Modern Aramaic
| Neo-Aramaic | |
|---|---|
| Modern Aramaic | |
| Geographic distribution |
Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and the Assyrian diaspora |
| Linguistic classification |
Afro-Asiatic
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | aram1259 (Aramaic) |
Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken vernaculars in the medieval to modern era that evolved out of Middle Aramaic dialects, around AD 1200 (conventional date).
The term strictly excludes those Aramaic languages that are used only as literary, sacred or classical languages today (for example, Targumic Aramaic, Classical Syriac and Classical Mandaic). However, the classical languages continue to have influence over the colloquial, Neo-Aramaic languages.
Eastern Aramaic dialects are spoken primarily by ethnic Assyrians, who are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church (Assyrian Catholics), Syriac Orthodox Church, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.
As of 2014[update] that number is significantly smaller, and newer generations of Assyrians generally are not acquiring the language.
According to SIL Ethnologue, there were an estimated 550,000 native ethnic Assyrian speakers of Neo-Aramaic dialects in 1994. The largest group is Sureth which some artificially and inaccurately divide according to church into Assyrian Neo-Aramaic with 210,000 speakers (Assyrian Church of the east), Chaldean Neo-Aramaic with 206,000 speakers (Chaldean Catholic church) and Surayt/Turoyo with 112,000 speakers (Syriac Orthodox church), although all of these dialects have speakers from other churches amongst their number, for example; Chaldean Neo-Aramaic has speakers who are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and Assyrian Protestant churches, similarly Assyrian Neo-Aramaic has Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox speakers. More than 90% of Neo-Aramaic speakers either speak Assyrian Neo-Aramaic or the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic variety.
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