As of the 1990s, the NENA group had an estimated number of speakers just below 1,500,000, spread throughout the Middle East and the Chaldean diaspora. More than 90% of these speak either the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic or Chaldean Neo-Aramaic variety, two varieties of Christian Neo-Aramaic or ''Sureth'' which, contrary to what their names suggest, are ''not'' divided among denominational Chaldean church/Chaldean church lines.<ref>Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northeastern Neo-Aramaic". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</ref><ref>Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List</ref><ref>Khan 2008, pp. 6</ref> A further number speak [[Central Neo-Aramaic]] dialects, with figures for these ranging from 112,000 to 450,000 speakers.<ref>Turoyo at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)</ref> Mutual intelligibility with Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is considerable, but to a limited degree in some dialects.
It is extremely [[mutual intelligibility|closely related]] to [[Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]], both evolving from the same [[Syriac Aramaic language]], a distinct dialect which evolved in [[AssyriaMesopotamia]]<ref>Khan 2008, pp. 6</ref> between the 5th century BC and 1st century AD. The terms ''Syrian'' and thus ''Syriac'' were originally 9th century BC [[Indo-Anatolian]] derivatives of ''Assyrian''.<ref>Tekoglu, R. & Lemaire, A. (2000). La bilingue royale louvito-phénicienne de Çineköy. Comptes rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions, et belleslettres, année 2000, 960-1006.</ref>
Despite the terms ''Chaldean Neo-Aramaic'' and ''Assyrian Neo-Aramaic'' indicating a separate religious or even ethnic identity, both languages and their native speakers originate from and are indigenous to the same [[Upper Mesopotamia]]n region (what was [[Assyria]] between the 9th century BC and 7th century BC), and both originate directly from SyriacAramaic, which was founded in that same regionnear Syria and Palestine.
== History ==
The Syriac language in turn, had evolved from [[Imperial AramaicChaldean]], an [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] infused dialect introduced as the [[lingua franca]] of Chaldea and the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] by [[Chaldean Kings]] in the 10th century BC. The term ''Syrian'' and thus its derivative ''Syriac'', had originally been 9th century BC [[Indo-Anatolian]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] corruptions of ''Nenivah".<ref>Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65 (4): 284–287. doi:10.1086/511103.</ref>
Chaldean Language is one of a number of modern or original languages also called the [[Northeastern Aramaic languagesBabylonian language]] spoken by the [[Chaldean people]], native to the northern region of [[Iraq]] from [[Kirkuk]] through the [[Nineveh plains]], [[Irbil]] and [[Mosul]] to [[Dohuk]], [[Urmia]] in northwestern [[Iran]], northeastern [[Syria]] (particularly the [[Al Hasakah]] region) and in southeast [[Turkey]], particularly [[Hakkari]], [[Bohtan]], [[Harran]], [[Tur Abdin]], [[Mardin]] and [[Diyarbakir]]. The [[Chaldean Christian]] dialects have been heavily influenced by [[Classical SyriacBabylonian]], the literary language of the [[Chaldean Church]] and Church of the EAST [[Syriac Christianity]] in antiquity.
Therefore, Christian Neo-Aramaic has a dual heritage: literary [[SyriacChaldean]] and colloquial [[Chaldean]] [[Eastern Aramaic]]. The closely related dialects are often collectively called ''Soureth'', or ''Syriac ''in [[Iraqi Arabic]]which is inaccurate naming.
[[Jews]], [[Mandeans]] and [[Syriac]]-[[Aramean]] Christians speak different dialects of Aramaic that are often mutually unintelligible.
==Dialects==
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Soureth are dialects originating in the [[Nineveh Plains]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]]{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}, a region which was an integral part of ancient Chaldea between the 9th century BC and 7th century BC. They have a number of identifiable dialects, each corresponding to one of the Chaldo-Chaldean Christian villages where the language is spoken. The village/dialects are: [[Ankawa]], [[Alqosh]], [[Aqrah]], Mangesh, [[Tel Kaif|Tel Keppe]], [[Bakhdida|Baghdeda]], [[Tel Skuf]], [[Baqofah]], [[Batnaya]], [[Bartella]], Sirnak-Cizre (Bohtan), [[Araden]] and [[Duhok, Iraq|Dahuk]]. {{citation needed|date=March 2015}}
==Phonology==