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Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, or Assyrian, is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic〔Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northeastern Neo-Aramaic". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.〕〔Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List〕 language spoken by an estimated 200,000 people〔 throughout a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia in northwestern Iran, to the Nineveh plains, and the Irbil, Mosul, Kirkuk and Duhok regions in northern Iraq, together with the Al Hasakah region of northeastern Syria, and formerly parts of southeastern Turkey.〔Maclean, Arthur John (1895). ''Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul''. Cambridge University Press, London.〕 In recent years, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic has spread throughout the Assyrian diaspora.〔Beyer, Klaus; John F. Healey (trans.) (1986). The Aramaic Language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. p. 44. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.〕 Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is closely related to Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, both evolving from the same distinct Syriac dialect which evolved in Assyria〔Khan 2008, pp. 6〕 between the 5th century BC and 1st century AD.〔Tekoglu, R. & Lemaire, A. (2000). La bilingue royale louvito-phénicienne de Çineköy. Comptes rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions, et belleslettres, année 2000, 960-1006.〕 There is also some Akkadian vocabulary and influence in the language. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is written from right to left, and it uses the ''Madnhāyā'' version of the Syriac alphabet.〔The Nestorians and their Rituals; George Percy Badger.〕〔A Short History of Syriac Christianity; W. Stewart McCullough.〕 Speakers of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Turoyo are ethnic Assyrians and are descendants of the ancient Assyrian inhabitants of Northern Mesopotamia.〔The Fihrist (Catalog): A Tench Century Survey of Islamic Culture. Abu 'l Faraj Muhammad ibn Ishaq al Nadim. Great Books of the Islamic World, Kazi Publications. Translator: Bayard Dodge.〕〔Herodotus, The Histories, VII.63, s:History of Herodotus/Book 7〕〔From a lecture by J. A. Brinkman: "There is no reason to believe that there would be no racial or cultural continuity in Assyria, since there is no evidence that the population of Assyria was removed." Quoted in Efram Yildiz's "The Assyrians" Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, 13.1, pp. 22, ref 24〕〔Especially in view of the very early establishment of Christianity in Assyria and its continuity to the present and the continuity of the population, I think there is every likelihood that ancient Assyrians are among the ancestors of modern Assyrians of the area." Biggs, pp. 10〕〔Assyrians After Assyria, Parpola〕 Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is the largest speaking Neo-Aramaic group (232,000 speakers), which follows Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (206,000 speakers) and Turoyo (112,000 speakers).〔 *〕 Despite the terms ''Chaldean Neo-Aramaic'' and ''Assyrian Neo-Aramaic'' indicating a separate religious (or even ethnic) identity, both languages and their native speakers originate from, and are indigenous to, the same Upper Mesopotamian region (which was Assyria between the 25th century BC and 7th century AD).〔 Most speakers are members of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is, to a significant extent, mutually intelligible with Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Senaya, Lishana Deni and Bohtan Neo-Aramaic (which are, at times, considered Assyrian dialects). It is partially intelligible with the Jewish Aramaic languages of Lishan Didan and Lishanid Noshan.〔Avenery, Iddo, ''The Aramaic Dialect of the Jews of Zakho''. The Israel academy of Science and Humanities 1988.〕〔Heinrichs, Wolfhart (ed.) (1990). ''Studies in Neo-Aramaic''. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. ISBN 1-55540-430-8.〕 Its mutual intelligibility with Turoyo is rather limited.〔Tezel, Aziz (2003). ''Comparative Etymological Studies in the Western Neo-Syriac (Ṭūrōyo) Lexicon: with special reference to homonyms, related words and borrowings with cultural signification''. Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 91-554-5555-7.〕 == History == Aramaic was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the vernacular language of Assyria in classical antiquity.〔 〕〔Bae, C. Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538-333 BCE). Journal of Universal Language. March 2004, 1-20.〕〔(Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C. by G. R. Driver )〕〔The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3〕 Aramaic writing has been found as far north as Hadrians Wall in Ancient Britain, in the form of inscriptions in Aramaic, made by Assyrian and Aramean soldiers serving in the Roman Legions in northern England during the 2nd century AD.