WEEK 1

Disciplines of linguistics - Phonetics = The acoustic & articulatory properties of linguistic sounds
- Phonology = The study of sound systems in a language
- Syntax = The study of the organization of words, phrases and clauses
- Morphology = The study of the parts of words > suffixes, prefixes, infixes, declensions.
- Semantics = The study of meaning which is context independent
- Pragmatics = The study of the purpose and results of a linguistic act
Diachronic Linguistics The study of language change over time.
Genetic language approach = The Family Tree Model  A method of historical reconstruction which theoretically allows one to
reconstruct a proto-language on the basis of regular correspondences between its daughter languages.

Problems?
1. It presupposes groups only split and never merge,
has trouble explaining "mixed" languages.
2. It implies clear lines between groups.
3. It has been associated with racist and colonialist
ideologies in the past.
Language Contact Theory - Dialect Continuum, Near-Relative Contact
- Structural Isomorphism (two languages, one grammar)
Historical Typology Theory It is common among languages across the world which are not related in terms of genetics or contact to
develop in the same way because of some aspect of human social psychology.
Language - Language is not:
• A script
• Always easy distinguishable from a dialect

- Language is:
• Functionalism: A way that people communicate their thoughts, feelings and identity in the social
world = the context
• Structuralism: A system of sounds, words and phrases that recombine regular, but infinite ways = the
structure

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WEEK 2 The Semitic Languages I
Genetic linguistics method of historical reconstruction which theoretically allows one to reconstruct a proto-language
on the basis of regular correspondence between its daughter languages. The method is based on
looking for similarities between languages (vocabulary and grammar), with vocabulary a
distinguish is made.
Proto-language In the Tree model, a proto-language is a postulated language from which a number of attested
known languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-
languages are usually unattested, hypothetical or reconstructed.
Proto-Semitic The reconstructed origin of all Semitic languages. Descended from Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Much debate
as to the Semitic "Urheimat" (Homeland)  Common theory: nexus of Arabia & the Levant
Akkadian - Akkadian Empire (city of Akkad) 2334–2154 BC
- Great regional importance
- Literary language until early years AD

Akkadian & Sumerian - Influence goes both ways:

• As number of Akkadian speakers increases, more mixed marriages,
more people switch from Sumerian to Akkadian
• Spoken Sumerian is then influenced by Akkadian
• Some of this makes it into the literary language
 This is typical of most language contact situations, but to differing
degrees based on social dynamics & population numbers.
Sumerian - a prestige language in the region
- "Symbolic capital" (Bourdieu)
- It is also a "liturgical language"
• Used in religious ceremony or scripture
- Also corresponding influences in:
• Religion
• Art
• Culture
• Writing system
Prestige language Prestige describes the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect as compared to that of other
languages or dialects in a speech community. The concept of prestige in sociolinguistics is closely
related to that of prestige or class within a society.
Liturgical language A sacred language, "holy language" (in religious context) or liturgical language is any language that
is cultivated and used primarily in religious service or for other religious reasons by people who
speak another, primary language in their daily life.
Grammatology/ Writing and print as system of signs. Dealing with the customary ways of transcribing spoken
Graphemics language. Classification based on:
- Form
- Function
- Family (not language family! Scripts can be transmitted independently)
Pictogram Graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object.
Characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance
Ideogram Symbol which represents the idea of the thing abstractly (sensitive to cultural conventions)
Logogram Logographic, characters.
is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language).
Syllabograms Syllabic, syllabary. Signs used to write the syllables (or morae) of words. separate symbols for each
possible syllable that may occur in the language.
Rebus principle The use of existing symbols, such as pictograms, purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning,
to represent new words. Many ancient writing systems used the rebus principle to represent abstract
words, which otherwise would be hard to represent with pictograms.
Sumerogram Written as Sumerian, pronounced as Akkadian. The use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group
of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a
language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian or Hittite.
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Syllabaries Set of written symbols that represent the syllables (a unit of organization for a sequence of speech
sounds. It is typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and
final margins (typically, consonants).
Abjads Consonantal. Type of writing system in which (in contrast to true alphabets) each symbol or glyph
stands for a consonant, in effect leaving it to readers to infer or otherwise supply an appropriate
vowel.
Alphabets Standardized set of basic written symbols or graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes
of certain spoken languages.
Compound – for actual compound words (e.g. feather + duster = featherduster) • Combined – two
symbols, slightly different reading • Composite – contain more than one element/radical

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 WEEK 3 The Semitic Languages Part II - The Languages of Arabia

Old Arabic Pre-Islamic Arabic: Share in innovations derived from *Proto-Arabic

[Language  writing system, period attested]

Nabataean Arabic  Nabataean (Aramaic) 4th c. BC – 1st c. AD
Old Higazi  Nabataeo-Arabic (Aramaic), Arabic (Aramaic) Dadanitic (South Arabian), Greek 1st –
7th c. AD
Hismaic  Hismaic (South Arabian) 1st c. BC – 4th c. AD
---------
Safaitic  Safaitic (South Arabian), Dadanitic (South Arabian), Greek 1st c. BC – 4th c. AD
Dadanitic  Dadanitic (South Arabian) 6th – 1st c. BC
Hasaitic  Hasaitic (South Arabian) 3rd – 2nd c. BC
Taymanic  Taymanic (South Arabian) 6th c. BC
Thamudic (B-D)  Various Thamudic (South Arabian) 6th c. BC – 3rd c. AD
--------
 Old/Acient North Arabian (based on South Arabian- derived scripts)

Namāra Inscription – 328 AD

• Old Arabic (pre-Islamic)
• Nabataean Aramaic Script
• Epitaph of Imru' al-Qays bar ʿAmr
(Ruler of the Banu Lakhm tribe/nation)

Old North Arabian
Contact or areal influences
Classic Arabic
Middle Arabic
Modern Arabic ‘dialects’
Difference dialect/language
Safaitic Safaitic (South Arabian), Dadanitic (South Arabian), Greek 1st c. BC – 4th c. AD Dadanitic
Dadanitic (South Arabian) 6th – 1st c. BC Hasaitic Hasaitic (South Arabian) 3rd – 2nd c. BC
Taymanic Taymanic (South Arabian) 6th c. BC Thamudic (B-D)
Elements shared by languages or dialects in a geographic area, particularly when such features are not
descended from a proto-language, or, common ancestor language. That is, an areal feature is
contrasted to genealogically determined similarity within the same language family. Features may
diffuse from one dominant language to neighboring languages (see "Sprachbund").
Exact originating dialects not clear
- Codification:
• 7-8th c. AD
• by (mostly native Persian-speaking) grammarians
• Most famously Sībawayh (late 8th c. AD)
• Massive, rich Arabic tradition of linguistic inquiry Classical Arabic
- Important texts in Classical Arabic:
• Religious canon ( ‫حدیث‬ḥadīt̠ - stories related by Muḥammad, his companions, ‫فقه‬fiqh – works of
Islamic law)
• History & Sociology
• Hard Sciences & Philosophy
• Poetry
Classical Arabic masks a lot of contemporary variation.
• Some Medieval texts derived from popular oral literature show it:
• Very difficult to be sure how these "traces" of local variation fit in between older varieties and
modern "dialects".
• Arabic loses some importance after the Mongols (13th c. AD)
• Other languages become more prevalent (Persian, Turkic)
• Descendant from different older Arabic varieties, not well studied
• Many migrations of Arabic-speaking tribes
= Diglossia describes a situation in a society wherein there exist two very different varieties of the
same language at use simultaneously in different spheres within that society.

