12-29-2014, 09:31 PM
Hi Tim
It's as Borota said, all languages evolve over time. Not only in pronunciation, but also in more fundamental ways (such as word order, verbal conjugation, gender, number, etc.)
In general, languages tend to become more simple over time. In the case of Neo Aramaic, it is a much more simplified version of classical Aramaic.
So someone who already speaks Neo Aramaic as a native tongue today, with a bit of self-study, can become quite proficient in the classical tongue. That is because Aramaic has changed very little (relatively speaking) over time.
So someone today, with a bit of self-study (if they already speak a modern variant), could converse with someone who lived in the first century (and vice-versa).
There are people today who know the classical tongue so well that they prefer to use it in communication, over the modern language. Also, there are examples (like the introduction to the Khudra, the massive liturgical book) where Mar Eshai Shimun the Patriarch and Mar Timotheous the Metropolitan of India wrote to each other and the audience extensively and exclusively in the ancient tongue.
There are also quite a number of people and organizations who are advocating for reverting back to the classical form in order to unite various communities which differ in dialect and in ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The one thing they have in common was the classical tongue.
+Shamasha
It's as Borota said, all languages evolve over time. Not only in pronunciation, but also in more fundamental ways (such as word order, verbal conjugation, gender, number, etc.)
In general, languages tend to become more simple over time. In the case of Neo Aramaic, it is a much more simplified version of classical Aramaic.
So someone who already speaks Neo Aramaic as a native tongue today, with a bit of self-study, can become quite proficient in the classical tongue. That is because Aramaic has changed very little (relatively speaking) over time.
So someone today, with a bit of self-study (if they already speak a modern variant), could converse with someone who lived in the first century (and vice-versa).
There are people today who know the classical tongue so well that they prefer to use it in communication, over the modern language. Also, there are examples (like the introduction to the Khudra, the massive liturgical book) where Mar Eshai Shimun the Patriarch and Mar Timotheous the Metropolitan of India wrote to each other and the audience extensively and exclusively in the ancient tongue.
There are also quite a number of people and organizations who are advocating for reverting back to the classical form in order to unite various communities which differ in dialect and in ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The one thing they have in common was the classical tongue.
+Shamasha