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Modern Assyrian (Syriac): 1 The Return of Classical Vowels
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In: http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v17n2/CLASSICAL VOWELS.pdf
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Abstract:
Recently, a friend of mine asked me to review his manuscript of an English-Assyrian dictionary with which he has been preoccupied for the last ten years. In the Assyrian (Modern Aramaic/Syriac) transcription of his entries I noticed that certain words, which are traditionally transcribed with “rwāxa ” ë‰čyb < ëþ > = [o], the rwāxa has been replaced by “rwāsa ” čq‰ûõa < ëŁ> [u]. Obviously, this replacement as a phonetic/phonological change has been repeatedly pointed out by many of the Semitists familiar with the systems of Modern Assyrian [Li•āna Xāta] as opposed to Old Aramaic [Li•āna Àatīqa] ( Tsereteli, 1978: 30-1; Krotkoff, 1982: 3; Odisho, 1988: 57-61). However, my friend seems to be too enthusiastic to leave the change stay only at the phonetic/phonological level; he wants to proceed one step further and reflect it orthographically to secure, in his view, higher consistency between orthography and pronunciation of modern Assyrian. After noticing this and other orthographic changes, I said: “ I am sorry. I think, it will be more appropriate to restore the rwāxa ” ë‰čyb < ëþ > = [o]. ” He said: “Why? ” To respond to his question, I had to update him on the
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Keyword:
interc
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URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.493.2989 http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v17n2/CLASSICAL VOWELS.pdf
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