Modern Arabic: Spoken Arabic

• ‫عامية‬ʿāmiyya "colloquial, popular"
• ‫لهجة‬lahja "dialect"
• ‫مکرس‬mukassar "broken"
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 Some commonalities not found in Qur'anic or Classical Arabic
Mutual intelligibility = a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can
readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort.
- Can be very low
- Higher within "major" groupings
- Depends on many individual factors
• Level of education
• Experience with other dialects
• Exposure to media
• Language attitudes
Modern Standard Arabic ‫نهضة‬Nahḍa "Awakening"
- late 19th c. "modernization" movement
- Associated with Arab nationalism, anti-Ottomanism
- Publication of secular literature
White Arabic In some parts of the (Eastern) Arabic-speaking world, people use the term ‫البیضاء اللغة‬al-luġa l-bayḍā'
"the white language" to describe the phenomenon where people who speak different dialects attempt
to minimize hard-to-understand dialectal features and settle on a sort of intermediary form between
modern dialect and MSA.
Language attitudes = evaluative reactions to different language varieties. They reflect, at least in part, two sequential
cognitive processes: social categorization and stereotyping.
Maltese Sister to Siculo-Arabic (once spoken in Sicily)
- Most closely resembles Tunisian
- Heavy influence from Italian varieties
- Speakers mostly Catholic • Latin script
Modern South Semitic - Not closely related to OSA
- Modern Yemen, Oman
- At least 6 languages
- Low mutual intelligibility
- Under heavy pressure from Arabic
- Mehri especially endangered by US/Saudi aggression
Old South Semitic No living descendants (except maybe Razihi & Faifi in NW Yemen)
- Precise sub-branching within Semitic debated
- Four main varieties (Sayhadic)
• Sabean
• Hadramitic
• Minaean
• Qatabanian
Queen of Sheba in the Old Testament Exotic, mysterious
- Symbol of
• prosperity
• legitimacy
• female power Attests to the fame of Old South Arabian kingdoms
Old/Epigraphic South No living descendants (except maybe Razihi & Faifi in NW Yemen)
Arabian - Precise sub-branching within Semitic debated. Four main varieties (Sayhadic)
• Sabean
• Hadramitic
• Minaean
• Qatabanian
- Attested 8th c. BC – 6th c. AD
- Mostly on stone, wooden cylinders
- Important centers of trade
- Elaborate legal systems
- Writing systems adopted by North Arabian tribes, Ethiopia

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Northwest
WEEKSemitic
4 = Syro-Palestinian.
The Semitic Languages III – Aramaic and Canaanite Languages
- 3 main sub-branching’s:
• Aramaic
• Canaanite
• Amorite (only attested as Ugaritic)
- Probably arose in the Levant. Some evidence that a part of the contributing population of the Canaanite
speaking branch may have come from Egypt/Sinai.
- Split from Proto-Semitic uncertain; perhaps as early as 6th mil. BC.
- Earliest attestation: Ugaritic, 14th c. BC.
Aramaeans Seem to have begun as a primarily nomadic pastoralist group. Theorized to have spread primarily because of
political unrest, and scarcity of pastureland & other resources during the Bronze Age Collapse (1200-1150
BC). Early mention as place name:
- 24th c. BC Akkadian & Eblaite tablets
• A-ra-mu = inland northern Syria.
• Not sure if connected to people!
- 1110 BC prismoid inscription of Middle Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser I
• Aram people are seemingly a subset of the Aḫlamū, a generic name for bandits in northern Mesopotamia.
Eventually, the two terms become synonymous

 maybe because of some process of assimilation/ethnogenesis...

 maybe because they always were, and people were confused

- Several smaller early majority-Aramaean states/tribal units

• Aram Damascus (in modern Syria)
• Aram Naharain (in Northern Mesopotamia)
• Aram Rehob (in modern Lebanon)

- Eventually conquered & absorbed into various surrounding states.

- Early Aramaeans also played a great role in the formation of other states
more commonly associated with other ethnic/linguistic groups:
• Chaldean Dynasty of Babylonia
• Syro-Hittite states in Anatolia
• Achaemenid (Persian) Empire
Hebrew The people of or descending from twelve Canaanite tribes originating 13th c. BC.
- Other surrounding peoples attested mostly in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Moabites, Edomites) seem to have
spoken related languages.
- Coalesce into the Kingdoms of Israel & Judah, which may (according to legend) have been unified for a
time

Colloquially divided into:

Old Hebrew (more a colloquial term than a scientific one)
- Used for all pre-Modern Hebrew.
- Usually includes:
• Biblical Hebrew
• Samaritan Hebrew
• Qumran Hebrew (Dead Sea Scrolls)
• Mishnaic/Rabbinic Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew
- Technically: Hebrew of the Jewish Bible
- Often other Archaic Hebrew is added (ie. Inscriptions from the Monarchic Period)
- Divided into three eras:
• Archaic Biblical Hebrew
• Standard Biblical (/Classical) Hebrew
• Late Biblical Hebrew
Some believe some of this variation is more about geography than about periodization.

Writing in Old/Biblical Hebrew

- This is the original Hebrew script, a.k.a. the Paleo
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 - Hebrew script, basically identical to the Phoenician script
- Almost all other Hebrew is (strictly speaking) not in the Hebrew script! The modern Hebrew script is a
variant of the Imperial Aramaic script.
- Shows the importance of two things in the formation of later Jewish
literary tradition:
• The Aramaic Language
• The Babylonian Exodus

Medieval Hebrew
- From the 5th c. AD onwards, production in Hebrew continues to be used in the diaspora after it mostly dies
out as a spoken language:
• as a lingua franca between Jews of different linguistic communities
• as a language of religious commentary
• as a language of scientific and philiosophical literature
• among students in some yeshivas as a marker of pious religious identity

Phoenician - Canaanites originally from the area of modern

coastal Lebanon. Built a state based on a massive
trade network, establishing colonies all over the
Mediterranean, a thalassocracy (< Greek θαλασσα
“sea” κρατεια “rule”
- Long lived linguistic & cultural identity:
• Canaanite Phoenician from 11th c. BC to 2 nd c. AD
• Carthaginian Phoenician (Punic) until 6th c. AD

- Knowledge of Phoenician society more limited than

what you might expect:
• “Roman Bias” – result of the Punic Wars.
• Most Phoenicians wrote on papyrus/parchment for everyday purposes, which rot.
• Preserved inscriptions & ostraca (pot shares used for notes) are sometimes worn & difficult to read.
- Phoenician writing < Proto-Sinaitic script
• In Canaan: a“true” abjad, i.e. no written vowels.
- In Carthage: development of matres lectionis.
• Phoenicians responsible for spreading their writing
system to the world (Greek, Latin etc.)
Ugaritic - City of Ugarit (attested 14th-12th c. BC) modern Latakia, Syria, on the coast across from Cyprus
- Inhabitants are ubiquitous traders in the Eastern Mediterranean.
• Extensive trade contacts with great empires of the day, e.g. Sumerians, Akkadians, Egyptians, Luwians… .
• Many cultural similarities with the Ancient Hebrews.
- Written mostly on clay & stone, not paper & parchment, which rot.
- Discovery adds significantly to our knowledge of the region.

Ugaritic writing system

• Form of cuneiform
• Functions like Phoenician abjad
Aramaic (Ancient Aramaic, Archaic Aramaic)
- Usually: pre-Babylonian Aramaic (10th-8th c. BC)
- Some use this term for all Aramaic before Syriac (i.e. They include Imperial
Aramaic.)

