Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
ܐܬܘܪܝܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Ātūrāyā, ܣܘܪܝܬ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Sūrët, Āshuri, Suryāyā, Sureth
Sūrët in written Syriac (Madnkhaya script)
Pronunciation	[surɛt], [surɛθ]
Native to	Iraq, Syria, Iran
Region	Northern Iraq, Hakkari (Turkey), Urmia (Iran)
Native speakers	232,300 (1994)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic Eastern Aramaic Northeastern Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Dialects	Urmian, Iraqi Koine, Tyari, Jilu, Nochiya, Barwari, Baz and Gawar
Writing system	Syriac
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	assy1241

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, or Assyrian, is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language spoken by an estimated 200,000 people throughout a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia in northwestern Iran, to the Nineveh plains, and the Irbil, Mosul, Kirkuk and Duhok regions in northern Iraq, together with the Al Hasakah region of northeastern Syria, and formerly parts of southeastern Turkey. In recent years, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic has spread throughout the Assyrian diaspora.

Assyrian is a moderately inflected, fusional language with a two-gender noun system. It is also a null-subject language and it features a pronoun drop to some degree. The word order of modern Assyrian is predominately SVO (subject–verb–object), although other sentence structures are commonly used too. There is some Akkadian vocabulary and influence in the language. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is written from right to left, and it uses the Madnhāyā version of the Syriac alphabet.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is, to a significant degree, mutually intelligible with Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and is closely related to it, as both evolved from the same distinct Syriac language between the 5th century BC and 1st century AD. To a moderate degree, Assyrian is also intelligible with Senaya, Lishana Deni and Bohtan Neo-Aramaic (which are, at times, all considered Assyrian dialects). It is somewhat partially intelligible with Lishan Didan, Hulaulá and Lishanid Noshan. Its mutual intelligibility with Turoyo is rather limited.