〔http://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/oct/13/hadrians-wall〕 The Syriac language had evolved from Imperial Aramaic, an Akkadian infused dialect introduced as the lingua franca of Assyria and the Neo Assyrian Empire by Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century BC. The term ''Syrian'' and thus its derivative ''Syriac'', had originally been 9th century BC Indo-Anatolian and Greek corruptions of ''Assyria'', and specifically meant only Assyria until the 3rd century BC, after which the Seleucid Greeks also applied the term to The Levant and its largely Aramean and Phoenician inhabitants.〔Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65 (4): 284–287. doi:10.1086/511103.〕 Syriac began as an unwritten spoken dialect of Imperial Aramaic in Assyria-northern Mesopotamia, an Akkadian influenced version of the Old Aramaic language which was introduced as the lingua franca of the Neo Assyrian Empire by Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC)〔 *〕 The first evidence of such dialects emerged in Assyria, and begin to influence the written Imperial Aramaic from the 5th century BC. After the conquest of Assyria, Syriac and other Aramaic dialects gradually lost their status as imperial languages but continued to flourish as lingua francas alongside Ancient Greek. By the 1st century AD, Akkadian was extinct, although some loaned vocabulary still survives in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic to this day.〔(Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian )〕〔Kaufman, Stephen A. (1974),The Akkadian influences on Aramaic. University of Chicago Press〕 The Neo-Aramaic languages are ultimately descended from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, displacing the East Semitic Assyrian dialect of Akkadian. The Neo-Aramaic languages evolved from Middle Aramaic by the 13th century. Following the Achaemenid conquest of Assyria under Darius I, the Aramaic language was adopted as the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages."〔 p. 251〕〔 p. 457.〕 The Assyrian Empire resorted to a policy of deporting troublesome conquered peoples (predominantly fellow Semitic Aramean tribes as well as many Jews) into the lands of Mesopotamia. By the 6th century, the indigenous and originally Akkadian speaking Semites of Assyria and Babylonia, spoke Akkadian infused dialects of Eastern Aramaic, which still survive among the Assyrian people to this day. Consequently, during the Persian rule of Assyria, Aramaic gradually became the main language spoken by the Assyrians. Even before the Empire fell, the Assyrians had made the language the'' lingua franca'' of its empire, capable of speaking both Akkadian and Aramaic.〔〔 There is evidence that the adoption of Syriac, the language of the Assyrian people, was led by missionaries. Much literary effort was put into the production of an authoritative translation of the Bible into Syriac, the Peshitta ( '). At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Syriac language. By the 3rd century AD, churches in Edessa began to use Syriac as the language of worship and the language became the literary and liturgical language of many churches in the Fertile Crescent. Syriac was the lingua franca of the Middle East until 900 AD, when it was superseded by Arabic. The differences with the Assyrian Church of the East led to the bitter Nestorian schism in the Syriac-speaking world. As a result, Syriac developed distinctive western and eastern varieties. Although remaining a single language with a high level of comprehension between the varieties, the two employ distinctive variations in pronunciation and writing system, and, to a lesser degree, in vocabulary. The Mongol invasions of the 13th century, and the religiously motivated massacres of Assyrian Christians by Tamurlane further contributed to the rapid decline of the language. In many places outside of northern Mesopotamia (the Assyrian homeland), even in liturgy, it was replaced by Arabic.〔Bird, Isabella, ''Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, including a summer in the Upper Karun region and a visit to the Nestorian rayahs'', London: J. Murray, 1891, vol. ii, pp. 282 and 306〕 Instability throughout the Middle East over the past century has led to a worldwide diaspora of Assyrian Aramaic-speakers, with many speakers now living abroad, such as in North America, Australia or in Europe. Despite this, the Assyrian homeland still has sizable Assyrian Aramaic-speaking communities, particularly Mosul, Irbil, Kirkuk, Dohuk and Hasakah. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Assyrian Neo-Aramaic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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