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 Left: Ancient Aramaic
Right: Old Aramaic

Old Aramaic - Some Old Aramaic features & some Canaanite (Aramoid)
• Samalian (a.k.a. Yaudic)
• Zincirli, Turkey
- Language of the Deir Alla inscription (1st mil. BC)
- Near Gaziantep, Turkey (9th/8th c. BC)
-Probably evidence that...
• Aramaic & Canaanite were still very similar at this time.
• Aramaic & Canaanite speakers were still in contact.
 The two sub-branches could be said to form a dialect continuum in this early period.
Imperial Aramaic - Sometimes divided into:
• Early Imperial Aramaic (used in the Babylonian Empire)
• Imperial Aramaic
• Classical Aramaic, Standard Aramaic (ued in the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire)
- Codified on the basis of more prestigious Eastern dialects.
- Factors solidifying the position of Aramaic:
• wide spread of Aramaic-speakers
• multi-ethnic nature of these empires
• ease of the Aramaic script (vs. cuneiform)
• pre-existing Aramophone administrative class
Middle Aramaic - Dialectal divisions existed already in Old Aramaic, esp. East vs. West.
- By Middle Aramaic (3rd c. BC-3rd c. AD) these were well established:
• Mesopotamian & Syrian Group (Eastern)
• Palestinian & Nabataean Group (Western)
 Since many textual traditions and corpora continue through this period, many people do not consider
Middle &Late Aramaic to be separate categories. The distinction is most important for Syriac.
Eastern Aramaic - This major division is preserved in “Late” Aramaic (3rd - 8th c. AD):
Western Aramaic • Eastern Aramaic (Sasanian/Persian sphere of influence)
• Syriac
• Late Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
• Mandaic
• Western Aramaic (Byzantine/Greek sphere of influence)
• Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
• Christian Palestinian Aramaic
• Samaritan Aramaic
Classical Syriac - Literary variety of Late Eastern Aramaic.
• Used by the Ancient Church of the East.
• Still used as a literary variant in many Christian communities.
• Script still used for most written Neo-Aramaic.
• Aramaic-speaking translators seems to have been the vehicle of
transmission for much Ancient Greek science to the Islamic world.
- Ancient (Syriac) Church of the East
• Founded in Sassanian Persia 410 AD, unified until Schism of 1552
• Supported in opposition to Byzantines
• Syriac Rite (i.e. liturgy in Syriac)
• Sometimes called "Nestorian" (though this is controversial)
• Influence as far away as Mongolia, China
- All the modern churches to the right do, have, or can use Syriac for at least
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 some of their liturgy – despite belonging to different rites and denominations. The West & East Syriac Rites
differ in their pronunciation (among other things).

- Modern Hebrew
Considerable variation in pronunciation within modern Hebrew according to:
• original “type”of Jewish community. (Sephardi, Yemeni, Ashkenazi, ...)
• the ethnic background. (Arab vs. Non-Arab)
• sect. (esp. certain Ultra-Orthodox communities)
• age.
Mandaic - Messianic Judaic religion.
• Resembles somewhat Gnostic Christianity, a mystical branch popular the early centuries AD.
• Belief in John the Baptist, but not Jesus.
• Mostly practiced in Southern Iraq & Iran.
• Many have fled due to war.
• As in Eastern Christianity, a form of Aramaic called (Classical) Mandaic is used as a liturgical language.
Jewish - For most Jews throughout history, Hebrew was ha-lešonha-kodeš “the Holy Language”. Colloquially the
word “Jewish”, when referring to language, usually referred to Jewish "Mixed" Languages, e.g.
• Yiddiš < Middle High German
• Djudezmo < Late Medieval Spanish
• Juhuri < Tat (Caucasian West-Iranian)
- Versions of languages spoken by the Jewish diaspora.
- Influence of Hebrew usually limited to vocabulary, idioms, and writing system.
- Usually not very "mixed" in terms of grammar.
• Yiddish is recognizably German.
• Ladino is recognizably Spanish.
- Often stronger influence from other local languages, either nearby or as a result of historical migration; e.g.
Yiddish word order is more like French or Slavic
-Maintaining this kind of difference in the most visible aspects of language (script, vocab) despite heavy
outside influence is a testament to how language can be shaped by and promote group identity.
Jewish Babylonian > 50% of the Talmud – covers Old & Middle Aramaic periods. Targum(im), i.e. Early translations &
Aramaic interpretations of scripture – mostly Middle
Manichaeism - Prophet Mani, born in the Sasanian (Iranian) Empire. Probably a native Aramaic-speaker. Calligrapher by
trade.
- Syriac influence on many linguistic communities:
• Words & Phrases
• Book arts
• Literary themes & symbolism
- Manichaean script was used to write many languages: Syriac, Middle Persian, Parthian (other West Iranic),
Sogdian (East Iranic), Old Turkic, Tocharian (distant branch of Indo-European)

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 WEEK 5 Other languages of the ancient near east & the afro Asiatic phylum

Sumerian • first attested written language

• initial developers of cuneiform
• significant influence on writing in early ME civilisations

Sumerian & Akkadian

influence both directions
• Sumerian "substrate" in Akkadian
• long period of
• intermixing
• language shift

 a "language isolate"

Language isolate = a language not known to be related genealogically to any other known language family.
Politics of language Perceived cultural continuity conflicts with claims on certain geographies
classification
Elamite - origins uncertain
- absorbed into Iranic-speakers (attested 29th - 4th c. BC
- less well-attested than Sumerian
- influence on Achaemenid Persia
• an official language of the early Empire
• Old Persian Cuneiform based on Elamite
Super-family / phylum
Elamo-Dravidian - Links Elamite to languages mostly
- found in modern south India,
- Theorie based on:
• similarity with Indus Valley script (which isn't proven to write Dravidian either)
• purported similarity in vocab (with no regular correspondences)
• very general similarities in grammar
• theories (based on some genetic & archaeological evidence) that Dravidian was initially brought
from
further west
Hurrian - Attested 3rd millennium - 6th c. BC
- small kingdoms (3rd mil-18th c. BC)
• Nuzi
• Urkesh
• Yamhad
- large portion of Hittite population ethnically Hurrian
- majority in Mitanni state (17th-13th c. BC), its rulers were of Indic-speaking)
Urartian - ‘Vannic’  much like Hurrian
- Kingdom of Urartu
- around Lake Van (Turkey)
- attested 9th -6th c. BC
Hurro-Urartian - extinct language family, wo known members:
• Hurrian (24th – 11th c. BC)
• Urartian (9th - 6th c. BC)
- attested very far apart temporally  one is not descendant from the other

Discovery of Hurro-Urartian taught us much about the history of the Armenian language & the early
ethnolinguistic dynamics of the region
Hattic a non-Indo-European agglutinative language spoken by the Hattians in Asia Minor in the 2nd
millennium BC. Scholars call the language "Hattic" to distinguish it from Hittite, the Indo-European
language of the Hittite Empire.
Kaskian Kaskian (Kaskean) the language of the Kaskians (Kaska) of northeastern Bronze Age Anatolia, in the
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 mountains along the Black Sea coast. There are a number of theories regarding what language family
the Kaskian language belonged to.
It is sometimes suspected that Kaskian was related to the pre-Hittite
Indo-European Anatolian = "1st branch" off PIE
languages - now extinct
- preserved many archaic features of PIE
- also innovative due to contact
Hittite - Hittite Cuneiform Hittite Cuneiform
- < Babylonian/ Akkadian Cuneiform

Luwian - close relative of Nešili (Hittite)

- spread early 2nd mil. BC
- dominant ethnicity of the Hittite Empire by 12th c. BC
- eventually replaced Nešili
- majority language of most Syro-Hittite States (12th -8th c. BC) a.k.a. Neo-Hittite States

- "Anatolian Hieroglyphs"
• no direct relation to Egyptian
• called hieroglyphs because of general resemblance
• unclear origin
• may be related to scripts in the Aegean (Linear A/B, Cretan, …)
• may be entirely local invention

Egyptian languages - branch of Afro-Asiatic

- spoken from 4th mil. BC-17th to 19th c. AD
- two major divisions:
• Ancient Egyptian (pre-Christianization)
• Coptic (post-Christianization)
- Dialectal divisions existed in both periods, but we generally think of Coptic as descended from
Ancient Egyptian.

