Helen Younansardaroud Classical Syriac Course Book Translated by Graham Wetherall Second, Revised Edition Berlin 2019 Berlin: Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität 978-3-96110-233-4 (online) Contents Foreword ...................................................................................................................................................... VIII Lesson 1 ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. 1. Introduction and Classification .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. 2. Attested Alphabetic Scripts ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1. 3. Alphabet Table ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1. 4. Writing the Consonants in the Eastern Syriac and Ser ṭō Scripts .................................................................................. 4 1. 4. 1. Ligatures ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1. 5. The Eastern Syriac Vowel System .................................................................................................................................... 8 1. 6. The Western Syriac Vowel System .................................................................................................................................. 8 1. 7. Transcription Employed in this Book ............................................................................................................................... 9 1. 8. Vowel Correspondences between ES and WS ................................................................................................................ 9 1. 9. Vowel Assimilation ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 1. 9. 1. Assimilation /a/ > /e/ ................................................................................................................................................. 10 1. 9. 2. Assimilation /u/ > /o/ (only in ES) .......................................................................................................................... 11 1. 10. Diphthongs ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11 1. 11. Vocabulary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 1. 12. Exercises .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12 Lesson 2 ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 2. 1. Consonants in the ES and Ser ṭō Scripts ......................................................................................................................... 13 2. 2. The Two Pronunciations of the Bḡaḏkp ̄ aṯ-Consonants. ............................................................................................... 13 2. 2. 1. Writing Geminate Consonants ................................................................................................................................. 15 2. 2. 2. The ʾÅlap ̄ .................................................................................................................................................................... 15 2. 3. Prothesis .............................................................................................................................................................................. 15 2. 4. Graphic Symbols and Punctuation Marks ...................................................................................................................... 16 2. 4. 2. Punctuation Marks ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 2. 4. 3. Linea Occultans ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 2. 5. Vocabulary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 17 2. 6. Exercises ................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Lesson 3 ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 3. 1. Total Assimilation of Consonants (/n/, /l/) .................................................................................................................... 18 3. 1. 1. The Assimilation of Dentals .................................................................................................................................... 18 3. 2. Consonant Dissimilation .................................................................................................................................................. 18 3. 3. Consonant Correspondences: Syriac – Hebrew - Arabic. ........................................................................................... 19 3. 4. Syllable Structure and Vowel Reduction ....................................................................................................................... 19 3. 5. Root Structure .................................................................................................................................................................... 20 IV Contents 3. 6. Nominals ............................................................................................................................................................................. 20 3. 6. 1. Gender, Number, State .............................................................................................................................................. 20 3. 6. 2. Irregular Nominals ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 3. 6. 3. Nominals and Attributive Adjectives ..................................................................................................................... 25 3. 6. 4. Nominals and Apposition. ........................................................................................................................................ 25 3. 7. Vocabulary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 25 3. 8. Exercises ................................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Lesson 4 ......................................................................................................................................................... 27 4. 1. Important Types of Nominal Formation ........................................................................................................................ 27 4. 1. 1. Monosyllabic Root .................................................................................................................................................... 27 4. 1. 2. Disyllabic Root ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 4. 1. 3. With Prefixes (/ma-/, /mi-/, /ta-/) .......................................................................................................................... 29 4. 1. 4. With Affixes ( /ån /, /ōn/) ......................................................................................................................................... 29 4. 2. Particularities of * /qV ṭl/-Nominals ............................................................................................................................... 30 4. 3. The Determinative Pronoun /d-/ ...................................................................................................................................... 30 4. 4. Active Participle (Base Stem) .......................................................................................................................................... 31 4. 5. Vocabulary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 31 4. 6. Exercises ...............................................................................................................................................................................