ܣܘܪܝܬ
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Yonkers (NY)Community Profile: The term "Neo-Aramaic" is conventionally applied to modern varieties of Aramaic that have been used as spoken vernaculars since around 1200 AD. These language varieties exhibit substantial diversity, such that many are not mutually intelligible with each other, and have been spoken across a wide swath of the Middle East. Varieties of Neo-Aramaic have been spoken by individuals in the New York area for at least a century. One of the earliest waves of immigration from the Middle East to the U.S. consisted of Lebanese and Syrian Christians, many of whom at least would have known Syriac (a liturgical form of the language) if not actually spoken a variety of Western Aramaic, though most were already shifting to Arabic. Today, some of these speakers of Western and Central Neo-Aramaic varieties from Syria and Turkey live in such New Jersey communities as Paramus and Teaneck and may work in Manhattan's Diamond District. In more recent years, small numbers of speakers of Eastern Aramaic ("Assyrian" and "Chaldean") varieties have arrived in increasing numbers as refugees from Iraq, with some in the Middle Eastern matrix of Bay Ridge, though their largest communities are in Michigan, Illinois, and California. Forms of Aramaic/Syriac are important not just for religious purposes in Christian communities but also in Jewish communities, where Aramaic has scholarly and liturgical uses, and some communities maintain Jewish Neo-Aramaic spoken varieties.
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ssyrian Neo-Aramaic is the language spoken by those claiming Assyrian ancestry in the historical region based between what is now Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Fleeing genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Persia, Assyrians began to arrive in New York as early as the late 19th century. Guided by American Presbyterian missionaries, these refugees ultimately settled in Yonkers and have worked to maintain their language and culture through organizations such as the Assyrian Community Center.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.