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The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amәdya


Éditeur : Brill Date & Lieu : 2011, Leiden / Boston
Préface : Pages : 366
Traduction : ISBN : 978 90 04 18257 8
Langue : AnglaisFormat : 160x240 mm
Code FIKP : Liv. Ang.Thème : Linguistique

The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amәdya

The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amәdya

Jared Greenblatt

Brill

The loss of a language represents...an irreparable loss for us all, the loss of opportunities to glimpse alternative ways of making sense of the human experience. (Mithun 1999: 2)

History and Dialectal Classification

The use of the blanket term “Neo-Aramaic” in itself, as well as the commonly accepted convention of writing about its so-called “dialects”, may give the uninitiated reader the misguided impression that “Neo-Aramaic” is one, homogenous language. In fact, the name is used to refer to all those modern tongues which can be shown to have their origins in the Aramaic language of old.1 In actual fact, the major “dialects” of Neo-Aramaic are quite often mutually unintelligible, evenin cases of relative geographical proximity.

.....


Contents

Acknowledgments / ix

Introduction / 1
History and Dialectal Classification / 1
The Place / 3
Extant Research / 5
System of Transcription / 6
Abbreviations / 10

Chapter One Phonetics and Phonology / 13
1.1 Consonantal Phonemes / 13
1.2 Realisation of Consonantal Phonemes / 13
1.3 Vocalic Phonemes and Diphthongs / 23
1.4 Realisation of Vocalic Phonemes and Diphthongs / 25
1.5 Gemination of Consonants / 26
1.6 Stress / 30
1.7 Final Devoicing of Consonants / 34
1.8 Emphasis and Emphatics / 35
1.9 Historical Background of Consonants / 36

Chapter Two Nominal Morphology / 43
2.1 Class I: Nouns Ending in -a, -ta (f.) or -t̠a (f.) / 44
2.1.1 Patterns / 44
2.1.2 Derivational Affixes / 52
2.1.3 Gender / 57
2.1.4 Plural Forms / 59
2.2 Class II / 64
2.2.1 Types of Noun / 65
2.2.2 Gender / 67
2.2.3 Plural Types / 68
2.3 Annexation of Nouns / 71

Chapter Three Pronouns / 77
3.1 Independent Personal Pronouns / 77
3.2 Possessive Pronominal Suffixes / 78
3.3 Independent Possessive Pronouns / 80
3.4 Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns / 81
3.5 Demonstrative Pronouns / 83
3.6 Relative Pronoun / 84
3.7 Interrogative Pronouns / 85
3.8 Indefinite Pronouns / 85

Chapter Four Verbal Morphology / 87
4.0 Introduction and Overview of Verbal Inflection / 87
4.0.1 The Imperative / 88
4.0.2 The Present Base / 88
4.0.3 The Past Base / 90
4.0.4 The Stative Participle / 92
4.0.5 The Infinitive / 93
4.1 Stem I Verbs / 93
4.1.1 Strong Verbs / 93
4.1.2 Verbs I-‘ (and Verbs I-‘, II-w; Verbs I-‘, III-y) 108
4.1.3 Verbs I-y / 118
4.1.4 Verbs II-w / 122
4.1.5 Verbs II-y / 127
4.1.6 Verbs III-‘ / 131
4.1.7 Verbs III-w / 135
4.1.8 Verbs III-y / 139
4.1.9 Verbs I-y, III-w / 144
4.1.10 Verbs I-y, III-y / 148
4.1.11 Verbs II-y, III-‘ / 152
4.1.12 Verbs II-y, III-y / 156
4.1.13 Verbs II-w, III-y / 160
4.1.14 b-‘-y ‘to want, to wish’ / 164
4.1.15 y-d-‘ ‘to know’ / 168
4.1.16 m-ṣ-y ‘to be able’ / 171
4.1.17 y-(h-)w-l ‘to give’ / 175
4.1.18 ‘әtl- ‘to have’ / 179
4.2 Stem II Verbs / 183
4.2.1 Strong Verbs / 183
4.2.2 Verbs with Weak Radicals and Other
Peculiarites / 188
4.3 Stem III Verbs / 192
4.3.1 Strong Verbs / 192
4.3.2 Verbs with Weak Radicals / 199
4.3.3 Verbs m-X-Y / 207
4.3.4 y-t-w III (m-t-w) ‘to place, to put’ / 215
4.4 Stem IV Verbs-Quadriliterals / 219
4.4.1 Class I / 219
4.4.2 Class II / 225
4.5 Stem V Verbs-Pentaliterals / 230
4.6 The Copula / 234

Chapter Five Verbal Function—Indicative vs. Subjunctive
Moods / 241
5.1 Indicative Mood / 241
5.1.1 Present Indicative (k-qaṭәl) / 241
5.1.2 Present Continuous (wәlle / -ile (bә)qṭala) / 243
5.2 Subjunctive Mood / 244
5.2.1 Present Subjunctive (qaṭәl form) / 244
5.2.2 Present Continuous Subjunctive (hawe (bә)qṭala) / 249

