05 ILiA Lesson04

8/3/2019 05 ILiA Lesson04

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Lesson : TheNounEachAramaicword s associatedith a threeconsonantoot. Due o thefact hatmostAramaicwordshaveonly hreeconsonants,dentifiiinghe oot consonantssoften ather asy. hus, .g.,heword1)n has he oot l ?n. eeingable orecognizehe oot of aword s important ecauset (usually) llowsyou ounderstandhe basicsemanticield of theword andallowsyou to predicthow theword'spronunciationill change hensuffixes readdedo it. Additionallytallowsyou o look heword up n a dictionary, ince ome ictionariesreorganizedccordingo root.For ourpurposes e will considerhe our mostbasicypesof roots:1.strong havinghree solid" onsonantsi.e.,N, , l, -T,;'J, ,n, 13, ,),D,),D,JJ,5, , r, 1,lD,D, ).2. firstweak having "weak" ''1,,: , N) consonants he irstconsonant.3. middleweak havinga "weak"(.1,')consonants hesecondonsonant.4. finalweak havinga "weak"(''1, ,N) consonants he hird consonant.Notice hat alepftis relatively tablen themiddleof a root,and hat,similarly,nun s stablen themiddle ndat heendof a root.Identifoing trongootswill not be difficult. dentifuingheweakoneswillsometimesrove ricky.Typically, heweakconsonantsill disappearndverbsderivedrom heseootswill haveslightlydifferentorms han hoseof thestrongoots.Therefore, henwe describeheverbs,we will needo describehemorphology f theseootsseparately.

Part1: SimplerNounsandAdjectivesIn manySemiticanguages,ramaicamonghem,nouns ndadjectivesreverysimilar,sometimesverlappingn form and unction.So,e.g.,adjectivesftencanbeusedike nounsandhave hesamemorpholo icalpatterns snouns.Nounsandadectives ave wo genders: aleand emale.Theyhave wonumbers: ingular ndplural.Theyhave hreestates:bsolutethebasic orm of thenoun/adj.),heconstructstate ashortenedorm,commono theSemiticanguages),od heemphatic rdeterminedtate. hese rebestexplainedhrough xample:

Introductory Lessonsn Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond Z J


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Theabsoluteormmarkshebasic ormof theword, heone isted n dictionaries.Theconstructtatemarksa connectiono a followingword. So,e.g.,

lFD in theconstruct tatemightbe ollowedby thewordI )n "krng" o give he expressionl'F lED : "abookof aking",or "aking'sbook".Such connectionetweenwordscanbe calledagenetiveelationshipbased n analogousonstructionsromIndo-Europeananguages).heemphatic/determinedtatemarksanounwith adegree f specificity,ike theEnglishword"the".Whenaword n theconstructtate recedesnother ord n theabsolutetate,bothwords ackspecificity ndcanbe ranslated ith theEnglish"a" or "an".Whena word n the construct tateprecedesnotherword n theemphatic/determinedtate, othwordscarry hisnuance f specificity ndbothcanbe ranslatedith heEnglishword the".Thus,

-l rn :ED : "abookof a king" ar "aking'sbook"N?)D :!F : "thebookof theking",or "theking'sbook".

Youwill note hat n theaboveist the onnsof theabsolutendconstruct tate reidentical or thisword,but his s notalwayshecase. .g.,considerheword- - L u ,;f?:D (queen,feminine oun):

absolute:construct:emphatic/determined:

absolute:construct:emphatic/determined:

lFD : book-i!D : bookof;NJ?D : thebook

t l ) / ( ) : OUeenIr r b qI r) /Q : queenoIt r r h q . 1Nl rJ )E: TneOUeenT : : -

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Nounsandadjectivesre nflected ccordingo the ollowingparadigm,llustratedhereby the adjectivel'llIJ ("ready", destined"):singularabs.:const.:emph./det.:

pluralabs.:const.:emph./det.:

singularabs.:const.:emph./det.:

pluralabs..

const.:emph.idet.:

masc.-.l ri ?lI t l ) J

-?r Fl ltt l t J

r$-?.l n ?tt \ | ) t ,t ' - i

masc.l r - ! F r ? tI t t t t /I

t -,r Fr ttI t D /

N:-T'f i jT - - l

masc.

