The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja

643 Pages·2004·43.9 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Khan

STUDIES IN SEMITIC
LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
EDITED BY
T. MURAOKA AND C.H.M. VERSTEEGH
VOLUMEXLIV
THEJEWISH NEO-ARAMAIC DIALECT
OF SULEMANIYYA AND BALABJA
THEJEWISH NEO-ARAMAIC
DIALECT OF SULEMANIYYA
AND I:IALABJA
BY
GEOFFREY KHAN
BRILL
LEIDEN· BOSTON
2004
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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http:/ I catalog.Joe.gov
ISSN 0081-8461
ISBN 90 04 13869 2
© Copyright 2004 try Koninklijke Brill .Nv, Leiden, The Nether/,ands
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PRINIBD IN THE NETHERLANDS
FOR MY SON JONATHAN
WITH LOVE
-
CONTENTS
Preface ..................................................................................................... xxi
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1
0.1. The Jewish communities of Sulemaniyya and I;Ialabja ........... 1
0.2. The Aramaic dialect ................................................................. 3
0.2. l. The relationship of JSH to other Neo-Aramaic dialects ....... 3
0.2.2. The relationship of JSH to the Kurdish of Sulemaniyya ...... 8
0.2.3. Hebrew elements in the JSH dialect.. .................................. 15
0.3. Informants and texts ............................................................... 15
0.4. The grammar .......................................................................... 16
PHONOLOGY
1. CONSONANTS ....................................................................... 19
1.1. Phoneme inventory ................................................................ 19
1.2. Notes on the phonetic realization of the consonants ............. 19
1.3. Voicing of consonants ............................................................ 23
1.4. Alternation of !di and lz/ ........................................................ 24
1.5. Shift of Ill to Ir/ ...................................................................... 26
1.6. The historical background of the consonants ........................ 27
1.6.1. The bgdkpt consonants ........................................................ 27
1.6.1.1. *b ....................................................................................... 27
1.6.1.2. *p ....................................................................................... 29
1.6.1.3. *t ....................................................................................... 29
1.6.1.4. *d. ...................................................................................... 31
1.6.1.5. *k ....................................................................................... 32
1.6.1.6. *g ....................................................................................... 32
1.6.2. The affricate /cl ................................................................... 33
1.6.3. Pharyngals and laryngals ..................................................... 33
1.6.3.1. *~ ....................................................................................... 33
1.6.3.2. *< ....................................................................................... 34
1.6.3.3. Laryngals *~ and *h ........................................................... 37
Vlll CONTENTS
2. VOWELS .................................................................................. 39
2.1. Phoneme inventory ................................................................ 39
2.2. Vowel length .......................................................................... 40
2.2.1. Open syllables ........................................................................ 40
2.2.2. Closed syllables ..................................................................... 45
2.3. The phonetic quality of the vowels ........................................ 48
3. CONSONANT GEMINATION ............................................... 51
3.1. Phonetic realization and transcription .................................... 51
3.2. The distribution of gemination in the consonant inventory ... 53
3.3. The origin of consonant gemination ...................................... 54
4. SYLLABLE STRUCTlJRE ..................................................... 56
4.1. Syllabic patterns ..................................................................... 56
4.2. Elision of laryngals ................................................................ 56
4.3. Word-initial clusters of consonants ....................................... 58
4.4. Word-final clusters of consonants ......................................... 59
4.5. Word-internal clusters of consonants .................................... 60
5. WORD STRESS ....................................................................... 61
5.1. Nominals ................................................................................ 61
5.2. Adverbials .............................................................................. 63
5.3. Verbs ...................................................................................... 64
6. STRESS GROUPS ................................................................... 67
MORPHOLOGY
7. PRONOUNS ............................................................................. 73
7.1. Independent personal pronouns ............................................. 73
7.2. Pronominal suffixes on nouns and prepositions .................... 74
7.3. Independent genitive pronoun ............................................... 75
7.4. Demonstrative pronouns ........................................................ 76
7.5. Interrogative pronouns ........................................................... 77
7.6. Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns ........................................ 78
8. VERBS ..................................................................................... 80
8.1. Verbal stems ........................................................................... 80
8.2. Inflection of the present base ................................................. 82
8.2.1. Stem I verbs ......................................................................... 83
8.2.2. Stem II verbs ....................................................................... 84
CONTENTS lX
8.2.3. Quadriliteral verbs ............................................................... 85
8.3. Inflection of the past base ...................................................... 85
8.3.1. Stem I verbs ......................................................................... 86
8.3.2. Stem II verbs ....................................................................... 90
8.3.3. Quadriliteral verbs ............................................................... 92
8.4. Inflection of the imperative .................................................... 93
8.5. The copula .............................................................................. 94
8.5.1. Present copula ...................................................................... 94
8.5.2. Past copula ........................................................................... 95
8.6. Compound verbal forms ........................................................ 97
8.6.1. Past participle + enclitic copula .......................................... 97
8.6.2. Infinitive + enclitic copula ................................................ 100
8.7. Particles attached to verbal forms ........................................ 101
8.7.1. The prefixed particle k- ..................................................... 102
8.7.2. The suffixed particle -wa ................................................... 102
8.8. Negation ............................................................................... 104
8.9. Weak verbs in stem I. ........................................................... 106
8.9.1. Verba primae PI ................................................................. 106
8.9.2. Verba mediae lwl ............................................................... 107
8.9.3. Verba primae Pl, mediae lwl ............................................. 108
8.9.4. Verba tertiae lwl ................................................................ 109
8.9.5. Verba primae lyl ................................................................ 110
8.9.6. Verba mediae lyl ................................................................ 111
8.9.7. Verba tertiae lyl ................................................................. 112
8.9.8. Verba primae lyl, tertiae lwl .............................................. 115
