Inter-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic, or ''Lishanid Noshan'', is a modern Jewish-Aramaic dialect, a variant of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic. It was originally spoken in

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok ...

of Iraq, in and around Arbil between the Great Zab and Little Zab rivers. Most speakers now live in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Phonology

Lishanid Noshan has 40

phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...

s. 34 of them are

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...

s, and 6 of them are

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

Laryngeals The laryngeal theory is a theory in the historical linguistics of the Indo-European languages positing that: * The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) had a series of phonemes beyond those reconstructable by the comparative method. That is, the ...

and

pharyngeals A pharyngeal consonant is a consonant that is articulated primarily in the pharynx. Some phoneticians distinguish upper pharyngeal consonants, or "high" pharyngeals, pronounced by retracting the root of the tongue in the mid to upper pharynx, ...

originally found in Lishanid Noshan have not been preserved. In

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

, ''*ʕ'', a voiced pharyngeal fricative is prominent in words. However, it has weakened in Lishanid Noshan to /ʔ/ or zero. Regarding interdental fricatives, there has been a shift seen with ''*t'' and ''*d''. ''*h'', the original unvoiced pharyngeal fricative, has fused with the velar fricative /x/ in Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects. This is not the case for Lishanid Noshan. ''*h'' can still be seen in some words such as ''dbh'', which means "to slaughter." Word

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

often occurs on the final syllable of stems of nominals and verbs.

Grammar

Word Order

Subjects in Lishand Noshan often come before the verb when they are full nominals. The referent of subject nominals in this canonical order can be identified from the prior discourse or through assumed shared information between the speakers. Sometimes, it can also be used when the referent of the subject nominal has not been entered into the discourse yet and is not identifiable by the hearer. :''ʔiyyá kābrá qìmle.'' :This man got up. Nominals that function as direct objects in verb clauses are normally positioned before the verb.

Articles

Definite articles

In Lishanid Noshan, ''-ake'' is the definite

article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

. According to Khan, this affix is another sign of how Kurdish dialects have influenced this language; the Kurdish dialects have ''-aka'' for the direct case and ''-akay'' in the oblique case. When ''-ake'' is added to a noun, the singular and plural endings ''-a'' and ''-e'' are taken off.

Indefinite articles

Definiteness is expressed if the speaker assumes the hearer has background knowledge on the nominal being inserted into the conversation.

Negation

Regarding negative copular clauses, Lishanid Noshan differentiates constructions that use the negative present versus the negative past.

Negative present copula

Negative present copula is often inserted before or after the predicate. This particular copula usually contains the main stress of the intonation group. This phenomenon can happen in the middle of a predicate phrase. :''ʔiyyá mewānid didì lewé?' :Is he not my guest?

Negative past copula

This particular type of copular comes before the predicate in Lishanid Noshan very often. The main stress is inserted either on the predicate phrase or on ''la'', the negator in Lishanid Noshan. Subject nominals are seen either before or after the copula. :''lá-wela mga-làxxa'. :It was not like here.

Interrogative clauses

Interrogative clauses that can be answered with a yes or a no are differentiated from non-interrogative clauses solely by intonation. The yes-no type of interrogatives has an intonation pattern that rises in pitch where the main stress is; there is no drop in pitch in any of the syllables that come after the part where the main stress is. :''gbát xa-čày?'' :Do you want a tea? :''lā la-ġzèlox mallá?'' :Have you not seen the mullah?

Prepositional case

Certain verbs in Lishanid Noshan mark their complement with the preposition ''b-''. :''badéniwa bi-xlulá.'' :They began the wedding. :''tqèle-bbeu.'' :He pleaded with him.

References

* Heinrichs, Wolfhart (ed.) (1990). ''Studies in Neo-Aramaic''. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. . *

External links

Semitisches Tonarchivrecordings of Lishanid Noshan from Koy Sanjak
{{Neo-Aramaic Endangered Afroasiatic languages Languages of Iraq Languages of Iran Languages of Israel Jewish Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects Languages of Kurdistan