Chapter Six Adjectives / 251
6.1 General / 251
6.2 Class I Adjectival Patterns / 251
6.3 Class II-Invariable Adjectives / 255
6.4 Partially Adapted Loanwords / 255

Chapter Seven Adverbs and Other Particles / 257
7.1 Spatial Adverbs / 257
7.2 Temporal Adverbs / 257
7.3 Interrogative Adverbs / 258
7.4 Other Adverbs / 258
7.5 Prepositions / 259
7.6 Miscellaneous Uninflected Particles / 260

Chapter Eight Numerals / 261
8.1 Cardinal Numerals / 261
8.2 Ordinal Numerals / 263
8.3 Fractions / 263
8.4 Multiples / 263
8.5 Days of the Week / 264
8.6 Seasons / 264

Chapter Nine Texts and Translations / 265
9.0 Introduction to Texts: Methodology and Notes / 265
9.1 Text 1: A Rich Jew / 268
9.2 Text 2: Sher ad-Din / 280
9.3 Text 3: The Judeophilic Bear / 308
9.4 Text 4: Giants / 316
9.5 Text 5: Bruria / 318
9.6 Text 6: How to Make Raki / 326
9.7 Text 7: Blacksmith Anecdote / 336
9.8 Text 8: Queueing for Watermelons / 338
9.9 Text 9: Smoking / 340
9.10 Text 10: Snakes, Scorpions, Sticks and a Sheikh / 342

Chapter Ten Glossary / 347
References / 365


INTRODUCTION

The loss of a language represents...an irreparable loss for us all, the loss of opportunities to glimpse alternative ways of making sense of the human experience. (Mithun 1999: 2)

History and Dialectal Classification

The use of the blanket term “Neo-Aramaic” in itself, as well as the commonly accepted convention of writing about its so-called “dialects”, may give the uninitiated reader the misguided impression that “Neo-Aramaic” is one, homogenous language. In fact, the name is used to refer to all those modern tongues which can be shown to have their origins in the Aramaic language of old.1 In actual fact, the major “dialects” of Neo-Aramaic are quite often mutually unintelligible, evenin cases of relative geographical proximity.

By the standards of the world’s languages, the degree of variety within Neo-Aramaic is unexpected for such a small language area. This state of affairs is at least partially explained by the fact that the once contiguous language area of the Aramaic language was carved up into numerous non-contiguous enclaves, which then underwent a sustained period of separate development. A brief consideration of the historical circumstances which led to this is perhaps appropriate at this point.

Documents written in the Aramaic language are attested almost continuously from as early as the 9th century BCE. Aramaic, or rather, a relatively homogenised form known as “Imperial Aramaic”, eventually became the official lingua franca of the Babylonian and the Achaemenid Persian empires (c. 700–300 B.C.E) and gradually superseded Akkadian as well as the other native languages of the countries which constituted the Persian empires. Even prior to the onset of the Christian era, there already existed a number of discernible varieties ...

1 On the other hand, the terminology is perhaps best viewed as an attempt at pragmatism, and there is much to be said for the sacrifice of a proportion of positivism on the altar of brevity, clarity and comprehensibility. Of course, scholars do not always imply that Neo-Aramaic is just one language. For example, Otto Jastrow’s 1997 article in The Semitic Languages is entitled “The Neo-Aramaic Languages”.



Acknowledgments

This monograph is based on fieldwork carried out during my time reading for a doctorate at the University of Cambridge. Thanks are due to the Arts and Humanities Council for the Doctoral Award (2004-2007) which funded this. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Geoffrey Khan, for his tireless assistance during the course of my doctoral studies, and especially over the final few months, during which his considered and, above all, calm advice was more of a help to me than he can know. Few doctoral students have the good fortune to be supervised by a scholar of the academic calibre of Professor Khan. More importantly, however, he is a mentsch.

Thank you to all my informants, for their willingness to co-operate with the often burdensome fieldwork tasks and also to have me try every one of their traditional dishes.

My gratitude is also due, in no small measure, to Dr Hezy Mutzafi, without whom my initial forays into the world of Israeli Neo-Aramaic speakers would surely have been fruitless. His advice and suggestions throughout my time doing fieldwork in Israel and thereafter were invaluable.

Thanks to my wife, Sarah Hindy, for her steadfast support. Thanks are also due to my mother and my sister for all their support (and proofreading) and to the man who did most to encourage me to pursue this work, my late father.

Jared Greenblatt

The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amәdya

Brill

Brill
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amәdya
Jared Greenblatt

Leiden / Boston
2011

Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics

Editorial board
T. Muraoka, A.D. Rubin and C.H.M. Versteegh

Volume 61

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Greenblatt, Jared R., 1980–
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Amәdya / By Jared R. Greenblatt.
p. cm. - (Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics ; v. 61)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-18257-8 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Aramaic language-Dialects-
Iraq-‘Amadiyah-Grammar. 2. ‘Amadiyah (Iraq)-Languages. I. Title. II. Series.

PJ5282.G74 2010
492’.2-dc22

2010038213

Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

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ISSN 0081-8461
ISBN 978 90 04 18257 8

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