Maaloula dialect
E486158
The Maaloula dialect is a variety of Western Neo-Aramaic traditionally spoken in the Syrian village of Maaloula, notable as one of the last surviving spoken forms of the ancient Aramaic language.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Aramaic language variety
ⓘ
Western Neo-Aramaic dialect ⓘ endangered language ⓘ |
| closelyRelatedTo |
Bakhʿa dialect
ⓘ
Jubbʿadin dialect ⓘ |
| country | Syria ⓘ |
| documentedBy | field linguists ⓘ |
| documentedIn |
audio recordings
ⓘ
grammars ⓘ lexicons ⓘ |
| historicalAncestor |
Imperial Aramaic
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Western Middle Aramaic NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| influencedBy | Arabic language ⓘ |
| ISO639-3Code | amw (for Western Neo-Aramaic as a whole) ⓘ |
| languageBranch | Central Semitic languages NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| languageFamily |
Afro-Asiatic languages
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Semitic languages ⓘ |
| languageGroup | Aramaic languages ⓘ |
| languageSubbranch | Northwest Semitic languages NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| lexicalFeature |
Arabic loanwords
ⓘ
large Aramaic core vocabulary ⓘ |
| morphologicalFeature | Aramaic-style verb conjugation ⓘ |
| notableFor |
being one of the last surviving spoken forms of Aramaic
ⓘ
preserving archaic Aramaic features ⓘ |
| numberOfSpeakersApproximate | few thousand ⓘ |
| phonologicalFeature |
emphatic consonants
ⓘ
retention of some classical Aramaic consonants ⓘ |
| region | Levant NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| religionAssociatedWith |
Christianity
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Syriac Christianity NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| revitalizationEffort |
documentation projects by linguists
ⓘ
local community initiatives ⓘ |
| spokenIn |
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Maaloula NERFINISHED ⓘ Rif Dimashq Governorate NERFINISHED ⓘ Syria NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| status | severely endangered ⓘ |
| subgroupOf | Western Neo-Aramaic NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| syntacticFeature | verb–subject–object word order (VSO) in some contexts ⓘ |
| threatenedBy |
Arabic language dominance
ⓘ
urban migration ⓘ |
| timeDepth | directly continues ancient Western Aramaic varieties ⓘ |
| usedByCommunity |
Syrian Christians
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Syrian Muslims NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| usedFor |
everyday communication in Maaloula
ⓘ
oral traditions ⓘ religious expressions ⓘ |
| writingSystem | Arabic script NERFINISHED ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.