Call to Tur-Abdin Aramaic Language Teachers and Linguists
How do you translate new words such as NOMOPHOBIA in Tur-Abdin Aramaic? The Tur-Abdin Aramaic Language Committee (TALC) will focus on reassessing existing words and on introducing new ones in this centuries-old Aramaic dialect. It's high time to bring the right people together to reach a majority consensus about these questions so that Aramaic can be modernized and its speakers can continue to keep this beautiful dialect alive.
Dear beloved teachers and linguists,
The World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) (“WCA”) recently opened the Aramaic Language and Cultural Heritage Department (“ALCHD”) with the aim to initiate various projects to preserve, develop and promote the Aramaic language and cultural heritage.
The majority of WCA’s members originate from and speak the Aramaic dialect of Tur-Abdin. Additionally, the ALCHD acknowledges the long overdue void to conform Tur-Abdin Aramaic with modern times. Therefore, our first initiative is to prepare this dialect for the 21st century by bringing together Aramean teachers worldwide in the Tur-Abdin Aramaic Language Committee (TALC) and non-Aramean linguists in a supplementary Advisory Committee.
In the absence of a state, government or international institution willing to sponsor a National Aramaic Language Academy (one of WCA’s long term goals!), native speakers and linguists who share concerns about this dying language, are compelled to join forces and start small.
An old Aramaic Bible presented by the WCA President Johny Messo at the St. Gabriel Monastery
to H.E. Mor Timotheus Samuel Aktaş, the Archbishop of Tur Abdin in Southeast Turkey.
Thus, the ALCHD will provide a platform and the required administration for this authoritative TALC. Its main aims are to coin new words and sayings, as well as to review the senses of existing ones, in order to be internationally accepted by speakers of Tur-Abdin Aramaic. The TALC very much welcomes suggestions of new words that may be used in everyday life and others that have yet to be formally and globally agreed upon to enter the mainstream language.
The TALC’s initial focus on neologisms, representing a language’s evolving nature, is crucial to keep Tur-Abdin Aramaic alive. Over time, people everywhere always create new words that define ideas that previously did not exist or were expressed with other words. As is widely known, malfone are often being asked how certain words translate into Aramaic. The answer to such situations mostly depends on their linguistic knowledge and background education. In practice, malfone have rejected each other’s invented words. Hence, WCA wishes to bring them and other specialists together in order for the experts to agree by majority on such critical questions.
Are you a teacher or linguist willing to contribute to Tur-Abdin Aramaic by joining the TALC? Then we look forward to receiving your email and CV before 25 April 2021:
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. In due time, you will receive more information about the TALC’s platform and its proceedings.
