Assyrian Aramaic Dialects | Similarities & Differences

Can Assyrian Aramaic speakers understand each other's dialects? In today's video we're focusing on one of the most ancient living languages as we compare the similarities and differences between some of the dialects of Assyrian Aramaic. Assyrians have a very fascinating history and their language and culture has influenced many groups across the Middle East. Much of this influence goes unnoticed at times, including the historical and ancient impact they had on Iran, the Persian language, and Iranian culture, something I brought up and discussed in this video.

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There are different varieties of Aramaic spoken by Assyrians, who are native to present-day Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey. In addition, there are Jewish varieties, written in the Hebrew script, spoken by Assyrian Jews. Today, Assyrians are among the Christian minorities in the Middle East, while prior to adopting Christianity, with a history stretching back more than 4600 years, they mainly followed ancient Mesopotamian religions. Being stateless and divided between empires and spheres of influence for centuries, served to divide the Assyrian people. Initially between East (Church of the East) and West (Syriac Orthodox). Eventually, these two also developed splits with groups submitting to the pope in Rome and forming the Chaldean Catholic Church (East Syriac rite) and Syriac Catholic Church (West Syriac rite). These religious schisms became formalized by the 1830s and were recognized by the Ottomans. By the 21st century, the Assyrians were fragmented along 4 main fault lines, not to mention people that became Protestant or Russian Orthodox in the 19th century. The distance and geographical divides between various districts/regions, national borders (such as those between the Ottoman and Persian empires), and the differences in local dialects with no strong unified national movement or school system stalled solidarity even further. This resulted in more dialects being formed and at this stage, most Assyrians identified using the same endonym (Suraye) and they called their language "Suret", with these names being pronounced differently in different dialects, but are essentially being the same. Furthermore, the surrounding Turks, Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Georgians, and others called Assyrians by different terms, such as the Persians calling them Ashuri (آشوری). In the native books, most of which were in Classical Syriac until the 19th century, Assyrians were identified as "Suryaye" (Syrians) and the language was termed "Suryaya" (Syriac). The 20th and 21st centuries dispersed Assyrians even further, communities became disjointed and began to see the differences between each other rather than the similarities.

I hope that this video will serve to unite Assyrians and Aramaic speakers from different backgrounds and bring them closer together!

The status of Aramaic began to rise historically when it replaced earlier Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Hebrew, and Phoenician. Spoken in many different variants, Aramaic become the lingua franca of much of western Asia, including the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Egypt. It was the language that Jesus spoke in the Galilean dialect and the language of parts of the Hebrew Bible. The language was used during the time of the Babylonian Empire as well as the Achaemenid Empire, becoming the lingua franca all throughout those territories. Because of its importance and wide use, the Aramaic script was adopted by other languages. For instance, it was used to write many non-Semitic languages, such as the Pahlavi script for various Middle Iranian languages. Modified forms of the Aramaic script were used to write many languages such as Parthian, Middle Persian, Sogdian, and Khwarazmian. It was also the liturgical language of religions that are now extinct, such as Manichaeism.