The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh

by Geoffrey Khan, G. Khan

Overview

Containing a detailed grammatical description of the spoken Aramaic dialect of the Christian community in the town of Qaraqosh, which lies on the Mosul plain in Northern Iraq, this volume also includes a transcription of oral texts recorded in the dialect.
The grammar is based on extensive fieldwork carried out among native speakers. It consists of sections on phonology, morphology and syntax. There is also a study of semantic fields in the lexicon of the dialect and full glossaries of lexical items.
This Aramaic dialect has never been described before. It is one of the most archaic dialects in group known as North Eastern Neo-Aramaic that contains many features that have not been found in other dialects. These include several lexical elements that are not found in earlier literary Aramaic but can be traced back to Akkadian and Sumerian. Knowledge of the dialect is now being lost among the younger generations, so this volume is an important linguistic record.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004128637
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/29/2002
Series:	Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics Series , #36
Pages:	752
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.84(h) x (d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Khan, Ph.D. (1984) in Semitic languages, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, is Reader in Semitic Philology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy. He has published extensively on medieval Semitic philology and Neo-Aramaic dialectology.

Editorial Reviews

'…scholars of Neo-Aramaic will be delighted with this second monograph of Neo-Aramaic studies by Khan…'
Yona Sabar, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2004.

From the Publisher