Editing Suret language (section)

== History ==
[[File:P1050578 Louvre Obélisque de Manishtusu détail rwk.JPG|left|thumb|180x180px|[[Manishtushu Obelisk]] in [[Akkadian language]] (detail). The obelisk was erected by [[Manishtushu]], son of [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon the Great]], under the [[Akkadian Empire]] in [[Mesopotamia]] (modern-day [[Iraq]]) circa 2270-2255 BCE<ref>Manishtusu Obelisk, Louvre</ref> ]]
[[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] and [[Aramaic]] have been in extensive contact since their old periods. Local unwritten Aramaic dialects emerged from [[Imperial Aramaic]] in [[Assyria]]. In around 700 BCE, Aramaic slowly started to replace Akkadian in [[Assyria]], [[Babylonia]] and the [[Levant]]. Widespread bilingualism among Assyrian nationals was already present prior to the fall of the empire.<ref name="Simo Parpola Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today">{{cite journal|last=Parpola |first=Simo |year=2004 |title=National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times |journal=[[Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |publisher=JAAS |url=http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n2/Parpola-identity_Article%20-Final.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717071922/http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n2/Parpola-identity_Article%20-Final.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-17 |author-link=Simo Parpola}}</ref> The language transition was achievable because the two languages featured similarities in grammar and vocabulary, and because the 22-lettered [[Aramaic alphabet]] was simpler to learn than the [[Cuneiform|Akkadian cuneiform]] which had over 600 signs.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The impact of Israeli Hebrew on the Neo-Aramaic dialect of the Kurdish Jews of Zakho: a case of language shift |journal=[[Hebrew Union College Annual]] |number=46 |last=Sabar |first=Yona |author-link=Yona Sabar |year=1975 |pages=489–508}}
* {{cite book |title=A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary |last=Sabar |first=Yona |author-link=Yona Sabar |year=2002 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-04557-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/jewishneoaramaic00saba}}</ref> The converging process that took place between Assyrian Akkadian and Aramaic across all aspects of both languages and societies is known as ''Aramaic-Assyrian symbiosis''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Aramaic in its Historical and Linguistic Setting |last1=Gzella |first1=Holger |last2=Folmer |first2=M. L. |date=2008 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-05787-5 |oclc=938036352}}</ref>

Introduced as the official language of the [[Assyria|Assyrian Empire]] by [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (745–727{{nbsp}}BCE), it became the language of commerce and trade, the [[Vernacular|vernacular language]] of Assyria in the late [[Iron Age]] and [[classical antiquity]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lightofword.org/aramaic/pdf/Introduction.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - PeshittaNewTestament.doc |access-date=2008-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202005322/http://www.lightofword.org/aramaic/pdf/Introduction.pdf |archive-date=2 December 2008 }}</ref><ref name="imperial aramaic">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718444 Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C. by G. R. Driver]</ref><ref name="The British Survey 1968, page 3">The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3</ref> and the [[lingua franca]] of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–605 BCE), [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (605–539 BCE), the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–323 BCE), the [[Parthian Empire]] (247 BCE–224 AD) and the [[Sasanian Empire]] (224–651 AD). Following the [[Achaemenid Assyria|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". After the conquest of Assyria by the [[Seleucid Empire]] in the late 4th century BCE, Imperial Aramaic gradually lost its status as an imperial language, but continued to flourish alongside [[Ancient Greek]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Drijvers|first=H. J. W.|title=Cults and beliefs at Edessa|year=1980|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=978-90-04-06050-0|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69YUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1}}</ref>
[[File:Syriac Sertâ book script.jpg|thumb|250px|An 11th-century [[Syriac language|Classical Syriac]] [[manuscript]], written in ''Serto'' script]]
By the 1st century AD, Akkadian was extinct, though vocabulary and grammatical features still survive in modern NENA dialects.<ref name="Kaufman">Kaufman, Stephen A. (1974),The Akkadian influences on Aramaic. University of Chicago Press</ref> The [[Neo-Aramaic languages]] evolved from [[Aramaic|Middle Syriac-Aramaic]] by the 13th century.<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|volume=2|year=1987|title=Aramaic<!-- pp:250-261 --><!-- section:Aramaic in the Achaemenid Empire pp:251/252-->|last=Shaked|first=Saul|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=New York|pages=250–261}} p. 251</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Frye|first1=Richard N.|title=Review of G. R. Driver's "Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C."|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|volume=18|issue=3/4|year=1955|pages=456–461|doi=10.2307/2718444|last2=Driver|first2=G. R.|jstor=2718444}} p. 457.</ref> There is evidence that the drive for the adoption of Syriac was led by missionaries. Much literary effort was put into the production of an authoritative translation of the [[Bible]] into Syriac, the [[Peshitta]] ({{lang|syr|ܦܫܝܛܬܐ}}, ''{{transliteration|syr|Pšīṭtā}}''). At the same time, [[Ephrem the Syrian]] was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Classical Syriac language.

