Contact and change in Neo-Aramaic dialects
Aramaic, a Semitic language, has survived down
to modern times as a spoken language in a large diversity of
Neo-Aramaic dialects. This paper examines various aspects of
contact-induced linguistic change in the subgroup of dialects known
as North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). These dialects have for many
centuries been in contact with various other languages, including
Semitic (Arabic) and non-Semitic (Kurdish, Persian, Armenian, Turkic
languages). Various motivating factors can be identified for
contact-induced change in the NENA dialects. These are
sociolinguistic and internal systemic. When change occurs it often
involves only partial convergence. Change sometimes results in
imitations of the morphology of the contact language using internal
morphological elements. Sociolinguistic and internal systemic
factors can also inhibit change in a contact situation.
Keywords: Aramaic, Neo-Aramaic, contact-induced change, perfect, copula, word order, homophony, aspiration, ergative, Kurdish, Armenian
Article outline
- 1.The Neo-Aramaic dialects
- 2.Constraints on change
- 2.1Constraint on lexical transfer
- 2.2Size of community and geographical location
- 2.3Potential homophony
- 2.4Change inhibited by contact
- 3.Systemic motivations for contact-induced change
- 3.1Elimination of homophony
- 3.2Enrichment of resources
- 4.Partial convergence
- 4.1Perfect construction
- 4.2Copula
- 4.3Word order
- 5.Imitation of morphology
- 6.Reflection of change in contact language
- 7.Summary
-
Notes
-
Abbreviations
-
References
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