Editing Suret language (section)

==Script==
{{main|Syriac alphabet}}

===History===
{{See also|Aramaic alphabet}}
[[File:Syriac papyri.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Papyrus]] fragment of the 9th century written in [[Syriac alphabet#West Syriac Serṭā|Serto]] variant. A passage from the [[Acts of the Apostles]] is recognizable]]
The original [[Mesopotamia]]n writing system, believed to be the world's oldest, was derived around 3600 BC from this method of keeping accounts. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, the Mesopotamians were using a triangular-shaped stylus made from a reed pressed into soft clay to record numbers.<ref>Odisho, Edward Y. (2001). "ADM's educational policy: A serious project of Assyrian language maintenance and revitalization ", Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Xv/1:3–31.</ref> Around 2700 BC, [[cuneiform]] began to represent syllables of spoken [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]], a [[language isolate]] genetically unrelated to the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and [[Indo-Iranian languages]] that it neighboured. About that time, Mesopotamian cuneiform became a general purpose writing system for [[logogram]]s, [[syllable]]s and numbers. This script was adapted to another Mesopotamian language, the [[East Semitic languages|East Semitic]] [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ([[Old Assyrian period|Assyrian]] and [[Babylonia]]n) around 2600 BC.

With the adoption of [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] as the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–609{{nbsp}}BC), Old Aramaic was also adapted to Mesopotamian cuneiform. The last cuneiform scripts in Akkadian discovered thus far date from the 1st century AD.<ref>The Origin and Development of the Cuneiform System of Writing, Samuel Noah Kramer, ''Thirty Nine Firsts in Recorded History'' pp. 381–383</ref> Various bronze lion-weights found in [[Nineveh]] featured both the Akkadian and Aramaic text etched on them, bearing the names of [[List of Assyrian kings|Assyrian kings]], such as [[Shalmaneser III]] (858-824 B.C), [[Sargon II|King Sargon]] (721-705 B.C) and [[Sennacherib]] (704-681 B.C). Indication of contemporaneous existence of the two languages in 4th century B.C. is present in an Aramaic document from [[Uruk]] written in cuneiform. In [[Babylon]], Akkadian writing vanished by 140 B.C, with the exclusion of a few priests who used it for religious matters. Though it still continued to be employed for astronomical texts up until the [[Common Era|common era]].<ref>"State Archives of Assyria, Volume III: Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea", by Alasdair Livingstone, [[Helsinki University]] Press.</ref>

The Syriac script is a [[writing system]] primarily used to write the [[Syriac language]] from the 1st century AD.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/578972/Syriac-alphabet | title=Syriac alphabet | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online | access-date=16 June 2012}}</ref> It is one of the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] [[abjad]]s directly descending from the [[Aramaic alphabet]] and shares similarities with the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and the traditional [[Mongolian script|Mongolian alphabet]]s. The alphabet consists of 22 letters, all of which are consonants. It is a [[cursive]] script where some, but not all, letters connect within a word.<ref>Pennacchietti, Fabrizio A. (1997). "On the etymology of the Neo-Aramaic particle qam/kim; in Hebrew", M. Bar-Aher (ed.): Gideon Goldenberg Festschrift, Massorot, Stud</ref> Aramaic writing has been found as far north as [[Hadrian's Wall]] in [[Prehistoric Britain]], in the form of inscriptions in Aramaic, made by Assyrian soldiers serving in the [[Roman legion|Roman Legions]] in northern England during the 2nd{{nbsp}}century AD.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/oct/13/hadrians-wall |title = When Syrians, Algerians and Iraqis patrolled Hadrian's Wall &#124; Charlotte Higgins|newspaper = The Guardian|date = 2009-10-13|last1 = Higgins|first1 = Charlotte}}</ref>

===Modern development===
[[File:East Syriac Script Thaksa.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Classical Syriac written in ''Madnhāyā'' script. [[Thrissur]], [[India]], 1799]]
The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is ''{{transliteration|sem|ʾEsṭrangēlā}}'' ({{lang|syr|ܐܣܛܪܢܓܠܐ}}); the name is thought to derive from the Greek adjective {{lang|grc|στρογγύλη}} (''strongúlē'') 'round'.<ref>[[William Hatch (theologian)|Hatch, William]] (1946). ''An album of dated Syriac manuscripts''. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 24. {{ISBN|1-931956-53-7}}.</ref><ref>[[Eberhard Nestle|Nestle, Eberhard]] (1888). ''Syrische Grammatik mit Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar''. Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung. [translated to English as ''Syriac grammar with bibliography, chrestomathy and glossary'', by R. S. Kennedy. London: Williams & Norgate 1889. p. 5].</ref> Although ʾEsṭrangēlā is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it has undergone some revival since the 10th century.

