This volume contains papers on the Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects and the languages in contact with them. The papers make important contributions to the documentation of the dialects and to the understanding of their development in the context of non-Semitic contact languages.

This monograph provides an extensive syntactic description of the rather well-known but not previously described Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Zakho. The description covers both microsyntax, namely, syntactic relationships within the confines of the sentence: the predicative link, the attributive and completive relationships, and apposition.

This volume describes the Neo-Aramaic dialect spoken by descendants of Christian villagers from a district in Southeast Turkey, now largely resident in Russia. This volume is based on fieldwork carried out by the author in Russia, Georgia, and the United States. The volume contains a historical introduction, a grammatical description, transcribed and translated texts, and a glossary with etymological notes.

More than a literary survey, this introduction to the history of late and Neo-Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) covers the works of the past several centuries. Macuch begins with the post-Mongolian period to the end of the 18th century. For the 19th century, Macuch considers the situation of the Assyrians in this period, including the American, Anglican, and Russian Orthodox missionary enterprises in Urmia, noting the writers of the foreign missions. For the twentieth century he includes literature from the period of the wars up to the 1970s. Various East-Syriac and West-Syriac authors of the Chaldean and Church of the East, and Syrian Orthodox and Maronite traditions, as well as the Syrian literature of Malabar in southern India are also considered.

This volume presents a description of the Neo-Aramaic dialect that was spoken by the Jews of Sanandaj in western Iran, but which is now virtually extinct. The material for the volume was gathered firsthand in fieldwork conducted with the last remaining speakers in Israel. The volume consists of a detailed grammatical description, a corpus of transcribed texts, including folktales, historical accounts and portrayals of customs, and an extensive glossary.

This volume presents a description of the Neo-Aramaic dialect that was spoken by the Jews of Urmi in north-western Iran but which is now virtually extinct. The material for the volume was gathered firsthand in fieldwork conducted with the last remaining speakers in Israel. The volume consists of a detailed grammatical description, a corpus of transcribed texts, including folktales, historical accounts and portrayals of customs, and an extensive glossary.

This study examines the language and translation technique used in a modern “targum” of the Bible. The targum – referred to as “Manuscript Barzani” – is a written preservation of a tradition of Jewish Neo-Aramaic Bible translation, originally transmitted in oral form among the religious leaders of a community in Iraqi Kurdistan. It represents a literary form of the Neo-Aramaic spoken by the Jews of the Rewanduz/Arbel region. Within their community, the targum was used in the schools to teach the language and text of the Hebrew Bible to the young men.

This volume contains a collection of papers presented at the workshop on various aspects of the grammar of Neo-Aramaic, with special attention to the North Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialect group. The papers include descriptions of several hitherto undescribed dialects together with sample texts and also studies of various aspects of phonology, morphology and syntax of the dialects.