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Document Details : Title: Sheikh Nejm's Mandaic Glossary (DC 4) Subtitle: An Unrecognised Source of Neo-Mandaic Author(s): MUTZAFY, Hezy , MORGENSTERN, Matthew Journal: ARAM Periodical Volume: 24 Date: 2012 Pages: 157-174 DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.24.0.3009258 Abstract : The Jewish Neo-Aramaic (JNA) dialect cluster of Barzan and three adjacent villages, which now finds itself on the very brink of extinction, was spoken in the district of Aqra in the northern part of the Iraqi province of Irbil. Among the features unique to this language vis-à-vis other JNA regional idioms are the shift of t to h and the indicative prefix y- alongside the allomorphs k-, g- and even yk-, a combination of both y- and k-. Straddling both banks of the Great Zab river around its central course and sandwiched between the two major JNA dialect groups, Lishana Deni to the west of the river and the Tranz-Zab group to the east, Barzani JNA shares a considerable number of grammatical and lexical isoglosses with both these neighbouring dialectal groups. While sharing a number of rather conservative as well as a few innovative features with Lishana Deni, Barzani evinces a whole set of innovations that can be assumed to have radiated as areal features from Trans-Zab JNA westwards. Thus in addition to distinctive independent innovations, Barzani JNA occupies a middle, transitional position within JNA as a language largely influenced by both major JNA groups, which are sharply different from each other. Barzani JNA can therefore be considered a dialect area where Lishana Deni gradually merges into Trans-Zab and vice versa. |
