voiced pharyngeal fricative

Here follows a comprehensive history of Aramaic. The history is broken down into three broad periods: Old Aramaic (1100 BCE–200 CE), including: The Biblical Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible. The Aramaic of Jesus. The Aramaic of the Targums. Middle Aramaic (200–1200), including: Literary Syriac. The Aramaic of the Talmuds and Midrashim. Modern Aramaic (1200–present), including: Various modern vernaculars. This classific ...

See also:

Aramaic language, Aramaic language - Geographic distribution, Aramaic language - Aramaic languages and dialects, Aramaic language - Writing system, Aramaic language - History, Aramaic language - Old Aramaic, Aramaic language - Ancient Aramaic, Aramaic language - Imperial Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Eastern Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Western Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Sounds, Aramaic language - Vowels, Aramaic language - Consonants, Aramaic language - Historical sound changes, Aramaic language - Grammar, Aramaic language - Background, Aramaic language - Writing systems, Aramaic language - Historical forms, Aramaic language - Literature, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic languages

Read more here: » Aramaic language: Encyclopedia II - Aramaic language - History

During the twelfth century BCE, Aramaeans, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in great numbers in modern-day Syria, Iraq and eastern Turkey. As the language grew in importance, it came to be spoken throughout the Mediterranean coastal area of the Levant, and spread east of the Tigris. Jewish settlers took the language with them into north Africa and Europe, and Christian missionaries brought Aramaic into Persia, India and even China. From the seventh century CE onwards, Aramaic was replaced as the lingua franca of the Middle Eas ...

See also:

Aramaic language, Aramaic language - Geographic distribution, Aramaic language - Aramaic languages and dialects, Aramaic language - Writing system, Aramaic language - History, Aramaic language - Old Aramaic, Aramaic language - Ancient Aramaic, Aramaic language - Imperial Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Eastern Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Western Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Sounds, Aramaic language - Vowels, Aramaic language - Consonants, Aramaic language - Historical sound changes, Aramaic language - Grammar, Aramaic language - Background, Aramaic language - Writing systems, Aramaic language - Historical forms, Aramaic language - Literature, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic languages

Read more here: » Aramaic language: Encyclopedia II - Aramaic language - Geographic distribution

The earliest Aramaic alphabet was based on the Phoenician script. In time, Aramaic developed its distinctive 'square' style. The ancient Israelites and other peoples of Canaan adopted this alphabet for writing their own languages. Thus, it is better known as the Hebrew alphabet today. This is the writing system used in Biblical Aramaic and other Jewish writing in Aramaic. The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form known as the Syriac alphabet (one of the varieties of ...

See also:

Aramaic language, Aramaic language - Geographic distribution, Aramaic language - Aramaic languages and dialects, Aramaic language - Writing system, Aramaic language - History, Aramaic language - Old Aramaic, Aramaic language - Ancient Aramaic, Aramaic language - Imperial Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Eastern Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Western Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Sounds, Aramaic language - Vowels, Aramaic language - Consonants, Aramaic language - Historical sound changes, Aramaic language - Grammar, Aramaic language - Background, Aramaic language - Writing systems, Aramaic language - Historical forms, Aramaic language - Literature, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic languages

Read more here: » Aramaic language: Encyclopedia II - Aramaic language - Writing system

As with other Semitic languages, Aramaic morphology (the way words are put together) is based on the triliteral root. The root consists of three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, k-t-b has the meaning of 'writing'. This is then modified by the addition of vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning: Kṯāḇâ, handwriting, inscription, script, book. Kṯāḇê, the Scriptures. See also:

Aramaic language, Aramaic language - Geographic distribution, Aramaic language - Aramaic languages and dialects, Aramaic language - Writing system, Aramaic language - History, Aramaic language - Old Aramaic, Aramaic language - Ancient Aramaic, Aramaic language - Imperial Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Eastern Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Western Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Sounds, Aramaic language - Vowels, Aramaic language - Consonants, Aramaic language - Historical sound changes, Aramaic language - Grammar, Aramaic language - Background, Aramaic language - Writing systems, Aramaic language - Historical forms, Aramaic language - Literature, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic languages

Read more here: » Aramaic language: Encyclopedia II - Aramaic language - Grammar

Over four hundred thousand people speak Aramaic to this day. They are Jews, Christians, Muslims and Mandaeans, living in remote areas and preserving their traditions with printing presses, and now electronic media. The Modern Aramaic (or Neo-Aramaic) languages are now farther apart in their comprehension of one another than perhaps they have ever been. The last two-hundred years have not been good to Aramaic speakers. Instability throughout the Middle East has lead to a worldwide diaspora of Aramaic speakers. The year 1915 is especial ...

