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Presenting and reciting the Pshitta. A request....
#1
Shlama to all

I am new to this forum and I must say the website is very well presented and informative.

I have a favour to ask which I hope someone can assist with.

I have the opportunity to present the Pshitta to a group of Christians who are used to the standard Western translations and understanding of the NT. I wish to show them the excellence of the Pshitta version and its quality and accuracy.

I see that Brother Paul Younan has done a marvellous job of making an interlinear version available. This is indeed a big help to undertake such a task, and indeed to as Mashiykha said - preaching the good message to the world.

However, I also wish to recite the verses of the Pshitta off according to the Eastern Aramaic pronouciation of the words. I notice that no vowels are present in the text. I want to present to this study group not only the meaning but the vocal elegance of Aramaic and the Pshitta.

For example, the 1st verse of the Lord's prayer reads as:

abwn d b shmya

But in order to pronounce this better, vowels are needed:

abuwn da ba shmayya

So the favour I ask is that I have a file with the Pshitta transliterated only without the vowels - is anyone at all willing and able to fill in the gaps with the vowels? I ask of this for the 4 gospels and acts, for recitation purposes, with the aim of doing Masheekha's work.

Many thanks.

Alaha Minokhoon

John Shukana
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#2
Shlama Akhi John,

That is no small request. Have you seen Peshitta.com's Transliterated Peshitto ? It has all the vowels in the text, though it is not a phonetic transliteration , just a literal letter for letter rendering.

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Dave
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#3
Shalama Akhi

I saw this site, thanks so much for suggesting it.

As my Aramaic is not as good as it ought to be, tell me, are there no vowels used to connect words in a sentence, or do they always end in a consonant?

Also, I notice that the site calls the Eastern pronounciation of Jesus as YESHOA, whereas I am sure it is EESHOA, no?

Can someone clear this up <!-- sHuh --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/huh.gif" alt="Huh" title="Huh" /><!-- sHuh -->

Thanks!
John S
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#4
Shlama akhi John,

There are no vowels connecting words to each other. Some words, however, do end in vowels, some begin with a vowel sound.
Please refer to the opening welcome page of this web site; go to tools, and Grammar. That will connect you to LearningAssyrian.com. It is an excellent
Eastern Aramaic Grammar with over 140 lessons.

I believe Yeshua is pronouced "Eshoo" in Eastern Aramaic. Paul Younan (the web host & director) is fluent in Eastern Aramaic. He can correct me if I am wrong.

Most of us are students of Aramaic here. Paul is the expert. He has spoken it from childhood.

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Dave B
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#5
Shalama Akhi

Quote:I believe Yeshua is pronouced "Eshoo" in Eastern Aramaic. Paul Younan (the web host & director) is fluent in Eastern Aramaic. He can correct me if I am wrong.

If the word is spelt YOD-SHIN-WAW-AIN can I please ask why:

1. The YOD is pronounced as an EE, doesnt the consonant come first and then the vowel? Hence it would be YISHOO wouldn't it?

2. Why is the AIN at the end not pronounced?

Thanks!
John S
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#6
Shlama John,

Welcome to Peshitta.org!

If the word is spelt YOD-SHIN-WAW-AIN can I please ask why:

1. The YOD is pronounced as an EE, doesnt the consonant come first and then the vowel? Hence it would be YISHOO wouldn't it?

Originally, Aramaic writers followed the ancient Egyptian practice of not using vowel signs in their writing. At a later date, probably sometime in the first centuries B.C. they began using the consonants Alap, Waw, and Yod, to indicate the long vowels /a/, /o/, and /i/ in places where confusion might arise. At a still later date, around the 6th or 7th centuries A.D., several different schemes of real or complete vowel markings where invented.

In the case of Jesus??? name, the initial yod was probably originally pronounced as the consonant /y/ with a short or long /e/ sound, as is testified to by the Greek transliteration. In Eastern Aramaic pronunciation, however, it is unusual to begin a word with the consonant /y/. Since in consonant only writing, yod can be pronounced either /y/ or long /i/ (like the /i/ in /machine/), Eastern Aramaic speakers could pronounce the name with what to them was the more natural sounding initial /i/ without doing any violence to the written text.

2. Why is the AIN at the end not pronounced?

The letter Ain, ??eA in Eastern Aramaic, represents a glottal stop, a sound not used in American English. A glottal stop is made by stopping the air flow in the back of the throat, Since many Westerners can???t pronounce it, some modern books recommend treating it as a silent letter.

As for your project, here are a couple of points:

1. There is no edition of the Eastern Peshitta text encoded for computers, either in Aramaic script or Roman transliteration, which is publicly available. You would have to buy a printed copy, learn to read Swadaya, and make your own transliteration.

2. Even if there was, it would be an extraordinary person who could master a plausibly realistic pronunciation in a short period of time, without special expert training.

3. Your best bet would be to try and get a sample recording from a native speaker which you could play for your audience. For instance, the Assyrian Languages page has a recording of the Our Father/Lord???s Prayer. You need the permission of its owner, Alan Aldawood, to use it publicly, though.

4. You should be aware that, to most English speakers, Aramaic sounds about the same as Arabic. So, if you reside in the U.S. be prepared for an antagonistic reaction when some people here it.

John Marucci
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#7
Shalama
Thank you so much for the answer brother John.

I understand your explanation regarding the use of Alep for 'A', Waw for 'O' or 'U' and Yod for 'Y'.

However, please consider this. Take the following words:

URHAY [U here is the Alep]
EMRA [E here is the Alep]
ORESHLEM [O here is the Alep]

YAMMA [Y here is Yod]
IMMA [I here is Yod]

How does one know how the above is pronounced without the vowel, or does it not matter? Is it OK to say ARESHLEM and ARHAY instead? Is it OK to say IOKHANAN instead of YOKHANAN? Is the vowel insignificant and can the verses be read without vowels correctly?

Thank you
John S
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#8
Shlama akhi John,

I understand your explanation regarding the use of Alep for 'A', Waw for 'O' or 'U' and Yod for 'Y'.

However, please consider this. Take the following words:

URHAY [U here is the Alep]
EMRA [E here is the Alep]
ORESHLEM [O here is the Alep]

YAMMA [Y here is Yod]
IMMA [I here is Yod]

How does one know how the above is pronounced without the vowel, or does it not matter? Is it OK to say ARESHLEM and ARHAY instead? Is it OK to say IOKHANAN instead of YOKHANAN? Is the vowel insignificant and can the verses be read without vowels correctly?


The vowels are very important, even if one is only reading Aramaic. My previous post was to try and show you how some of the seeming oddities of Syriac - Aramaic result from an historical process. Texts without vowel markings were used by people who could already speak Aramaic, and fill in the vowel sounds intuitively. Full vowel markings began to be invented when Arabic began to displace Aramaic, and fewer people could intuitively fill in the missing vowels.

For a beginner, I strongly recommend sticking to fully vowelled texts. Without vowels there are too many words which look alike, and the beginner will be easily confused.

John Marucci
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