Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

Introduction

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Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (or just Assyrian) is a language spoken mainly in the Middle East by the Assyrian people, a mainly Christian ethnic group. It is a dialect of Syriac, which itself is a dialect of Aramaic, where Hebrew comes from. There are 22 letters in the Assyrian alphabet. It has its own script, but I will show the Latin equivalents to make it a little bit easier. Each one will be listed here below, as follows:

Section 1a: Consonants

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Letter Letter name Example
ʾ ālap makes no sound
b bēyt ball
g gāmal good
d dalat dog
h happy
w wāʾw water
z zayn zap
ḥēyt "k" sound but at the end of your throat
ṭēyt "t" sound but at the back of your tongue
y yōd yes
k kāp keep
l lāmad love
m mīm mother
n nūn no
s semkat soup
ʿ ʿē makes no sound
p pale
ṣādē soft "s" sound
q qōp "k" sound but at the back of you tongue
r rēš real
š šīn shout
t tāʾw tap

Section 1b: Vowels

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Letter Example
ā bat
a same as "ā", sometimes makes a "u" in "up"
ē hello
e grip
ī keep
ō hope
ū hoop

Section 1c: Other letters

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Letter Example
v vase
j juice
ğ "g" sound at the back of your throat
č chapped
f flute
th thud

Section 2: Greeting

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This is a greeting conversation in Assyrian:

Name of person Sentence Translation Exact Translation
Luke Šlāmā ʿlāḥ! Dāʾḥīt? Hello! How are you? Hello(feminine)! How are you?
Sophia Šlāmā ʿlōḥ! Rābā spāy! Dāʾḥīt? Hello! I am very good! How are you? Hello(masculine)! Very good! How are you?
Luke Rābā spāy! Very good! Very good!
Sophia Spāy! Good! Good!

Note that if you say hello to a female, it would be "Šlāmā ʿlāḥ", to a male, it would be, "Šlāmā ʿlōḥ", and, to a whole group of people, you would say, "Šlāmā ʿlōḥōn".

Section 3: Word tones

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In Assyrian, if you add "my" to a word, you would add an "ī" (sounds like ea in beat) at the end. But if something if you add "your", you would add "ōḥ"to it: These are examples:

Singular +My +Your
baytā (house) baytī (my house) baytōḥ (your house)

Section 4: Family

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English Assyrian
father ābā/bābā
mother yemā
son brūnā
daugther brātā