8.9.9. Verba mediae lwl, tertiae lyl .............................................. 116
8.10. Weak verbs in stem II .......................................................... 11 7
8.10.1. Verba primae Pl ................................................................. 117
8.10.2. Verba mediae lyl ................................................................ 117
8.10.3. Verba tertiae lyl ................................................................. 118
8.10.4. Verba mediae lwl ............................................................... 118
8.10.5. Verba mediaelwl,tertiaelyl ............................................. ll9
8.10.6. Verba primae lyl, tertiae lyl ............................................... 119
8.11. Weak quadriliteral verbs ...................................................... 120
8.11.1. nndy'todance' .................................................................. 120
8.11.2. )nty 'to take' ....................................................................... 120
8.11.3. swl! 'to throw' ................................................................... 121
8.12. Irregular and defective verbs ............................................... 121
8.12.1. hwy 'to be' ......................................................................... 121
8.12.2. 'to go' ................................................................................ 122
X CONTENTS
8.12.3. 'to come' ............................................................................ 123
8.12.4. 'to bring' ............................................................................ 125
8.12.5. 'to want' ............................................................................. 126
8.12.6. 'to know' ........................................................................... 127
8.12.7. 'to give' ............................................................................. 128
8.12.8. 'to hit' ................................................................................ 129
8.12.9. 'to live' .............................................................................. 130
8.12.10. 'tofall' ............................................................................... 131
8.12.11. m-~fr 'to curse' ................................................................. 131
8.13. Verbs that have changed stem ............................................. 132
8.14. Pronominal objects ............................................................... 133
8.14.1. Pronominal direct object on present base verbs ................ 133
8.14.2. Pronominal direct objects on past base verbs ................... 136
8.14.3. Pronominal direct objects on imperatives ......................... 136
8.14.4. Pronominal direct objects on the qifla-y form ................... 137
8.14.5. Pronominal direct objects on the qafola-y form ................ 138
8.14.6. Pronominal indirect object ................................................ 139
8.15. The existential particles hit and Ut ....................................... 140
8.16. Phrasal verbs ........................................................................ 141
8.16.1. Phrasal verbs with the verbal element >wl ......................... 141
8.16.2. Phrasal verbs with the verbal element xdr ........................ 142
8.16.3. Phrasal verbs with the verbal element 'to give' ................ 142
8.16.4. Phrasal verbs with the verbal element 'to come' .............. 143
8.16.5. Phrasal verbs with other verbal elements .......................... 143
8.16.6. Pronominal objects ............................................................ 143
9. VERB PARADIGMS ............................................................. 145
9 .1. qafil form .............................................................................. 145
9.2. qfille form ............................................................................. 149
9.3. q{il form ................................................................................ 151
9.4. qafilwa form ......................................................................... 153
9.5. qfilwale and q{ilwa forms ..................................................... 154
9.6. qafil form verbs with pronominal suffixes .......................... 154
9. 7. qfille form verbs with pronominal suffixes ......................... 15 6
9.8. qif[a-y form verbs with pronominal suffixes ....................... 157
10. NOUNS .................................................................................. 159
10.1. Preliminary remarks ............................................................. 159
10.2. Nouns with -a inflection ...................................................... 159
10.2.1. Monosyllabic pattem ......................................................... 159
10.2.2. Bisyllabic patterns ................................ ;. ........................... 159
CONTENTS xi
10.2.3. Trisyllabic pattems ............................................................ 163
10.3. Nouns with the feminine ending-ta .................................... 164
10.3.1. Bisyllabic pattems ........................................~ .................... 164
10.3.2. Trisyllabic pattems ............................................................ 166
10.4. Nouns with the feminine ending -da. ................................... 167
10.5. Nouns with the feminine ending -la .................................... 167
10.6. Nouns ending in -e ............................................................... 168
10. 7. Nouns of Aramaic stock with no inflectional ending .......... 168
10.8. Loan-words .......................................................................... 169
10.9. Derivational affixes .............................................................. 171
10.9.1. -ula ..................................................................................... 171
10.9.2. -ana .................................................................................... 172
10.9.3. -a~a ..................................................................................... 172
10.9.4. Diminutive endings ........................................................... 173
10.10. Kurdish derivational suffixes ............................................... 173
10.11. Gender .................................................................................. 174
10.11.1. Aramaic words .................................................................. 174
10.11.2. Loan-words ........................................................................ 177
10.12. Plural forms .......................................................................... 180
10.12.1. The plural ending -e .......................................................... 180
10.12.2. The plural ending -ane ...................................................... 182
10.12.3. The plural ending -awane .................................................. 182
10.12.4. The plural ending -ye ......................................................... 183
10.12.5. The plural ending-yane ..................................................... 185
10.12.6. The plural ending-yawane ................................................ 185
10.12.7. The plural ending-ale ....................................................... 185
10.12.8. The plural ending-yale ...................................................... 186
10.12.9. The plural ending-awale ................................................... 186
10.12.10. The plural ending -yawale ................................................. 187
10.12.11. The plural ending -aye ....................................................... 187
10.12.12. The plural ending-awaye .................................................. 187
10.12.13.Irregular plurals ................................................................. 187
10.12.14. Pluralia tantum .................................................................. 188
10.12.15. The plural ofloan-words ................................................... 188
10.13 Singular of collective nouns ................................................. 191
10.14. Annexation of nouns ............................................................ 192
10.15. Nouns in the absolute state .................................................. 193
10.15.1. Nouns in both the absolute state and the inflected form ... 193
10.15.2. Nouns regularly in the absolute state ................................ 194
10.16. The definite article ................................................. :. ............ 195