I am grateful to Dr. Samuel E. Fox for his valuable comments. Data on nm and other Neo-Aramaic varieties is fieldwork-based, except for Mlaḥsô, based on O. Jastrow, Der neuaramäische Dialekt von Mlaḥsô (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994), and for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Prof. Werner Arnold's forthcoming dictionary of this language, a copy of which was kindly made available to me by the author. Main sources for pre-modern Aramaic languages are E.
Page 1. 9. be bâ~b?d 7od hamazyäd - b-wáxt?d grâni k?mrí ?iôîa golíw a ta baqid ?od faqire. tarti... more Page 1. 9. be bâ~b?d 7od hamazyäd - b-wáxt?d grâni k?mrí ?iôîa golíw a ta baqid ?od faqire. tartine kiniwa faqire. kudfat ?od didew. тэп yá-tara. тэг b-?óxái x?¿ti¡, lá-тШй тэп к, 9. With regard to the househc Agha Ham. He used ...
Comparative lexical studies in Neo-Mandaic / by Hezy Mutzafi. pages cm.-(Studies in semitic langu... more Comparative lexical studies in Neo-Mandaic / by Hezy Mutzafi. pages cm.-(Studies in semitic languages and linguistics ; Volume 73) includes bibliographical references and index.
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, Jun 23, 2022
The spectrum of Neo-Aramaic languages and dialects, spoken in an arch of language-islets that str... more The spectrum of Neo-Aramaic languages and dialects, spoken in an arch of language-islets that stretch from south-western Syria to south-western Iran, exhibits rich lexical repositories inherited from early layers of the Aramaic language. Within this wealthy lexical legacy, some genuine Aramaic lexical items are not attested in any of the literary Aramaic sources, hence it is only by virtue of these modern lexical manifestations that the existence of the ancient Aramaic antecedents of these words can be inferred or reconstructed. Such historical lacunae concern also meanings that must be of considerable antiquity, yet these meanings, pertaining to well-known Aramaic words, have no evidence in literary Aramaic, having surfaced only in the modern era. This article discusses ten selected cases of pre-modern Aramaic words and meanings that were discovered by etymological and comparative examination of their modern reflexes in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), Western Neo-Aramaic and Ṭuroyo.
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, May 15, 2018
The present article concerns twelve cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not ... more The present article concerns twelve cases of Akkadian lexical influences on Aramaic that are not manifest until the modern period. These are added to several cases already discussed in scholarly works, and include ten substrate words and two loan translations, all in NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (nena), and in one case of loan translation apparently also in Western Neo-Aramaic (assuming a westward diffusion of the innovation involved). As most Akkadian lexical influences which surface in Neo-Aramaic are confined to nena, it seems that the main reasons for the lack of their attestation in pre-modern Aramaic is the strictly vernacular nature of the remote progenitor of nena, and the fact that the history of this dialect group is not attested. * Research on the Jewish dialects discussed in this article was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 339/11). Data on Neo-Aramaic dialects is fieldwork-based, except for Western Neo-Aramaic, based on Arnold, forthcoming, a copy of which was kindly made available to me by the author. Notes on transcription: k̭ is an unaspirated phoneme whereas k is aspirated. The retroflex ɻ (ipa value) is phonemic in some nena dialects. Vowel length is indicated only where it is phonemic i.e. for ā vs. a (in some dialects). Superscript + indicates word-emphasis. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated
Brill's annual of afroasiatic languages and linguistics, 2015
The change of a rhotic consonant into a voiced dental one is unique to some dialects of Ṭyare Neo... more The change of a rhotic consonant into a voiced dental one is unique to some dialects of Ṭyare Neo-Aramaic amongst all other Aramaic and Semitic languages. It is a conditioned change, operating only on the Ṭyare retroflex rhotic phoneme /ɻ/ and only when the latter is geminated, whereas the two other rhotic phonemes of the Ṭyare cluster of dialects, alveolar /r/ and emphatic alveolar /ṛ/, are left unaffected. The diachronic background of Ṭyare ɻɻ…
The present article concerns salient Jewish Neo-Aramaic (jna) innovations in the framework of Nor... more The present article concerns salient Jewish Neo-Aramaic (jna) innovations in the framework of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (nena).jnais such a wide spectrum of varieties that in some cases geographically distant dialects are fundamentally different from each other on all levels of language structure and are mutually incomprehensible. Nevertheless, all these dialects share some typical or unique traits which transcend dialectal boundaries and bind thejnavarieties together to the exclusion of all or the vast majority of neighboring Christiannenadialects. Ethnolectal divisions and separate Jewish as opposed to Christian isoglosses innenahave likely emerged due to diffusional patterns dominated by the force of communal and confessional cohesiveness that has overridden convergence and affinity with geographically proximate, but religiously distinct,nena-speaking communities.
The present article refers to several selected lexical oddities which appear in Yona Sabar's A Je... more The present article refers to several selected lexical oddities which appear in Yona Sabar's A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary. The article seeks to clarify the etymologies of these lexical items, to refine their definitions whenever necessary, and to offer extensive comparative data related to cognates and missing links in various other Neo-Aramaic varieties, in particular NorthEastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. All lexical items in question are proven to be inherited from pre-modern Aramaic, and five of them appear to be part of the inventory of Akkadian loanwords in NENA and other Aramaic languages. Mere recourse to Classical Aramaic is inadequate for uncovering the origins of most of these lexical items due to far-reaching semantic, phonological and morphological changes that have distanced them *) This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 111/08) and is derived from my work on an etymological dictionary of the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) dialects. Notes on transcription: Apart from the short vowel phoneme ə, the phonemes i, e, ε, o, and u are generally short in closed syllables and open unstressed final ones, and half long or long otherwise. Vowel length is indicated only forā vs. a. Stress is penultimate unless otherwise indicated. Superscript + preceding a word indicates word-emphasis. Unless another source is cited, the etymological references in this work are based on the following dictionaries: for Akkadian:
Uploads
Papers by Hezy Mutzafi