| Hertevin | |
|---|---|
| ܣܘܪܬSôreth | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈhɛrtəvən],[ˈsorɛθ] |
| Native to | Turkey |
| Region | Siirt Province |
Native speakers | 4 (2012)[1] |
| Syriac (Madnhāyâ alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hrt |
| Glottolog | hert1241 |
| ELP | Northern Northeastern Neo-Aramaic |
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Hertevin is a dialect ofNortheastern Neo-Aramaic originally spoken byChaldean Catholics in a cluster of villages inSiirt Province in southeasternTurkey. Speakers of Hértevin Aramaic have emigrated mostly to the West, and are now scattered and isolated from one another. A few speakers remain in Turkey. The closest related language variety isBohtan Neo-Aramaic.[2] Hertevin also shares many similarities withTuroyo.
Hértevin was 'discovered' by linguistOtto Jastrow in 1970, and first described in publication by him two years later. His recordings of the language are available onHeidelberg University's Semitic Sound Archive.
The speakers of the Hértevin dialect of Neo-Aramaic are traditionallyChaldean Catholics. Their area of habitation in and around the village ofHertevin (called Hertevinler inTurkish and Härtəvən inKurdish), near the town ofPervari inSiirt Province is at the very northeastern extreme of the area where Eastern Neo-Aramaic languages were traditionally spoken. Thus, Hértevin is a peripheral dialect that has developed quite differently from related languages.
All Hértevin speakers are bilingual inKurdish, and many also speak other languages. TheSyriac alphabet is used for writing, but almost no literature in the Hértevin dialect exists. Church liturgy is inSyriac.
Its major phonetic feature is the loss of thevoiceless velar fricativex, which has become avoiceless pharyngeal fricative,ħ. The original voiceless pharyngeal fricative has retained that pronunciation. In all the other dialects of eastern Neo-Aramaic the opposite is true: the voiceless pharyngeal fricative has been lost and merged with the voiceless velar fricative. /x/ does occur in loanwords to Hertevin.[citation needed] The [θ] and [ð] that occur in some other dialects of NENA merged back to [t] and [d].[3]
Another feature of Hértevin Neo-Aramaic is its set of demonstratives. As with other languages of the eastern group, Hértevin makes no distinction between 'this' and 'that', and uses a single set ofpronouns to cover both meanings: āwa (m. sg.), āya (f. sg.) and āni (pl.). However, unlike the other languages, Hértevin has developed an emphatic form of these pronouns that indicates 'this one right here': ōhā, ēhā and anhī.
Although belonging to the eastern, or northeastern, group of Neo-Aramaic dialects, Hértevin shares some features with theTuroyo language, of the central group, originating from nearbyMardin Province.
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | |||||||||||||||
| Stop /Affricate | p | b | t | d | tˤ | tʃ | dʒ | k | ɡ | q | ʔ | |||||
| Fricative | f | s | z | sˤ | ʃ | ʒ | x | (ɣ) | ħ | (ʕ) | h | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | (rˤ) | ||||||||||||||
| Lateral | l | (lˤ) | ||||||||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High/Mid | [ɪ ~e] | [ʊ ~o] | |
| Low | [æ ~ä] | ||
Ethno-linguistic group(s) indigenous to theMiddle East; also known as Syriac-Arameans or Chaldeans | |||||||||
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