LINGUIST List 12.2363

Mon Sep 24 2001

Sum: Status of Assyrian Language

Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Ahmad R. Lotfi, RE: Q: O'Geady's Contemporary Linguistics

Dear linguists,

In my posting to LINGUIST (vol-12-2314) concerning Steinberg'
chapter in O'Grady et al (2001), I wrote:
>
>(3) On page 376, Steinbergs considers Assyrian to be an extinct
>language with no native-speakers. As far as I know, we've got
>some native-speakers of this language living in Urmia (north-
>west of Iran). Iranian Assyrians are a small Christian
>community, and this must have helped them to retain their
>native language.
>
Larry Trask and Peter T. Daniels remind me that the variety
spoken by Iranian Assyrians (like those from Iraq and Syrria)
must be a variety of Modern Aramaic which they themselves call
Assyrian, too. The Assyrian language itself is now extinct.

Best regards,

Ahmad R. Lotfi



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Ahmad R. Lotfi, Ph. D
Department of the English Language, Chair
Azad University at Khorasgan Esfahan, IRAN.
Mail: lotfiwww.dci.co.ir
http://www.geocities.com/arlotfi/lotfipage.html
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