See also:

Aramaic language, Aramaic language - Geographic distribution, Aramaic language - Aramaic languages and dialects, Aramaic language - Writing system, Aramaic language - History, Aramaic language - Old Aramaic, Aramaic language - Ancient Aramaic, Aramaic language - Imperial Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Late Old Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Eastern Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Western Middle Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Eastern Aramaic, Aramaic language - Modern Western Aramaic, Aramaic language - Sounds, Aramaic language - Vowels, Aramaic language - Consonants, Aramaic language - Historical sound changes, Aramaic language - Grammar, Aramaic language - Background, Aramaic language - Writing systems, Aramaic language - Historical forms, Aramaic language - Literature, Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic languages

Read more here: » Aramaic language: Encyclopedia II - Aramaic language - Modern Aramaic

See main article Hebrew grammar Hebrew grammar is mostly analytical, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than grammatical cases. However inflection does play an important role in the formation of the verbs, nouns and the genitive construct, which is called "smikhut". Words in smikhut are often combined with hyphens. ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - Grammar

Modern Hebrew is written from right to left using the Hebrew alphabet. Modern scripts are based on the "square" letter form. A similar system is used in handwriting, but the letters tend to be more circular in their character, and sometimes vary markedly from their printed equivalents. Biblical Hebrew text contains nothing but consonants and spaces, and most modern Hebrew texts contain only consonants, spaces and western-style punctuation. A pointing system (nikud, from the root word meaning "points" or "dots") developed around the 5th Centu ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - Writing system

Hebrew has two kinds of stress: on the last syllable (milra‘) and on the penultimate syllable (the one preceding the last, mil‘el). The former is more frequent. Specific rules connect the location of the stress with the length of the vowels in the last syllable; however due to the fact that Modern Hebrew does not distinguish between long and short vowels, these rules are often ignored in everyday speech. Interestingly enough, the rules that specify the vowel length are different for verbs and nouns, which influences the str ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - Sounds

See main article Jewish languages Yiddish, Ladino, Karaim, and Judaeo-Arabic were all highly influenced by Hebrew. Although none are completely derived from Hebrew, they all make extensive use of Hebrew loanwords. In a less direct manner, the revival of Hebrew is often cited by proponents of International auxiliary languages as the best proof that languages long dead, with small communities, or modified or created ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew

According to Ethnologue, dialects of Hebrew include Standard Hebrew (General Israeli, Europeanized Hebrew), Oriental Hebrew (Arabized Hebrew, Yemenite Hebrew). In practice, there is also Ashkenazi Hebrew, still widely used in Ashkenazi Jewish religious services and studies in Israel and abroad. It was influenced by the Yiddish language. Sephardi Hebrew language is the basis of Standard Hebrew and not all that different from it, although traditionally it has had a greater range of phoneme ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - Dialects

Egyptian is a fairly typical Afro-Asiatic language. At the heart of Egyptian vocabulary is a root of three consonants. Sometimes there were only two, for example /r'/ "sun" (where the apostrophe represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative); others, such as /nfr/, which means beautiful; and some could be as large as five /sxdxd/ "be upside-down". Vowels and other consonants were then added to this root in order to derive words, in the same way as Arabic, Hebrew, and other Afro-Asiatic languages do today. However, we do not know what these vowels ...

See also:

Egyptian language, Egyptian language - Development of the language, Egyptian language - Structure of the language, Egyptian language - Notes on pronunciation, Egyptian language - Egyptian writing, Egyptian language - Overview, Egyptian language - Hieroglyphs, Egyptian language - Modern-day resources

Read more here: » Egyptian language: Encyclopedia II - Egyptian language - Structure of the language