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Hieroglyphs Proto-Hieroglyphs
- proto-literate symbols a.k.a. proto-writing
- don't express the full range of spoken language
- important words, names, numbers, concepts
- used later as the basis for true writing

Hieroglyphs
- "holy inscribed (writing)"
- emerge in Archaic Period
- formal writing
- any direction, mostly
• top - down
• right - left

Hieroglyphs
- hard to know pronunciation of consonants
- doesn't give much information re: vowels
- two ways scholars pronounce it
- most Egyptologists: any unwritten vowel is /e/
- linguists: actually, do research (compare Coptic, contemportary bilinguals…)

Hieroglyphs
- "Manuscript Hieroglyphs"
- important (usually religious) manuscripts
- in between Hieroglyphs & Hieratic
Hieratic - Hieratic - "priestly"
- cursive version of hieroglyphs, but…
• develop almost simultaneously
- many types of documents, esp. scholarly

Demotic - "popular"
- mostly secular documents – but not always informal!
- highly cursive form of hieratic
- develops around 7th c. BC
- name also used for post-Late phase of the Ancient Egyptian language

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Coptic "language of the people of Egypt"
- Copts, a.k.a. "The Christian Egyptians"
- extinct some time 17th -19th c. AD
- liturgical language of the Coptic Churches
- significant Late Antique & Medieval literature

- two main dialect groups

• Upper Egypt – South Sahidic (main), Akhmimic, Lycopolitan
• Lower Egypt - North

Afro-Asiatic superfamily = Phylum, a.k.a. Super-family

- indicates a more distant relationship in time between groups of languages previously thought to
have been their own "terminal node" families.
Laryngeal Theory - Problem: There are some sound changes in Indo-European languages that can't be accounted for.
• changes in certain vowels in some words but not others
• random sounds appearing in some languages but not others

- Theory: There were some sounds, probably pronounced in the back of the throat (larynx) called
"laryngeals" that "colored" those vowels (or added consonants) then disappeared, and occasionally
changed to other consonants which were preserved only rarely.

- Evidence: Anatolian preserves at least two, probably three of these theorized consonants as actual
consonants, all seemingly laryngeal!

WEEK 6 Amazigh (Berber) Languages

Amazigh = Tamazight, Berber

- Part of the Afro-Asiatic phylum/super-family

- The Amazigh people = "the indigenous peoples of North Africa"

(outside of the Nile Delta)

-Probably (proto-)Amazigh-speaking peoples

• Lybians (c. 1208 BC – 6th c. BC)
• Numidians
• Mauri (< black?)
- many independent cities, states

Afro-Asiatic phylum = Remember: Afro-Asiatic phylum/super-family!

- Amazigh connection to Afro-Asiatic:
• exact branching hotly debated
• presumed to emerge ~ 5,000 BC (?)
• continuity with earlier archaeological cultures
Tifnagh = Indigenous North-African Writing
- Lybic/Lybico-Berber Script (oldest ex. 1st/2 nd c. BC)
• Old Tifinagh
• (Neo-)Tifinagh

Old Tifinagh ⵜⴼⵏⵗ

- abjad
- multiple variants
- variable writing direction (RTL, LTR, TTB, BTT)
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Official standardization
and support
Language policy
Politics of ethnic identity
Social and political factors
14
- preserved among the Tuareg
- continuous use attested by inscriptions, graffiti
- used mostly among women
Neo-Tifinagh ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ
- true alphabet (represents vowels)
- created via multi-step process
- Académie Berbère
- IRCAM
- official in Morrocco
- "symbolic importance" in Algeria
- Other writing sytems for Amazigh in modern times:
•Arabic (popular in Middle Ages)
• Latin (emerges with French colonialism)
- Marocco: Article 5, Constitution of 2011
• makes Amazigh an official, protected language
• recognizes Amazigh as part of Moroccan culture
French Protectorate in Morocco
- actively promoted "colonization by proxy"
- advancement dichotomy between:
• ‫ المخزن بالد‬bilād al-maḫzan "country of the storehouse" ➔ the "civilized" world of the local
government (makhzen = government)
• ‫ السیبة بالد‬bilād al-sība "the country of opposition" ➔ spaces outside the grasp of the administration
- support the makhzen in Arabization
- false dichotomy: Amazigh = rural | Arab = urban
- Imazighen become "minorities"
 view of government as collaborating with French to eliminate Amazigh culture:
- hierarchy: Colonial Language > Standard Arabic > Local Arabic > Amazigh
- artificial competition between "lower-ranked" languages
General other colonies:
- continued assimilation
- widened gaps based on remaining ethno-linguistic boundaries
- politicization of ethno-linguistic identity
- post-colonial governments hyper-sensitive to division
- significant influence in vocabulary
Considering the Imazighen & Islamization
- islamization
- quickly among rural populations
- some resist, esp. urban groups
- reflects evidence of ethnic tension
- beginning of extensive assimilation
- Arabic as a written language dominates
- evidence of sociolinguistic stratification
What does the phrase "Arabized Berbers" imply?
- How does ethnic/linguistic identity interact with these other categories in Amazigh history?
• religion
• urban-rural divide
• political leanings
 WEEK 8 The Iranic Languages II – Kurdish, Balochi & Other Iranic Languages

The Iranic languages - Archaeological "cultures" - pottery, graves, statuary, ...

- No written record
- Some genetics, but: genetics, material culture, & later languages don't always add up! (lots of
mixing between language/culture groups)
 Difficult to associate them with a single proposed proto-language

1. Yamna(ya) Culture (3300–2600 BC)

• Proto-Indo-European "Urheimat" (=Homeland)?
• Hunter Gatherers > Nomadic Herders (gradually)
• Wheeled Chariots

2. Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (2400–1900 BC)

• Proto-Indo-Iranian a.k.a. Aryan... We don't say this anymore. (?)
• Settled

3. Andronovo Culture (2000–900 BC)

Sociolinguistic situation in
the Achaemenid Empire
Persian
• Proto-Indo-Iranian – another migration (?)
• Mixed Settled & Nomadic
• Maybe "Indo-Europeanized" via earlier Sintashta Culture
Median Empire (678-548 BC)
- No written records of their own
- Loanwords in Old Persian (e.g. aspa 'horse')
 May indicate a "substrate" in Old Persian. Seems NW Iranic (but hard to tell)

Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC)

- Writing mostly monumental
- Much more centralized, better integrated
- Spread of Old Persian culture (& language?)
- Spread of Zoroastrian religion
- Written language of the Achaemenid Empire alongside:
• Elamite (until around 450 BC)
• Imperial Aramaic
• (other local languages, e.g. Babylonian)
Indo-European large language family native to western and southern Eurasia. It comprises most of the languages
of Europe together with those of the northern Indian subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau
Parthian = Language of the Parthian/Arsacid Empire
- ruled by assimilated East-Iranic speakers
- replace the Alexandrian Seleucids
- great lovers of Hellenic court culture used Greek
• on coinage
• in official correspondence

- attested 3rd c. BC-3rd c. AD

• coins
• inscriptions
• ostraca (potsherds used as notes)
• many paper documents (Manichaean)
• some longer texts written down after the end of the Arsacid
Empire

Parthian is Not:
- East Iranic
- a branch of Persian (though it was once thought to be, and they
might still tell you it is in Iran…)
- NW Iranic – closer to modern Kurdish languages
- Probably no living descendants

15
Proto-Iranic Urheimat As the prehistoric urheimat of the Indo-European languages – the region where the proposed
common ancestor of those languages, the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE), was originally
spoken.
“The Kurgan hypothesis” = It postulates that the people of a Kurgan culture in the Pontic steppe
north of the Black Sea were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE).
Nomenclature = a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or
sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday
speech to the internationally agreed principles, rules and recommendations that govern the
formation and use of the specialist terms used in scientific and any other disciplines.
Old Persian - attested 6th -4 th c. BC
- probably spoken since migration in early 1st mil.
- region of Pārs, modern Fārs (SW Iran)