N -]'rl!

masc.l t F t tt t I i l , vt - 'I

i I l i ) /

Nt I'nIl

Thedistinctive eaturesof eachof these orms are ndicated n the followine chart:

fem.ilJ'nPF - | ! n l tt t t t t , /- ' - i

$F"l'nIJ ('a-1ly{-ta')(Note he long vowel ftl in a closed,unaccentedyllable.)fem.! - . t F f tI r r | ,J It-t-r F ltt t t t t ,

Nn'l'nl

fem.;'1 "l'n!

:

fem.i r r r YIl T

fl ,t'nu

Nn -'l'iu

tlt l

t \ t I

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Noun/adj.abs./cstr.i emph./det. pl. emph.idetP'n! ("old")!p ("good",root:3 I ll)The : -a.- t t a i . - v1 ' y l z a - e ' r1"liitie")'f :1 ('Judgment",

. t a - \root: i t)l:ll!("mountain.")Et!l_'l ("wise"). r . i L , . ,jp r ("ton$ue)

("voice";root:/ l ? )The : a.lltU ("remnant")The : -a.

Exercise a:Fill in the ollowi chafi ormasculineouns/adictlves:

Noticethat thetwo words with waw as a)p;, harre imilar orms.

middleconsonant f their root (lF and

Exercise4b:Fill in the followin chart or feminienouns/adi trves:cstr.slng.NijP'F!

i l-1t1"good",root: 1 lf)

"little"

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nJ'n("animal";root: lil 11)

Nn.lt? :-l'\r -1F?

t ' -("wise");1i?-'i3("charity")

Ntli?'ls(sidqatd')

r?.:islppar("bird") N-IEgt :It shouldbe apparenthat herearecertain onsistenciesetween hesewords.E.g.,thewords i?'F! ,;1?'ll-1 and;l?'i?nallhavehesame ocalic attern.Similarly,hewords1]i'iil!,;1'l'tJi and;'T?l:nhave imilarorms,houghhelong middle vowel of each s different.Recognizing hesepatterns elps o makethe acquisition f newwordseasier.The exception o theseconsistenciess that n the emphatic orms whentheadjectivehasa long-E hen he following tsw hasno dot and s pronounced oft,whereas f the vowel is a long-[, long-a,or long-rvowel then he taw rspronounced ard.Note that some eminine words do not bear he characteristic'l , ending, wordslike -lET (Sippar). heir nflection s identical o that of masculine ouns.Note also hat he pronunciationof the feminineadjective n the absolute tate sidentical o that of the masculineadjective n the emphatic/determinedtate.Theonly difference n these orms aboveare he endings,J , - on the feminineadjective thetypicalmarkerof femininity) andN , - on the emphatic/determinedmasculinenoun. Becausehe pronunciationof these wo morphemess so similar,they were oftenconfused;t is common o find femininenounswith the endingN ,- and masculineemphaticidetermined ouns with the ending 'T, - . For thepurposes f pedagogy, will consistently ender he feminineabsolute ndingwithheh, and he masculineemphaticideterminedorm with an 'aleph.Par12.More ComplexNounsand AdjectivesMany nounsand adjectives n Aramaicwitnessmorecomplexchangesn theirinflection. A good,basicexampleof thesechangess seenwith the masculinewordfor moneyor silver,1Q!, and he feminineword for a letteror missive, 1]lN

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singularabs.:const.:

emph./det.:pluralabs.:const.:emph./det.:

masc.nn-1t - :

E1n=tt - :

N?O! (kaspa')

masc.'?r5n- l| + -

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05 ILiA Lesson04