Syriac language

Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. At its broadest definition, Syriac is often used to refer to all Eastern Aramaic languages spoken by various Christian groups; at its most specific, it refers to the classical language of Edessa, which became the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity.

Sounds

There is some variation in the pronunciation of Syriac in its various forms. The various Modern Eastern Aramaic vernaculars have quite different pronunciations, and these sometimes influence how the classical language is pronounced, for example, in public prayer. Classical Syriac has two major streams of pronunciation: western and eastern. Pronunciation has also been affected by other that of other languages.

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Consonants

Syriac shares with Aramaic a set of lightly contrasted plosive/fricative pairs. In different variations of a certain lexical root, a root consonant might exist in plosive form in one variation and fricative form in another. In the Syriac alphabet, a single letter is used for each pair. Sometimes a dot is placed above the letter ({{unicode|qû???yâ}}, or strengthening) to mark that the plosive pronunciation is required, and a dot is placed below the letter ({{unicode|rûkk??â}}, or softening) to mark that the fricative pronunciation is required. The pairs are:

Related Topics:
Aramaic - Plosive - Fricative - Syriac alphabet

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• Voiced labial pair ? {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/v/}} (in eastern dialects these are {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/w/}})
• Voiced velar pair ? {{IPA|/?/}} and {{IPA|/?/}}
• Voiced dental pair ? {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}}
• Voiceless velar pair ? {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/x/}}
• Voiceless labial pair ? {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/f/}} (in eastern dialects {{IPA|/w/}} sometimes replaces {{IPA|/f/}})
• Voiceless dental pair ? {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/θ/}}

Some Syriac speakers, however, reduce each of these pairs to a single unvarying consonant. For example, an Arabic-influenced speaker of Western Syriac might reduce the set to {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/?/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/t/}}, with only the {{IPA|/k/-/x/}} pair remaining.

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As with other Semitic languages, Syriac has a set of five emphatic consonants. These are consonants that are articulated or released in the pharynx or slightly higher. The set consists of:

Related Topics:
Semitic languages - Emphatic consonant - Pharynx

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• Voiceless pharyngeal fricative ? {{IPA|/?/}} (in many eastern dialects this becomes {{IPA|/x/}})
• Pharyngelized voiceless dental plosive ? {{IPA|/t?/}}
• Voiced pharyngeal fricative ? {{IPA|/?/}}
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative ? {{IPA|/s?/}}
• Voiceless uvular plosive ? {{IPA|/q/}}

Syriac also has a rich array of sibilant consonants:

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• Voiced alveolar fricative ? {{IPA|/z/}}
• Voiceless alveolar fricative ? {{IPA|/s/}}
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative ? {{IPA|/s?/}}
• Voiceless postalveolar fricative ? {{IPA|/?/}}

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Vowels

As with most Semitic languages, the vowels of Syriac are mostly subordinated to consonants. Especially in the presence of an emphatic consonant, vowels tend to become mid-centralised.

Related Topics:
Semitic languages - Emphatic consonant

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Classical Syriac had the following set of distinguishable vowels:

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• Close front unrounded vowel ? {{IPA|/i/}}
• Close-mid front unrounded vowel ? {{IPA|/e/}}
• Open-mid front unrounded vowel ? {{IPA|/?/}}
• Open front unrounded vowel ? {{IPA|/a/}} (actually pronounced more centrally)
• Open back unrounded vowel ? {{IPA|/?/}}
• Close-mid back rounded vowel ? {{IPA|/o/}}
• Close back rounded vowel ? {{IPA|/u/}}

In the western dialect, {{IPA|/?/}} has become {{IPA|/?/}}, and the original {{IPA|/o/}} has merged with {{IPA|/u/}}. In eastern dialects there is more fluidity in the pronunciation of front vowels, with some speakers distinguishing five qualities of such vowels, and others only distinguishing three. Vowel length is generally not important: close vowels tend to be longer than open vowels.

Related Topics:
Front vowel - Close vowel - Open vowel

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The open vowels form diphthongs with the approximants {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}}. In almost all dialects the full sets of possible diphthongs collapses into two or three actual pronunciations:

Related Topics:
Open vowel - Diphthong - Approximants

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• {{IPA|/aj/}} sometimes monophthongized to {{IPA|/e/}}
• {{IPA|/aw/}} usually becomes {{IPA|/?w/}}
• {{IPA|/?j/}} usually becomes {{IPA|/aj/}}, but the western dialect has {{IPA|/?j/}}
• {{IPA|/?w/}} sometimes monophthongized to {{IPA|/o/}}