Lectures of Prof. Werner Arnold from Heidelberg University about the Modern Aramaic Dialect of Maalula

Professor Werner Arnold is one of the world’s leading experts in modern Semitic languages. He started as a semitologist in the field research of the Western Neo-Aramaic dialects of Syria. A large part of his publications is concerned with modern Arabic dialects of Syria (Antiochia), Turkey (Hatay province), and Israel (Holon, Jaffa, Gaza). Prof Arnold has recently returned from Oman, where he conducted field research with the speakers of Mehri language, one of the modern South-Arabian dialects.

The dialect of the town of Maalula (Maʕalūla) is one of the surviving West-Aramaic languages. Together with the dialects of the neighbouring villages Baxa and Ǧubaddin it forms a small oasis of Aramaic languages in the Qalamoun mountains in Syria (60 km to the north from Damascus). The town of Maalula is a very popular site for tourists in Syria, and its main attraction its language: every guidebook for tourists tells that in Maalula the Aramaic language, “the language of Christ”, is spoken.

As all the Modern Aramaic languages, the dialect of Maalula is an endangered Semitic language. It became especially endangered when fighting started in Maalula (September 2013). The first attack was repelled by the state army, but later the town was twice surrendered to the militants. Several civilians were killed, many others were wounded. A substantial part of the Maalula’s inhabitants left the town and are not going to return in the near future.

Prof Werner Arnold had a chance to work in the Qalamoun mountains in a much more peaceful period (1985-1991). He has published four volumes of texts, a comparative grammar of the dialects of Maalula, Baxa and Ǧubaddin, as well as a textbook of the Maalula language. At present, Prof Arnold is preparing for publication a large Aramaic-German dictionary of the Maalula language.

The lectures, that Prof Arnold will read in HSE, will give an introduction to the modern Neo-Aramaic language of the town of Maalula. He will give a review of its phonology, morphology and some elements of its syntax. Most of the time will be devoted to a detailed philological analysis of field texts. As a preparation to the lectures, it is recommended to read a linguistic description (in Russian) of the Maalula language, composed by the members of IOCS HSE Leonid Kogan and Sergey Loesov.

The lectures will take place on March 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27 in the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies of HSE, at 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Str., Bld 3, korpus “L”, from 19:00 to 22:00 (on Saturday, March 24, — from 16:00 to 19:00). Lecture-room: Л-209 (=L-209).

To order an admission permit to the building, please send your name to: alyavdansky@hse.ru