- Old Persian Cuneiform

• Alphabet/Syllabary/Abugida
• Not directly related to any other cuneiform (exc.𐎾 la)
• Seem to have gotten the idea from the Elamites
Middle Persian - Indigenous name: Pārsīg
- Essentially the continuation of Old Persian
- Exists in a transitional form during the Parthian Period
- Regains importance with the Sassanian Empire
- Conscious revival of a sense of "Ērān"-ian identity
- Vaguely aware of their connection to the Achaemenid
Arsacid Empire The Parthian Empire (/ˈpɑːrθiən/; 247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire
(/ˈɑːrsəsɪd/), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran. Its latter name comes
from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia
Pahlavi Parthian script: Pahlavi Book script (< a later Aramaic script?)
- few letters for many phonemes
- many ambiguous letters
- heavily cursive
- Aramaeograms
Problems textual dating - Proto-Languages
• Not actually attested!
• Reconstructed based on later, attested languages.
- Implication: These proto-languages represented relatively homogeneous ancestral populations to
which later daughter languages have some relationship  (Probably: Mass Migration)
Split-ergativity in the past tense of transitive verbs (hit, make, kill, kiss) these often represent the "subject" of the
verb (the agent = the one doing the action). the verb then agrees with the direct object.
Ethnolects An ethnolect is generally defined as a language variety that mark speakers as members of ethnic
groups who originally used another language or distinctive variety. According to another
definition, an ethnolect is any speech variety (language, dialect, subdialect) associated with a
specific ethnic group.
Judeo-Persian - used by Persophone Jews
- Jewish Aramaic (Hebrew) script

New Persian - Used to describe spoken dialects of the western Persiphone world, both Persian and other West
Iranic (< Parθavī "Parthian"!)
- modern:
• ‫ فاریس‬Fārsī - Iran
• ‫ دری‬Darī - Afghanistan
• Тоҷикӣ Tojikī - Tajikistan (+ Uzbekistan)
• National Standard Varieties
- Biggest changes:
• Arabic script
16
 • Arabic loan words & idioms
Firdawsi Hafiz Firdawsī ‫( فردویس‬apx. 935-1026)
- born Tūs, Khorasan (NE Iran), lived mostly in CAA
- ‫ شاهنامه‬Šāhnāma "Book of Kings - Iranian national epic

‫ خریازی حافظ‬Ḥāfiẓ-i Šīrāzī (1315-1390)

• born in Šīrāz, Fars (SE Iran)
• ‫ دیوان‬Dīvān – compendium of poems, used for divination and recitals on special occasions
Pazand - Middle Persian copied in Avestan script
- shows all the vowels
- evolution as liturgical, not spoken, language
- Later Manichaean Middle Persian
• used by Manichaeans
• Manichaean script – more vowels

Indo-Iranian: cultural Similarities in Hinduism & Zoroastrianism point to original shared belief system.
evidence
Avestan - No certain living descendants
- Shares most basic Iranic sound changes with Old Persian
- That's there the similarities end!
- Usually just put on its own branch of Iranic

= Holy language of Zoroastrianism

- Avesta = holiest texts
- Originally memorized & recited
- No written records from time as a living language
- Very difficult to date its origin or death

- Not written down until early Islamic period

• Avestan/Zend script
• developed in the Sassanian Empire
• shapes draw from Book Pahlavi
• function probably influenced by Greek

- Very difficult to date its origin or death

• Not entirely sure where it comes from
• places/things described in thethe Avesta suggest
• Khwarazm?
• Central Asia

- Similarity to Sanskrit helps

• Nearly identical grammar
• Very similar vocabulary
• Somewhat different phonology
Proto-Languages - Not actually attested!
- Reconstructed based on later, attested languages.
- Implication: These proto-languages represented relatively homogeneous ancestral populations to
which later daughter languages have some relationship. (Probably: Mass Migration
Dialect Continuum Less a set of discreet dialects with fixed borders; more a set of features that changes subtly as one
moves from place to place until great systemic differences are noticeable.

17
Non-Persian SW Iranic - distinction goes back to at least Middle Iranic
languages • probably also Old Iranic
• Median (NW)
• Persian (SW)

- Problem: What makes NW Iranic languages similar to each

other is not shared innovations, but shared archaisms.
- Solution: Recognize that NW Iranic is a "wastebasket" category. It does not imply all NW Iranic has
a common ancestor separate from that of SW Iranic.

- Persid group – close enough to Persian that they might also be descended from the same stage of
• Middle Persian: Luri, Bakhtiari
- Non-Persid (a.k.a. Gulf, Achiomi-Gulf): Achomi, Muslim Achomi, Judeo-Shirazi, Gulf, Bashkardi,
Kumzari, Bandari

- Many smaller SW Iranic languages are giving way to Persian.

• Formal education is exclusively in Persian.
• Younger people move around a lot.
• Migrants rarely learn local languages.
• The Persian state treats most SW Iranic as "bad Persian".
➔ Low degree of language vitality!
North West Iranic = These probably don't form a single cohesive NW subbranch. Branching in Iranic in general is
heavily debated.
• Kurdish (proper)
• Zaza-Gorani
• Balochi
• Caspian languages
• Semnani
• Tatic-Talysh
Kurdish In layman’s terms: any of a number of West Iranic languages traditionally spoken by pastoralists in
the mountains & deserts of the Middle East
- doesn't always fit local naming customs
- ambiguous
- linguist's definition:
• Kurmanji (Northern)
• Sorani (Central)
• Southern (Kermanshahi, …)
• Laki (?)
Languages in this region were (generally) traditionally known by local names or names of smaller
ethnocultural/religious groups.
Kurmanji - what most linguists mean by "Kurdish"
- mutual intelligibility heavily influenced by
• degree of fluency
• passive exposure to variety
• language ideology

Kurmanji
- Spoken in: Turkey, Rojava (Kurdish enclaves in Northern Syria), Southern Kurdistan (Northern
Iraq), Duhok & surroundings, outside Mosul, NE Iranian border, Iran-Turkmenistan border
- Written in: Latin script (in Turkey), Arabic script (in Iraq/Iran), Cyrillic (in former USSR)

- Spoken mainly in: Northern Iraq, NW Iran

- Not written much until 1930s & 40s
- Written mostly in the Arabic script
- Now official in Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan
Zazaki & Gorani - also, frequently referred to as "Kurdish"
- theorized to share a common ancestor
• exact relationship uncertain
• less research done on these

18
 Gorani
- Spoken mostly along central Iran-Iraq border
- Written mostly in Arabic script
- oldest recorded Kurdish: Malā Parēšān's Dīwān (14th c.)
• mostly poetry
• was a prestige variety in the Middle Ages
• Interesting feature:

Zazaki
- Spoken mostly in Turkey
- Written in Latin script as of
- Many speakers object to being called "Kurds"
- Two main dialects
• Dimli
• Kırmancki/Kirdki
- May originally come from the Caspian  Dimli = Daylāmī? (Daylām = old name for SW Caspian
coast)
Caspian languages Caspian languages include:
Deilami
Gilaki
Talysh
Mazanderani
Semnani
Tati
Balochi - Spoken in the (Balochistan) region between Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and small communities in
Turkmenistan
- May be closest related to Kurmanji-Sorani
- Probably migrated to the region between 6th & 15th c. (?)

- No official status, but supported by Balochi and Academy in Pakistan

- Earliest written records = 19th c. poetry
- Written mostly in Latin script (slight differences between each country)
nominative-oblique - Nominative-Oblique case marking
• Nominative (Subject – except…)
• Oblique (everything else)

Ew mal mezin e. "That house is big."

