The Morphology of Adjectives in the Neo-Aramaic Dialects of ʿAqra

What is it about?

The present paper discusses the morphology of adjectives in the Neo-Aramaic dialects of Aqra in Krudistan Region (KR) Iraq as spoken in the forties to the sixties of the last century in the region. Like other NENA dialects in Iraq, the dialects began to fall into disuse due to internal conflicts, wars and displacement, especially in the aftermath of the Kurdish uprising in the sixties of the last century. _x000D_ _x000D_ The NENA dialects of Aqra belong to the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) subgroup. It is the largest and most diverse branch of Neo-Aramaic. Until the sixties of the last centuries, the dialects were spoken in scores of villages across the Aqra mountain (AM) in Iraqi Kurdistan which constitutes a natural barrier dividing the dialects into two main sub-groups across the Aqra mountain. _x000D_ Like many other NENA dialects, the stock of adjectives of Aramaic stock and loaned adjectives that have been adapted to the morphology of NADA are inflected for gender and number but display a diversity and richness in the pattens used. _x000D_ Moreover, unadapted loan adjectives from Kurdish, Arabic, and a few adjectives of Turkish origin are used invariable to denote gender and number. _x000D_ _x000D_ Author: Aziz Emmanuel Eliya Al- Zebari_x000D_

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