Assyrian: What language does it sound like to you?

[Zroota]

Eastern Assyrian : Hebrew

Western Assyrian : Arabic


after all they're all Semitic languages.

Glad to see someone that can differentiate eastern and western Assyrian.

[ModernMaskil]

Sounds somewhat like Modern Hebrew due to the voiceless uvular fricative being more recurrent than in Arabic, but otherwise still quite different with our "French R" and other distinctions like voiceless pharyngeal fricative being extant at all, while in Modern Hebrew it has completely disappeared.

Is there a voiced pharyngeal fricative (traditional pronunciation of ayin) in some dialects? I didn't hear it here.

[Zroota]

Is there a voiced pharyngeal fricative (traditional pronunciation of ayin) in some dialects? I didn't hear it here.

Yes, but it is only upheld in educational speech and/or prayers.

We don't use it in informal, day to day speech, not unless if we are borrowing Arabic words (like "alasas", which means 'as if').

[Zroota]

This is a Tyari dialect of Assyrian (it's our 'redneck' accent, if you will):



How does it sound like to you? What language does it sound like?

[Kamal900]

This is a Tyari dialect of Assyrian (it's our 'redneck' accent, if you will):



How does it sound like to you? What language does it sound like?

A lot of bola and khola, lol. It sounds unique to me which doesn't sound neither like Arabic or Hebrew. The Turoyo dialect sounds a lot like Arabic for me.

[Nazarene]

The Turoyo dialect sounds a lot like Arabic for me.

I agree, my friends and family who speak arabic have said the same thing.

[Kamal900]

I agree, my friends and family who speak arabic have said the same thing.

Why is western Assyrian dialects sound so different than their eastern counterparts?

[Nazarene]

Why is western Assyrian dialects sound so different than their eastern counterparts?

I can't speak either so I'm not sure, but my guess is that because the speakers of Western Assyrian lived closer in proximity to Arabic speakers. While the Eastern Assyrian speakers (especially around Hakkari and Urmia) were more isolated due to living in an uneasily accessible mountainous region and if there is outside influence on their dialect it's more from Iranic than Semitic languages which makes sense since they were geographically closer to Kurds, Azeris, Persians and the like.

There were even a couple of Assyrians towns / Assyrian inhabited towns in Diyarbakir, and in and around Mardin who spoke Arabic as their native language. They are qiltu dialects but they sound quite a bit like Turoyo, especially that of Azekh which is close to Tur Abdin.

[Kamal900]

I can't speak either so I'm not sure, but my guess is that because the speakers of Western Assyrian lived closer in proximity to Arabic speakers. While the Eastern Assyrian speakers (especially around Hakkari and Urmia) were more isolated due to living in an uneasily accessible mountainous region and if there is outside influence on their dialect it's more from Iranic than Semitic languages which makes sense since they were geographically closer to Kurds, Azeris, Persians and the like.

There were even a couple of Assyrians towns in Diyarbakir, and in and around Mardin who spoke Arabic as their native language. They are qiltu dialects but they sound quite a bit like Turoyo, especially that of Azekh which is close to Tur Abdin.

For me, it sounds so very Levantine Arabic even if I can't understand what they're saying.

[Nazarene]

For me, it sounds so very Levantine Arabic even if I can't understand what they're saying.

Ikr, it does sound very Levantine. North mesopotamian arabic imo sounds around as much like levantine as it does southern mesopotamian.