Changes
{{Infobox language
|name=Chaldean Neo-AramaicLanguage
|nativename=<span dir="rtl">ܟܠܕܝܐ</span> ''Kaldāyâ'', <span dir="rtl">ܣܘܼܪܲܝܬ</span> ''Sōreth''
|pronunciation={{IPA-sem|kalˈdɑjɑ], [sorɛθ|}}
|imagecaption= '''Sûret''' in written Syriac <br>(Madnkhaya script)
|imagesize=150px
|states=[[Iraq]], [[Iran]], [[Turkey]], [[Syria]] |region=[[Iraq]]; [[Mosul]], [[Ninawa]], now also [[Baghdad]] and [[Basra]].|speakers=2203,100,000
|date=no date
|ref=e18
|speakers2=(110300,000 in Iraq in 19942015)
|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
|fam2=[[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
'''Chaldean Neo-Aramaic''' is a [[Northeastern Neo-Aramaic]] language<ref>[[Arthur John Maclean|Maclean, Arthur John]] (1895). ''Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul''. Cambridge University Press, London.</ref> spoken throughout a large region stretching from the plain of [[Urmia]], in northwestern Iran, to the [[Nineveh plains]], in northern Iraq, together with parts of southeastern Turkey.<ref>Beyer, Klaus; John F. Healey (trans.) (1986). The Aramaic Language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. p. 44. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.</ref>
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 Assyrian 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/Assyrian 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 Assyrian 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 Neo-Aramaic]], both evolving from the same [[Syriac language]], a distinct dialect which evolved in [[Assyria]]<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>
== History ==
The Syriac language in turn, had evolved from [[Imperial Aramaic]], an [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] infused dialect introduced as the [[lingua franca]] of Assyria Chaldea and the [[Neo-Assyrian Babylonian Empire]] by [[Tiglath-Pileser IIIChaldean Kings]] in the 8th 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 ''Assyria''Nenivah".<ref>Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65 (4): 284–287. doi:10.1086/511103.</ref>
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Language is one of a number of modern [[Northeastern Aramaic languages]] spoken by the [[Assyrian Chaldean people]],<ref>Parpola, Simo (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (in English) (JAAS). Vol. 18 (No. 2): pp. 22.</ref><ref>Mar Raphael J Bidawid. The Assyrian Star. September–October, 1974:5</ref> 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 [[Assyrian Chaldean Christian]] dialects have been heavily influenced by [[Classical Syriac]], the literary language of the [[Assyrian Chaldean Church]] and [[Syriac Christianity]] in antiquity.
Therefore, Christian Neo-Aramaic has a dual heritage: literary [[Syriac]] and colloquial [[Neo-AssyrianChaldean]] [[Eastern Aramaic]]. The closely related dialects are often collectively called ''Soureth'', or ''Syriac ''in [[Iraqi Arabic]].
[[Jews]], [[Mandeans]] and [[Syriac]]-[[Aramean]] Christians speak different dialects of Aramaic that are often mutually unintelligible.
==Dialects==
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic are dialects originating in the [[Nineveh Plains]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]]{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}, a region which was an integral part of ancient Assyria Chaldea between the 9th century BC and 7th century BC. They have a number of identifiable dialects, each corresponding to one of the Chaldo-Assyrian 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==
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*Most of the Chaldean dialects are characterised by the presence of the fricatives {{IPA|/θ/}} (''th'') and {{IPA|/ð/}} (''dh''), which correspond to, respectively, {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} in other Assyrian Chaldean dialects.
*Most Chaldean Neo-Aramaic varieties would use the phoneme of {{IPA|/f/}}, which corresponds to {{IPA|/p/}} in Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (besides the Tyari dialect).
*In some Chaldean dialects {{IPA|/r/}} is realized as {{IPAblink|ɹ}}. In others, it's either a [[Tap consonant|tap]] {{IPAblink|ɾ}} or a [[Trill consonant|trill]] {{IPAblink|r}}.
*Unlike in Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, the [[guttural]] sounds of {{IPAblink|ʕ}} and {{IPAblink|ħ}} are used predominantly in Chaldean varieties - this is a feature also seen in other [[Northeastern Neo-Aramaic]] languages.<ref>*Beyer, Klaus (1986). ''The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.</ref>
===Vowels===
*[[Aramaic language]]
*[[Eastern Aramaic languages]]
*[[Syriac Chaldean language]]*[[Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]]
*[[Chaldean Catholic Church]]
*[[Syriac Orthodox Church]]
* [[Wolfhart Heinrichs|Heinrichs, Wolfhart]] (ed.) (1990). ''Studies in Neo-Aramaic''. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. ISBN 1-55540-430-8.
* [[Arthur John Maclean|Maclean, Arthur John]] (1895). ''Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul''. Cambridge University Press, London.
==External links==
