Suret

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, western Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, northeast Syria near the Turkish border. Extinct in Turkey. Parts of southern Armenia.
Native speakers	232,300 (2015)
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, Gawar and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
Writing system	Syriac, Hebrew (in Jewish dialects)
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	assy1241

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (Classical Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܬ‎, sūrët, Suret), or just simply Assyrian, is a modern Aramaic language within the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is 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, Kirkuk and Duhok regions in northern Iraq, together with the Al Hasakah region of northeastern Syria, and formerly parts of southeastern Turkey.

Instability throughout the Middle East over the past century has led to a worldwide diaspora of Assyrian speakers, with many speakers now living abroad, such as in North America, Australia or in Europe. Furthermore, Assyrians in more recent times often use words from Persian, Arabic, Turkish, etc., depending on where they live or where their family came from, while speaking in their own language.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is one of the largest Neo-Aramaic languages (232,000 speakers), with Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (213,000 speakers) and Turoyo (250,000 speakers) making up most of the remaining Neo-Aramaic speakers. Despite the terms Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic indicating a separate ethnic identity, both the languages and their native speakers originate from the same Upper Mesopotamian region (which was Assyria). Speakers of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Turoyo are ethnic Assyrians and are descendants of the ancient Assyrian inhabitants of Northern Mesopotamia.