Lishn Didn

Lishn Didn
Lishn Didn
Lin Didn, Linn Pronunciation Nativeto Region Native speakers [lin didn] Israel, Azerbaijan, Georgia, originally Iran, Turkey Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, originally from Iranian Azerbaijan 4,500 (2001) [1]

Language family Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Aramaic Eastern Aramaic Northeastern Lishn Didn

Language codes ISO 639-3 trg

Lishn Didn is a modern Jewish Aramaic language, often called Neo-Aramaic or Judeo-Aramaic. It was originally spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan, in the region of Lake Urmia, from Salmas to Mahabad. Most speakers now live in Israel. The name Lishn Didn means 'our language'; other variations are Lishann, 'our-language', and Lishanid Nash Didn, 'the language of our selves'. As this causes some confusion with similarly named dialects (Lishana Deni, Lishanid Noshan), scholarly sources tend simply to use a more descriptive name, like Persian Azerbaijani Jewish Neo-Aramaic. To distinguish it from other dialects of Jewish Neo-Aramaic, Lishn Didn is sometimes called Lakhlokhi (literally 'to-you(f)-to-you(m)') or Galihalu ('mine-yours'), demonstrating different use of prepositions and pronominal suffixes.

Origin and use today

Various Neo-Aramaic dialects were spoken across a wide area from Lake Urmia to Lake Van (in Turkey), down to the plain of Mosul (in Iraq) and back across to Sanandaj (in Iran again). Lishn Didn, at the northeastern extreme of this area, is somewhat intelligible with the Jewish Neo-Aramaic languages of Hulaula (spoken further south, in Iranian Kurdistan) and Lishanid Noshan (formerly spoken around Kirkuk, Iraq). However, the local Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic are unintelligible: Christian and Jewish communities living side by side developed completely different variants of Aramaic that had more in common with their co-religionists living further away than with their neighbours. Like other Judaeo-Aramaic dialects, Lishn Didn is sometimes called Targumic, due to the long tradition of translating the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, and the production of targums. There are two major dialect clusters of Lishn Didn. The northern cluster of dialects centred around Urmia and Salmas in West Azarbaijan, and extended into the Jewish villages of the Turkish province of Van. The southern cluster of dialects was focused on the town of Mahabad and villages just south of Lake Urmia. The dialects of the two clusters are intelligible to one another, and most of the differences are due to receiving loanwords from different languages: Persian, Kurdish and Turkish languages especially. The upheavals in their traditional region after the Second World War and the founding of the State of Israel led most of the Azerbaijani Jews to settle in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. However, uprooted from their homes, and thrown

Lishn Didn together with so many different language groups in the fledgling nation, Lishn Didn began to be replaced in the speech of younger generations by Modern Hebrew. Fewer than 5,000 people are known to speak Lishn Didan, and most of them are over 50 years old. The language faces extinction in the next few decades. Lishn Didn is written in the Hebrew alphabet. Spelling tends to be highly phonetic, and elided letters are not written.

References
[1] Lishn Didn reference (http:/ / www. ethnologue. com/ language/ trg) at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)

Heinrichs, Wolfhart (ed.) (1990). Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. ISBN 1-55540-430-8. Mahir nsal Eri, Krt Yahudileri - Din, Dil, Tarih, (Kurdish Jews) In Turkish, Kalan Publishing, Ankara, 2006 Maclean, Arthur John (1895). Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul. Cambridge University Press, London.

External links
The Nash Didan site (http://nashdidan.co.il/) (Hebrew) and Hebrew - Lishan Didan translator (http://lishan. nashdidan.co.il/).

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Lishn Didn Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=575277867 Contributors: Aelfthrytha, Angr, CesarB, Chris the speller, ChrisGualtieri, Dana boomer, Danny, Donald Albury, Dsp13, Florian Blaschke, Garzo, Gilliam, Iohannes Animosus, Keka, Khoikhoi, Kwamikagami, Maor X, Raayen, Sardanaphalus, TShilo12, Taivo, Tassedethe, Tobias Conradi, Violetriga, , 7 anonymous edits

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