Wê malê dixwazim. "I want that house."
Li malê me. "I'm at home."
Gender = a specific form of noun class system in which the division of noun classes forms an agreement
system with another aspect of the language, such as adjectives, articles, pronouns, or verbs.
Animacy = grammatical and semantic feature, existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the
referent of a noun is. Widely expressed, animacy is one of the most elementary principles in
languages around the globe and is a distinction acquired as early as six months of age.
Language contact = when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other
Minorized languages = a language that is marginalized, persecuted or banned. Language minoritization stems from the
desire of large nations to establish a common language for commerce and government, or to establish
homogeneity for ideological reasons.
Language policies - Paradox: Even though Kurmanji & Sorani are in one group and Zazaki & Gorani in another
(probably), in many ways Kurmanji & Zazaki are more similar to eachother than they are to their
"sisters".
- Reason: Zazaki speakers & Kurmanji speakers fell more solidly within Ottoman borders & have had
intimate historical relations in many regions. Sorani & Gorani speakers were in a similar situation
under Safavid Iran

19
 WEEK 9 Turkic in the Middle East

Turk - Turk = (n.) anyone who has identified or been identified with the name “Turk” at any given point in time
Turkish - Turkish = (adj.) of or pertaining to the Turkish Republic or the ethnic elements of the Ottoman Empire so
Turkic defined
- Turkic = (adj.) of or pertaining to the Turkic language family or the speakers of its languages
Language = a concept used to characterize any set of beliefs or feelings about languages as used in their social worlds.
ideology
Genetic Genetic data from extant modern humans complement the fossil record in the reconstruction of modern
Data human origins.
Oġuz,Qarluq 3 Main branches of Muslim Turkic
Qıpčaq. - Qarluq (Karluk)
- Qıpčaq (Kipchak, Kypchak, Kıpçak, Qïpčaq, Qipchaq)
- Oġuz (Oguz, Oğuz, Oghuz)
Proto-Turkic Proto-Turkic separated into Oghur (western) and Common Turkic (eastern) branches. One estimate
postulates Proto-Turkic to have been spoken 2,500 years ago in East Asia.
Altaic Theory: Turkic, Mongolic, Tunguzic, and perhaps also Japonic and Korean languages are all related in a
theory larger phylum/super-family called "Altaic".
- But: More the result of long-standing contact & borrowing over multiple long periods, rather than of
genetic descent.
 Convergence not divergence!
Debunking - Things for which there is absolutely no good evidence whatsoever period:
crackpot • Turks = Sumerians
theories • Turks = Hittites
• Turks = Native Americans
• Turks = the first humans to have language
- Definitely not Turks:
• Torah/Bible (6 th c. BC ?)
• Avesta (1300 BC ?)
- Probably not Turks:
• Herodotus (5th c. BC)
• 1st c. CE Roman Sources
[Avesta]
Old Turkic - Pre-Köktürk Qaghanate (< 552 AD)
inscription - Chinese Dynastic Histories
Köktürk - Local East-Iranic Documents (Sogdian, Bactrian)

- (Post-)Köktürk Qaghanate
• Local Coinage
• Arabic/Persian Histories & Travelogues

- Inscriptions in other languages from the First Köktürk Qaġanate (552-603 AD)
• Buġut Inscription (Sogdian & Mongolic – 584 AD)
• Küis Tolgoi Inscription (Mongolic – early 6th c. AD)
• Old Turkic Inscriptions from the Second Köktürk Qaġanate (682-744 AD)
Old Turkic - Often (erroneously) called the "Orkhon Inscriptions", which are only a part of the Old
inscription Turkic inscriptions in the area.
- Located in modern Mongolia.
-Written in the 2nd Köktürk Qaġanate (682-744 AD)
- Uyghur Ötükän Qaġanate (744-840 AD)
- Oldest known: Tonyuquq (722 AD)

Post-Köktür - Old Uyghurs Kingdoms (9th -14th c. AD): Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang)

20
states • extensive literature in many scripts
- Khazar Qaġanate (7th-10th c. AD): Crimea, North Caucasus, NW Caspian
• (almost) no writing in their own language

Saljuc - Founded in Khwarazm (1037-1194 AD)

Empire - Ruling class Oġuz-speakers
- Did not write in their own language: Preferred Persian
- When defeated by the Khwarezmian Empire,retreated to Anatolia to found the Saljuq Sultanate of Rūm
Qarakhanid - First Turkic in an Islamic Context (840-1212 AD)
Qaġanate - Founded by independent Qarluq tribal confederation

Turkic Qarluq Turkic

- Grammatically similar to Old Uyghur, but
- Arabic & Old Uyghur scripts
- Large influx of
• Arabic words
• Persian words, idioms

Famous works of Qarakhanid literature:

- ‫ الترك لغات دیوان‬Dīwānu l-Luġāti l-Turk "Compendium of Turkic Languages"  Maḥmūd al-Kāšġarī
source of much of our knowledge, nomenclature for the "main" dialects (Oġuz, Qıpčaq, Qarluq, …)
- ‫ بیلیك قوتاذغو‬Qutaḏġu Bilig "The Knowledge that Brings Glory"
- ‫ الحقایق عتبة‬ʿAtabatu l-Ḥaqāyiq "The Threshhold of Truths"
- Quran Translations

Khwarezmia - Not to be confused with Khwarezmian (an East Iranic language)

n Turkic - Khwarezm under the Golden Horde (1242-1503)
- Mixes
• Qarluq base
• Qıpčaq features
• some Oġuzisms
• Composition varies between documents

21
Middle Ave yärsän yemiš bärgän Hava sıġıtın kätirgän! Ave, terra, ferens Fructum, qui
Qipcaq detersit Evae luctum! 'Ave! Thou art the earth that has born the fruit that hath taken
away the pain of Eve.'
 Codex Cumanicus (12th-13th c. AD)
Written by Italian merchants & German missionary-monks in the Crimea
before/during the conquest of the area by the Golden Horde Middle Qıpčaq
language, a.k.a. Old Qıpčaq, Cuman

Old - First “true” written Oġuz

Anatolian - Vernacularization: switching to writing more like the spoken language
Turkish - Begins to be written in the Karamanid Beylik
- Ottomans relatively late to adopt
Čaġatay = Türkī, Old Uzbek
- literary Turkic of Central Asia
- develops organically from Khwarezmian (no clear line)
- develops different verb forms
- seems to begin forming in the Ulus of Chaghatay
- spread by the Timurid Empire (1370-1507)
- never really stops until 1920s
- evolves into Uzbek & Uyghur, mostly Qarluq
- later periods show local influence

‘Ajamī = Old Azeri, Old Torki

Turkic - Medieval Iranian Oġuz
- Similar to Old Anatolian Turkic
- Increasing influence from Persian
- Understudied in the West
Ottoman Ottoman Empire (1299-1922)
Turkish - Mostly after 1453 conquest of Constantinople
- Official administrative language: Oġuz Turkic

- Early/Old (to circa 1500)

• often used to mean Old Anatolian
• very archaic spelling

- Middle/Classical (1500-1876)
• starting with Süleymān I
• less archaic spelling for words
• more archaic for grammatical endings
• used as a "reference point" for later works

• Late/New (1876-1928)
• dramatic reforms in spelling
• attempts at vernacularization
• introduction of many French words

[Up: Early/Old, bottom left: Middle/Classical, bottom right: Late/New)

Ethnolect = ethnolect (variety of a language) used by a specific ethnic group within a greater language community.
Karamanlidi Different relationship to majority sociolinguistic norms & standards. Often retain aspects of the dialect of the
ka originating population.

Karamanlidika / Karamanlıca
Turkish written in Greek script by Turcophone Greek Orthodox mostly from Central Anatolia

22
 Armeno-Ottoman
Turkish written in Armenian script by Turcophone Armenians in Istanbul, other major cities

[Left: Karamanlidika, Right: Armeno]

Linguistic = the social "level" of one's speech (not always distinct)
register

Modern - "begins" 1928 • 1923 – Turkish Republic Declared

Turkish - makes official reforms begun in Late Ottoman Empire
- "Script Reform" = Arabic  Latin script (1928)
- "Language Reform" = replace "foreign words" with:
• vernacular equivalents
• newly invented words based on
• "Turkic" roots
• other Turkic languages
- 1932 – Türk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language Association) founded

23
 WEEK 10 & 11 Languages & Migration in Middle Eastern Communities

Migration, indigeneity - Indigenous: The first human group in a place.

- Migrant: Later human groups in a place.
 We realize these definitions are incredibly problematic. With this in mind, we speak according to
contemporary definitions of groups as recognized by speakers.

