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Language Information By Source

Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic and its dialects
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Severely Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

~16

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

~16

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

The dialect of Barzan, now in Jerusalem and the vicinity, has hardly a dozen active speakers, all in their seventies and eighties. The impact of Zakho JNA on most speakers renders the condition of their dialect all the more grave. Some other Barzanis are passive speakers who have no more than a smattering of active competence in Barzani. Shahe Aramaic is even more desperately endangered, with only a handful of octogenarian speakers in the southern moshav of Menuha and in Tiberias. Bejil Aramaic was until recently still spoken by a few elderly Jews in the moshav of Zekharya near Bet-Shemesh. In 1998 Bejil JNA became extinct with the death of its last speaker, Mrs. Rahel Avraham. The Marzani Neo-Aramaic of Nerem is in all likelihood extinct or well nigh so.

Year of info

2002

Location and Context

Countries

Diaspora communities in Jerusalem, Mosul, Aqra, and Baghdad

Coordinates

No data

Location description

Attacks on Barzan by government forces--first Ottoman, finally British--quelling Kurdish insurgencies in the years 1909 and 1919, as well as an attack by Assyrians in 1920, led to the displacement of the entire Jewish community, fleeing in small groups to villages throughout northeastern Iraqi Kurdistan, to Aqra, and further afield--to Mosul and Baghdad. Only three Jewish families eventually returned to Barzan; but in 1931 or 1932, during another Kurdish revolt, they had to flee to Aqra, this time for good, under a heavy bombardment by the RAF.

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

Attacks on Barzan by government forces--first Ottoman, finally British--quelling Kurdish insurgencies in the years 1909 and 1919, as well as an attack by Assyrians in 1920, led to the displacement of the entire Jewish community, fleeing in small groups to villages throughout northeastern Iraqi Kurdistan, to Aqra, and further afield--to Mosul and Baghdad. Only three Jewish families eventually returned to Barzan; but in 1931 or 1932, during another Kurdish revolt, they had to flee to Aqra, this time for good, under a heavy bombardment by the RAF.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

Kurdish, Arabic, Hebrew

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Severely Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

20

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

31.7888,35.1947

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Severely Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

20

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2009

Location and Context

Countries

Israel; Iraq;

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

31.766836, 35.155317

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Severely Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

20

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Media Resources

No resources

No resources

No resources

Filter By

No programs

  1. Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled by research teams at University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute for Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) at Eastern Michigan University
    2012. "Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled By Research Teams At University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute For Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) At Eastern Michigan University."
  2. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)
    Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)
    http://www.ethnologue.com/
  3. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
    Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)
    http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas
  4. World Oral Literature Project
    "World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.
    http://www.oralliterature.org
  5. Glottolog
    "Glottolog." Online: http://www.glottolog.org/glottolog/.
    http://www.glottolog.org/glottolog/
  6. Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic and its dialects
    Hezy Mutzafi. 2002. "Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic and Its Dialects." In Mediterranean Language Review, 41-70.