By the 3rd century AD, churches in [[Edessa|Urhay]] in the kingdom of [[Osroene]] began to use Classical Syriac as the language of worship and it became the literary and liturgical language of many churches in the [[Fertile Crescent]]. Syriac was the common tongue of the region, where it was the native language of the Fertile Crescent, surrounding areas, as well as in parts of [[Eastern Arabia]]. It was the dominant language until 900 AD, till it was supplanted by Greek and later Arabic in a centuries-long process having begun in the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Humanism, Culture, and Language in the Near East: Studies in Honor of Georg Krotkoff|date=1997|publisher=Eisenbrauns |editor=Krotkoff, Georg. |editor2=Afsaruddin, Asma |editor3=Zahniser, A. H. Mathias |isbn=978-1-57506-508-3|location=Winona Lake, Ind.|oclc=747412055}}</ref>
[[File:Assyrian Gospel 1.jpg|thumb|An 18th-century gospel Book from the [[Urmia]] region of [[Iran]]]]
The differences with the [[Church of the East]] led to the bitter [[Nestorian schism]] in the Syriac-speaking world. As a result of the schism as well as being split between living in the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the west and the [[Sasanian Empire]] in the east, Syrian-Aramaic developed distinctive [[Turoyo language|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 systems and, to a lesser degree, in vocabulary and grammar. During the course of the third and fourth centuries, the inhabitants of the region began to embrace Christianity. Because of theological differences, Syriac-speaking Christians bifurcated during the fifth century into the [[Church of the East]], or [[East Syriac Rite]], under the [[Sasanian Empire]], and the [[Syriac Orthodox]], or [[West Syriac Rite]], under the [[Byzantine Empire]]. After this separation, the two groups developed distinct dialects differing primarily in the pronunciation and written symbolisation of [[vowel]]s.{{sfn|Beyer|1986|p=44}}<ref name="Bae, C 2004"/>

[[File:Syriac Christianity.svg|thumb|right|295px|alt=The distribution of the Syriac language in the Middle East and Asia|Post 2010, in [[Iraq]], Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is mainly spoken in the [[Nineveh Plains]] and the cities around [[Mosul]], [[Duhok]], [[Erbil]] and [[Kirkuk]] (magenta).]]
The [[Mongol invasions of the Levant]] in the 13th century and the religiously motivated massacres of Assyrians by [[Timur]] further contributed to the rapid decline of the language. In many places outside of northern Mesopotamia, even in [[sacred language|liturgy]], the language was replaced by [[Arabic]].<ref>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</ref> "Modern Syriac-Aramaic" is a term occasionally used to refer to the modern Neo-Aramaic languages spoken by Christians, including Suret. Even if they cannot be positively identified as the direct descendants of [[attested language|attested]] Middle Syriac, they must have developed from closely related dialects belonging to the same branch of Aramaic, and the varieties spoken in Christian communities have long co-existed with and been influenced by Middle Syriac as a liturgical and literary language. Moreover, the name "Syriac", when used with no qualification, generally refers to one specific dialect of Middle Aramaic but not to Old Aramaic or to the various present-day Eastern and [[Central Neo-Aramaic]] languages descended from it or from close relatives.<ref name=lipinski>{{cite book|last=Lipiński|first=Edward |author-link=Edward Lipiński (orientalist)|title=Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiXVqyEkPKcC|year=2001|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-0815-4|page=70}}</ref>

In 2004, the ''Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region'' recognized Syriac in article 7, section four, stating, "Syriac shall be the language of education and culture for those who speak it in addition to the Kurdish language."<ref name="Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan">{{cite web |title=Kurdistan: Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region | date=2 November 2009 |url=https://unpo.org/article/538?id=538 |access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref> In 2005, the [[Constitution of Iraq]] recognised it as one of the "official languages in the administrative units in which they constitute density of population" in article 4, section four.<ref name="Iraqi constitution"/><ref name="Iraq's constitution"/>