- Genetic
• Problematic cases: Many Kurds have genetic mutations which originate with Turkic-speaking
populations in Central Asia. Many Turks have genetic mutations which originate in Kurdish or
Armenian speaking populations.
- Etno-cultural
• Problematic cases: Greekness as a unified concept doesn't exist before 8th c. BC. 20th c. Greek
culture of is vastly different from the culture of Greeks nearly 3000 years ago
- Linguistic
• Problematic case: Many Kurds speak only Turkish.
- National
• Problematic cases: Most nations are fairly new.
“Minority” Language "Minority" status is situational.
Depends on:
(1) boundaries
(2) sociolinguistic factors
 "Minoritized" – emphasizes that minority status is a quality of speakers' perceptions (language
attitudes & ideology) and not an inherent quality of a language.
Ladino - Sometimes used as a term for all Judeo-Spanish, esp. Judeo-Spanish in the Ottoman context
- previously written in Hebrew script
- slow switch to Latin around end of 19th c.
- shares common Judeo-Spanish archaisms
- many loans from: Turkish, French, Greek, Balkan Slavic (in Balkans)

- Major centers of Ladino publishing: Thessaloniki (Salonika), Istanbul, İzmir, late Empire (after mid
19th c.) more and more education in European languages, French, Italian
➔ more loans, esp. from French
➔ more negative attitudes towards Ladino

- Ladino today:
• continued activities in Ladino
• periodical publications (e.g. El Amaneser)
• music
• theatre
• resurgence of interest among young people
• declining number of speakers
• emigration outside ME
• language attrition

- Migration to Israel
 Immigrants in Israel often lose any knowledge of Ladino after 1st generation

- Migration to Spain & Portugal

• possibility of obtaining a Spanish or Portuguese passport
• Spain does NOT accept Ladino on Spanish language portion of naturalization exam!

24
  Young Turkish Jews often learn standard Castillian instead of Ladino.

Sephardism = Sephardic Jews

- Jewish people with roots in the Iberian Peninsula
- most murdered/leave/convert after 1492 (Spanish Inquisition)
- three directions of migration: further into Europe (few, assimilated), into North Africa, to the
Ottoman Empire
- ‫ بایزید سلطان‬Sulṭān Bāyezīd (II) – rescue expeditions
• brought Sephardim to Ottoman Empire
• settled as skilled labourers, mostly in: Thessaloniki (Salonica), İstanbul, İzmir

- any variety of Spanish spoken by Jewish exiles from the Iberian Peninsula
• Indo-European > Italic > Romance > Ibero-Romance > Spanish
• influence of other Iberian languages & dialects (dialect mixing)
Haketia - Judeo-Spanish in North Africa (esp. Morocco)
- traditionally not written/written in Hebrew script, now sometimes written in Latin à la Spanish
- regionalisms – reflects more southern dialects
- many loans from
• (Judeo-)Moroccan Arabic
• (Judeo-)Berber
Greek • Hellenic = sometimes used as a general term for all descendants of the "Greek" branch of IE
• some "Greek" varieties existed before "Greek" ethnogenesis
• not all "Greek" varieties are mutually intelligible
• sub-branching of Indo-European
• higher branchings debated
• own alphabet derived from Phoenician
Mycenaean - first attested Hellenic language (16th c. BC)
- doesn't yet have many sound changes associated with Classical Greek
- written in Linear B

Migration of "Greek - 3rd mil BC - arrive in W Anatolia & Balkans from the Caucasus
proper" from the Greek -Hellenic language evolves in what is now Central Greece
peninsula to the Ionian - different tribes & dialects
coast • Aeolian
• Ionian
• Doric

- sustained migration of different dialects to Anatolia, islands

- unified Hellenic identity doesn't evolve until around 8th c. BC
- maintain their connections through frequent trade, esp. overseas  less dialectal variation over time
Hellenism The Hellenistic world is that world that was created after the conquests of the near east by Alexander
the Great at the end of the fourth century B.C. And his conquest, which extended from India all the
way through Egypt, [was] divided into three main areas within 20 years after his death. And the two
major areas that survived down to the first century B.C. would have been the Syrian kingdom, the
Seleucid kingdom, and the Ptolemaic kingdom which survived in Egypt, which was finally taken over
by Rome in 31 B.C
Κοινή Koinḗ = Κοινή Koinḗ – the variety of Greek which became the lingua franca of the Alexandrian Empire
- a.k.a. Hellenic Koine, Alexandrian Koine
- based on Attic of Athens (prestige variety)
- levels earlier dialectal differences ➔ old dialects mostly disappear
- various regional substrates
- "koine" – now used as a general term by linguists for a language variety that results from dialect
mixing

25
Attrition of Greek - official language of state alongside Latin
- very distinct literary register
- influence of Latin
- attempts at "archaising"
- spoken language shows some influence of local
languages (Slavic, Albanian, Vlach…)
- slow evolution from Koinḗ to modern Greek

Christian Rum of Istanbul = ‫ روم‬Rūm "Roman" = Greek Orthodox (usually Greekspeaking)

- concentrated in Balkans, Central Anatoli, along coasts Aegean, Mediterranean, Black Sea
- urban & coastal populations in constant contact maintain a more or less "standard" dialect
- rural & inland populations mix more with local people
- no official minority language schooling until the 1800's
- Orthodox Church instrumental in maintaining linguistic "unity"
Muslim Rum of Eastern = Romeyka (Pontiaka)
Black Sea Coast The variety of Greek spoken by Muslims in rural inland areas around the city of Trabzon. Preserves
many archaic features not found in Modern Standard Greek.
1923 population Exchange The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) stipulated that:
- all Greek Orthodox Christians in the newly fixed borders of the Turkish Republic move to Greece
- all Muslims in the Hellenic Republic move to Turkey.
- Exceptions:
• Western Thrace (Greece)
• İstanbul (Turkey)
South Caucasian languages = the Kartvelian languages
- no known relations
- members: Georgian, Svan, Megrelian, Laz
Georgian - largest South Caucasian language in terms of:
• # of speakers
• geographical distribution
• indigenous inhabitants of central Kura River Basin

- culturally & politically dominant since 2nd c. BC

- three alphabets
• ასომთავრული Asomtavruli "Capital" (attested from 5th
c. AD)
• ნუსხური Nusxuri "Manuscript" (mostly medieval)
• მხედრული Mxedruli "Military" (modern)
Laz Laz people
- historically a.k.a. Zan, Č'an
- indigenous people of area around Rize
- descendants of ancient Kolkhians
- now mostly in Turkey, one village in Georgia
- overwhelmingly Muslim
- large migrant groups in Istanbul & NW Turkey

Laz language
- Lazuri (less frequently Ç'anuri)
- "sister" language to Megrelian
- related more distantly to Georgian
- 3 or 4 major dialects
- not written until early 20th c.
- written in Latin alphabet based on Turkish
Georgian speakers in Georgian speakers in Turkey
Turkey and Iran - centered around NE Turkey
- smaller migrant groups along C/W Black Sea
- overwhelmingly Muslim
- most now identify as Turkish
- many illiterate in Georgian or use Turkish Latin alphabet
- speak SW dialects of Georgian
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 - Imerkhevians: იმერხეველები Imerxevelebi < historical region of იმერხევი Imerxevi
- Georgian-speaking inhabitants of Imerkhevi: Şavşat (შავშეთი Šavšeti), Artvin
- convert after Ottoman conquest
- date back to at least 9th c. (Kingdom of ტაო-კლარჯეთი Tao-Klarjeti)
- later Muslim Georgian-speaking migrants in the Ottoman Empire: came in several waves in 19th c.
wars with Russian Empire

