0xy4mb Ytwx0w Yx0
My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Following are paradigm tables for the common Aramaic verb conjugation. I am trying to compile complete conjugation tables for the Aramaic verb which I will make freely available on the web, but I need your help. Here are the main issues:

1. I know there are Saphel - Estaphal, Shaphel - Eshtaphal and quadriliteral verb conjugations, but none of the grammar books I have cover them. Can someone give me these paradigms or the title and author of a grammar book which contains them.

2. The following tables were compiled mostly from W.M. Thackston's Introduction to Syriac and John F. Healey's First Studies in Syriac with recourse to several other out of print sources. Unfortunately, these two books are not in total agreement in the way they present the Aramaic verb, especially where imperatives, infinitives and participles are concerned. I have had to make some educated guesses in creating single unified tables. Did I get it right?

3. There are some differences between Eastern and Western Syriac - Aramaic in both vocalization and, apparently in a few cases, in consonantal spelling of the verb patterns. To my knowledge, there are no books in English which give the full Eastern version of the verb paradigms. This is of course a basic and fundamental obstacle in promoting the Eastern version of the Peshitta. Can akhi Paul or anyone else conversant in Eastern Aramaic help me edit these tables into their Eastern forms?

I have used the following conventions in this table:

Vowels:
"�" = (should have two dots above it) zq�p�, which I pronounce like the "a" in "father."
"a" = pth�kh�, which I pronounce like the "u" in "but."
"e" = zl�m� pshiq�, which I pronounce like the "i" in "it".
"�" = (should have two dots above it) zl�m� qashy�, which I pronounce like the "ay" in "lay."
"o" = rw�kh�, which I pronounce like the "o" in "cold."
"u" = rw�C�, which I pronounce like the "oo" in "pool.".
"i" = khw�C�, which I pronounce like the "i" in "machine."

(If � and � don't have two dots over them try setting your serif font in your browser to Microsoft's Times New Roman.)

Consonants:
Capital "A" equals �lap.
Underlined letters are soft.

(I don't know where all the space between the tables is coming from, its not in my html original. Sorry if its a problem.)

�

�

I. The common"ktab" model.

Past Tense:

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

Future Tense:

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

Imperatives:

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

Active Participles:

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

Passive Participles:

�

�

�

�

Infinitives:

�

�

�

�

Compiled by John Marucci, June 2001.

In reply to message #0
 
Nnxwy Yx0

I'm gonna have to take tiny bites off this huge task, as I am at work and don't have access to any material right now. (This will probably come piece-meal over the next few days.)

Here is what I have for Shaphel so far, I have left out some components I am not sure of, primarily the Feminine infections on certain tenses. Since these conjugations are rarely used, they are not usually covered in any textbooks.

Where possible, I have included a Lexicon Word Number.

Note: The $ character corresponds to $

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #1
 
lwp yx0 0mL$

In reply to message #1
 
lwp Yx0 0ml4 ,

Sorry about that last post. It was the first time I tried my hand with the font on the forum.

In the diagrams, are we to read them R to L as usual?

bwq9y 0ml4

In reply to message #3
 
Bwq9y Yx0 0ml4

These are to be read left-to-right.

Actually, Akhi John - I think it would be great to have the "model" word (like Btk ) in the Estrangelo font.

What thinkest thou?

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #1
 
Akhi Paul,

Thank you!!

I realize this is a huge task, which is probably why no one else on the web has attempted it, but I think it is essential information.

Here's a simple question, does Eastern Aramaic pronounce the shortened third person endings "w" and "y"? If so, is the "w" an "o" or "u"?

Shlama,
John Marucci

In reply to message #4
 
Shlama Akhi John,

The Eastern pronunciation is an "o" as in "open." If you are referring to the 3rd-person masculine possessive Yhw that is pronounced fully, as opposed to the Western which does not pronounce the Yodh. It sounds like "Oy" (ie - "his disciples" - Talmeedoy".)

The problem with the conjugations you have inquired about is that they are really rare - in fact, they are called "secondary conjugations" because they are only seen on a limited number of roots.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to predict the patterning/paradigm relating to these particular conjugations.

They, in fact, have no equivalent in modern dialects of Aramaic. In the Classical tongue - their use was limited because they often parallel other conjugations in both meaning and scope - so there was always a more convenient way to say the same thing.

Nevertheless, they do sometimes "pop up" in the Peshitta NT - therefore most of my information is going to come from there (I'm running SQL scans on the Lexical Database to find instances of them.)

They are not covered in any books, English or Assyrian, that I have.

I will also confer with Dr. Saadi of the Lutheran Theological Seminary here in Chicago (you saw him on that "Aramaic" video on this site) to see if he has any information on this topic.

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #0
 
Shlama Akhi John,

Here's what I have for Shaphel Imperfect:

Note: The $ character corresponds to $ , the A corresponds to 0 , the O corresponds to w and the N corresponds to J

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #0
 
Shlama Akhi John,

Here's what I have for Estaphal Perfect, Imperative and Participles (notice it is very fragmentary):

Note: The $ character corresponds to $, the A corresponds to 0 , the O corresponds to w, the T stands for t, the S stands for S, the M stands for M and the N corresponds to J

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #0
 
Shlama Akhi John,

Again, very fragmentary.

Note: The $ character corresponds to $, the A corresponds to 0 , the O corresponds to w, the T
stands for t, the S stands for S, the M stands for M and the N corresponds to J

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

Peshitta.org

In reply to message #9
 
0xy4mb Ytwx0w Yx0
My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Akhi Iakov - my conjugation tables are complete English transliterations. They read from left to right like English.

Akhi Paul - I sincerely thank you for the conjugation patterns you have posted and will start incorporating them into my tables.

You are right that it would probably be easier for beginners if the model word was in Aramaic script, and I did originally start compiling conjugation tables last year in Estrangela script, but decided to use English transliteration here for several reasons:

1. While Btk would probably work fine for the "common" conjugation, most Aramaic verbs don't seem to actually use all the possible conjugation patterns. Since I have also already started the "variant" conjugations: weak letter verbs, initial "n" verbs, guttural letter verbs ect., a single root word per conjugation table could prove difficult and confusing.

2. One of my goals in producing these tables is to provide most of the ground work necessary to use one of the many computer programs available for doing morphological analysis. In other words, programs which can automatically inflect a verb and "read" Aramaic. Unfortunately, many of these programs don't work well with Semitic scripts.

What I am planning on doing is to offer examples from the Peshitta after each table with explanatory notes to clarify each inflection pattern. This is a little bit difficult for me because I can't search for strings like " nXX root, Peal, future tense, second person, masculine, singular" with the on-line lexical database. I have had the SEDRA data for several years now, but can't figure out how to extract the inflection information from the big "integer" Dr. Kiraz has stored them in.

Anyway, if you could indulge me a little further by using one of your lunch breaks next week to go over my conjugation tables and Easternize the vowels and spelling, I would greatly appreciate it and be able to move on to the next phase.. Or, if you prefer, I could E-mail you the whole html page. (I know, I'm proving to be a royal pain, but I don't have anyone else to ask.)

Also, if any of our brothers and sisters would like to use the tables to start the long tedious process of making an Estrangela version, by all means feel free to do so.

Shlama,
John Marucci
Ykkwrm Nnxwy