When [[Arabic]] gradually began to be the dominant spoken language in the [[Fertile Crescent]] after the 7th century AD, texts were often written in Arabic with the Syriac script. [[Malayalam]] was also written with Syriac script and was called [[Suriyani Malayalam]]. Such non-Syriac languages written in Syriac script are called ''[[Garshuni]]'' or ''Karshuni''.

The ''Madnhāyā'', or 'eastern', version formed as a form of shorthand developed from ʾEsṭrangēlā and progressed further as handwriting patterns changed. The ''Madnhāyā'' version also possesses optional vowel markings to help pronounce Syriac. Other names for the script include ''{{transliteration|sem|Swāḏāyā}}'', 'conversational', often translated as "contemporary", reflecting its use in writing modern Neo-Aramaic.

[[File:6thBeatitude.svg|thumb|400px|center|The sixth [[Beatitudes|beatitude]] ([[Matthew 5:8]]) in Classical Syriac from the Peshitta (in ''Madnhāyā''):<br />{{Script/Mdnh|ܛܘܼܒܲܝܗܘܿܢ ܠܐܲܝܠܹܝܢ ܕܲܕ݂ܟܹܝܢ ܒܠܸܒ̇ܗܘܿܢ: ܕܗܸܢ݂ܘܿܢ ܢܸܚܙܘܿܢ ܠܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ܂}}<br />''{{transliteration|syc|Ṭūḇayhōn l-ʾaylên da-ḏḵên b-lebbhōn, d-hennōn neḥzon l-ʾǎlāhā}}.''<br />In the Neo-Aramaic of the Urmi Bible of 1893, this is rendered as:<br />{{Script/Mdnh|ܛܘܼܒ̣ܵܐ ܠܐܵܢܝܼ ܕܝܼܢܵܐ ܕܸܟ̣ܝܹ̈ܐ ܒܠܸܒܵܐ: ܣܵܒܵܒ ܕܐܵܢܝܼ ܒܸܬ ܚܵܙܝܼ ܠܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ.}}<br />''{{transliteration|syr|Ṭūḇā l-ʾānī d-ʾīnā diḵyē b-libbā, sābāb d-ʾānī bit xāzī l-ʾalāhā}}.''<br />'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.']]

===Letters===
{{Syriac alphabet}}
Three letters act as [[Mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]: rather than being a consonant, they indicate a vowel. ''[[Aleph (letter)|ʾĀlep̄]]'' ({{lang|syr|ܐ}}), the first letter, represents a [[glottal stop]], but it can also indicate the presence of certain vowels (typically at the beginning or the end of a word, but also in the middle). The letter ''[[Waw (letter)|Waw]]'' ({{lang|syr|ܘ}}) is the consonant ''w'', but can also represent the vowels ''o'' and ''u''. Likewise, the letter {{Nowrap|''[[Yodh|Yōḏ]]'' ({{lang|syr|ܝ}})}} represents the consonant ''y'', but it also stands for the vowels ''i'' and ''e''. In addition to foreign sounds, a marking system is used to distinguish ''{{transliteration|sem|qūššāyā}}'' ('hard' letters) from ''{{transliteration|sem|rūkkāḵā}}'' ('soft' letters). The letters ''Bēṯ'', ''Gāmal'', ''Dālaṯ'', ''Kāp̄'', ''Pē'' and ''Taw'', all [[plosives]] ('hard'), are able to be [[spirantization|spirantised]] into [[fricative]]s ('soft').

The system involves placing a single dot underneath the letter to give its 'soft' variant and a dot above the letter to give its 'hard' variant (though, in modern usage, no mark at all is usually used to indicate the 'hard' value).

===Latin alphabet===
{{further|Syriac alphabet#Latin alphabet and romanization}}
In the 1930s, a [[Latin alphabet]] was developed and some material published.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/syriac.pdf Syriac Romanization Table]</ref>{{sfn|Brock|1989|p=11–23}} The Latin alphabet is preferred by most Assyrians for practical reasons and its convenience, especially in [[social media]], where it is used to communicate. Although the Syriac Latin alphabet contains [[diacritic]]s, most Assyrians rarely utilise the modified letters and would conveniently rely on the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet|basic Latin alphabet]]. The Latin alphabet is also a useful tool to present Assyrian terminology to anyone who is not familiar with the Syriac script. A precise [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] may not be necessary for native Suret speakers, as they would be able to pronounce words correctly, but it can be very helpful for those not quite familiar with Syriac and more informed with the Latin script.<ref>{{cite journal |title = Studies in Modern Syriac |journal = [[Journal of Semitic Studies]] |volume = 6 |number = 1 |last = Polotsky |first = Hans Jakob |author-link = Hans Jakob Polotsky |year = 1961 |pages=1–32|doi = 10.1093/jss/6.1.1 }}</ref>