Comments on: Aramaic on Foreign Correspondent

By: Lameen

Lameen — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:43:27 +0000

Interesting post. A few points
* The local church isn’t Coptic, though there are both Catholic and Orthodox churches there.
* “anyone who dared speak Aramaic would have their tongue cut out” – a ridiculous claim. Aramaic remained the main language of the countryside for centuries, and unusually extensive Aramaic influence can be traced in the dialects and placenames of the whole area around Maalula.
* The Muslims of Maalula only converted a couple of centuries ago, following a dispute with their bishop about fasting.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:56:07 +0000

Great Documentary.

The original form of Aramaic is also most apparent, according to many scholars, in the Syriac language of today.

Peter is correct. You could just visit the Syriac Orthodox Church in Lidcombe Sydney and find some of the decendants right there at your door step.

Good work

By: jangari

jangari — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:15:14 +0000

Thanks for the clarifications, Peter. Incidentally, I did see on the IMDb entry for The Passion that the language was listed as Assyrian Neo-Aramaic.

I probably shouldn’t have assumed that the linguistic situation was as simple as Matt Brown thought it was. But then, we’re supposed to trust journalists, right? I guess he in turn trusted the Malula locals’ insistence that they, and only they, speak this ‘ancient tongue’ (that’s certainly I phrase I could live without).

By: Peter Austin

Peter Austin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:49:51 +0000

The situation is rather more complicated than your blog or the summary of the Foreign Correspondent report suggests. It is important to distinguish so-called "Neo-Aramaic", the modern spoken language, from "Classical Aramaic" the liturgical language. Neo-Aramaic has many dialects, Western and Eastern, and is not only spoken in Syria but also in northern Iraq and in Iran. Sabah Aldihisi, a Mandean from Iraq, is working with us in the Endangered Languages Academic Programme at SOAS recording Mandean rituals in the liturgical language, along with the spoken language. He has done fieldwork in Syria and Sweden, as well as London, and plans research in Iran later this year. There is a sizeable Aramaic speaking community in Sydney, Australia - you don't have to go all the way to Malula to hear Aramaic spoken.