Georgian speakers in Iran

- Gurji = general term for Georgians in
- used especially in Iran for all locals of Georgian descent
- came mostly as slaves (16th-19th c.)
- centered around: ‫ شهر فریدون‬Fereydunshahr (მარტყოფი Martqopi)  large urban centers
- mostly reflect dialects in Eastern Georgia
- still use Georgian alphabet in large communities
Circassian languages - Three separate indigenous Caucasian language families
• Northwest Caucasian
• Northeast Caucasian
• South Caucasian (Kartvelian)
Term “Circassian” - Originally a name for a specific tribe of NW Caucasian speakers
- Russians apply name to all NW Caucasian speakers.
- Ottomans apply name to all Muslim migrants from the Caucasus who didn't fit into an established
category!
Northeast Caucasian, North East Caucasian
Northwest Caucasian - Modern NE Caucasian languages you may know: Chechen, Lak, Nakh, Avar (Daghestani)
Caucasian Albanian
- historically important in what is now Azerbaijan
• no relation to the Albanian language!
• language of the Caucasian Albanian Church
• own writing system related to Armenian
• spread of Christianity in the Caucasus
• survives as Udi in Azerbaijan

North West Caucasian

- NW Caucasian speakers form the majority of "Circassian" refugee population in the Ottoman
Empire.
- Abkhaz-Abazan
• Abkhaz
• Abaza
- Circassian proper (Kabarday-Adyghean)
• Kabarday
• Adyghe

- Written in
• Arabic script (pre-1900, ad hoc)
• Latin script (ad hoc in Turkey)
• Cyrillic script
- Interesting features
• ridiculous number of consonants
• very few vowels
Circassian Genocide During the Russo-Ottoman wars (1864-1870) the Russian Empire was suspicious that Muslim
inhabitants of the borderlands would defect to the Ottomans. The Empire periodically sent soldiers to
massacre predominantly Muslim villages in the North Caucasus.
 Many North Caucasians of different linguistic groupsfled to the Ottoman Empire as refugees.
 Gained a special distinct classificatory status in the Ottoman Empire because of legal/social issues.
 Complex tribal & caste system delayed integration somewhat.
Classical Armenian (a.k.a. - sub-branching of Indo-European
Krapar/Grabar - higher branching’s debated
- heavily divergent phonology, morphology
- probably considerable language contact early on
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 - originate in East Anatolia somewhere between 3rd mil. & 12th c. BC

- Repository of loanwords from Anatolian/ME empires: Hurrian, Urartian, Parthian, several

independent states
- Important part of numerous major empires: Achaemenid, Roman, Byzantine, Parthian, Sassanian

այբուբեն aypupen (E: aybuben) = alphabet

- probably inspired by Greek (order)
- shapes seem to be local innovation
- capitals & miniscule forms of letters

Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց Mesrob Mašdoc' (362-440

AD)
- invented alphabet ~405 AD
- first Armenian Bible translation
- may have invented:
• Caucasian Albanian alphabet
• Georgian alphabets (?)

Classical Armenian a.k.a. գրաբար Krapar (E: Grabar)

- first records 407 AD
- literary language well into 1700's
- liturgical language of several Armenian Churches:
major early works, Bible translations, hymns, dozens of
histories
e.g. Մովսես Խորենացի Movses Xorenac'i
(c. 410-490)
Eastern Armenian - Major dialect groups: Eastern, Western, Central
- Distinguished by:
• pronunciation, esp. of
• stop & affricate consonants

Eastern Armenian
- standard in Armenia
- Iran:
• local dialects spoken in Julfa
• brought to other major cities by various empires
• previously large communities (e.g. Isfahan) mostly > Tehran
• written language basically = standard Armenian in Armenia
• one of few communities allowed own schools in Iran
• generally well-perceived by Iranian Muslims

Western Armenian
- codified on the basis of Istanbul dialect
- combines features from various urban Anatolian varieties
- considerable literature
- most common dialect in diaspora
- mass migrations in major empires: Abbasid, Safavid, Mamluk, Ottoman, Armenians
- valued as: merchants, stone masons, administrators
Armenian Genocide 1915 – official beginning
- deportation of Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul
- estimated over 1 mil. Armenians killed in E Anatolia
- documented 800,00-1,000,000 sent to Syrian desert
- Ottoman government fearful of Armenian-Russian alliance
- increasing pan-Islamism & anti-Christianism
- many Armenians convert, seek refuge with Muslim families

Armenian today (outside Armenia):

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 - growth of "Crypto-Armenian" population (assimilation & language loss)
- near disappearance of Armenian language in Anatolia
- beginning of death of Western Armenian press
- mass exodus to: Balkans, Russian Empire, non-central provinces of the Ottoman Empire
Hemshin = Homshetsi, Homshetsma
-bWestern Armenian dialect group
- spoken by Muslim groups in rural NE Anatolia
- many consider themselves Turkish (/Turkish+…)

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 WEEK 12 Romani, Domari, Lomavren, Slang, Lingua Franca

“Gypsy” Languages “Gypsy” = shorthand for "ostracized Peripatetics of ultimately Indic origin"
- seem related to groups in N Central Indian subcontinent (Ḍom-)
- Term considered offensive by some.
- No other good term for all these groups.

3 main language groups

• Rom – Europe, former USSR, Western Anatolia
• Dom – Mesopotamia, Central Asia
• Lom – Caucasus, NE Turkey
 The Middle East has all three

- What do we call "European Gypsy" languages?

• Romani (Rómani) < i Řomani čhib 'the Romani language'
• Romanés (Romanés) < Řomanes 'Rom-ish'
• local exonyms: Gypsy, Zigeuner, Giftika, Çingenece
• local group names: Sinti, Manush, Cale, Lovari, Sepeçides
ROMANI - How is Romani written?
• Latin
• Cyrillic
• Greek
 Based on the written language with which the writer is most familiar.
Origins - Where do the ancestors of the Roma come from?
• Indic “Inherited” Words ➔ Central Indian Subcontinent

- When did they arrive in Europe?

• Roma themselves had widely varrying accounts.
• Historical record is inconclusive.
• First mention of atsinganoi and "Egyptians" in Byzantine texts from 11th c.
➔ Can't be much earlier than the 10th century.

- But: Only one common Arabic loanword in European Romani – zet "oil". Could have come through
some other language.
- So: Must have passed through Western Asia/Middle East before the wide-spread effect of Arabic on
the Iranian languages.
- Problem is: Islam arrives in Greater Persia: 633 AD. Islam spreads to NW Hindustan over the next
two centuries

- Couldn't they have gone north over the Caspian?

 Maybe.
- But: those areas were more sparsely populated, and the people who lived there spoke mostly Turkic
languages. There are no Pre-European loans from Turkic in Romani.

- What do we know for sure?

• Pre-European Loanwords in Romani: Persian, Kurdish, Armenian, Georgian, Ossetian
• Byzantine Greek (some “Greek” grammar too)

Summary:
- The Roma left Hindustan not much later than the 11th century.
- They headed west through parts of Greater Persia, avoiding heavily Islamized areas.
- They may have headed north over the Caspian, avoiding areas of heavy Turkicization.
- They wound up in Eastern Anatolia, whence they made their way to the Byzantine Balkans.
In contact Every variety of Romani:
- has some Indic elements.
- has been in contact with other languages.
is still in contact with (an)other language(s).
 As Roma spread across Europe, their language was influenced not only by the languages of local
populations, but by the varieties of Romani used by other groups which they encountered.
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 What makes Romani interesting:
- Linguistic “Archaeology”
- Redefining Language Evolution
- Bilingualism & Mutual Intelligibility
- Language & Identity
- Variety & Standardization
- Language Death & Preservation

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WEEK 2 The Semitic Languages I

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WEEK 3 The Semitic Languages Part II - The Languages of Arabia

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WEEK 4 The Semitic Languages III – Aramaic and Canaanite Languages

WEEK 5 Other languages of the ancient near east & the afro Asiatic phylum

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WEEK 6 Amazigh (Berber) Languages

WEEK 7 The Iranic languages I – Persian & Avestan

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WEEK 8 The Iranic Languages II – Kurdish, Balochi & other Iranic Languages

WEEK 9 Turkic in the Middle East

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WEEK 10 & 11 Languages and Migration

WEEK 12 Gypsy Languages

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