12-28-2010, 12:04 AM
Hi Alita. Aramaic had the universal status that English has today for about two thousand years.
Much like Arabic today is spoken by all ethnic groups in the middle east as a lingua franca since the times of the Arab conquest - Aramaic was spread throughout the Assyrian empire after their conquests. Later it was also employed during the Chaldean and later the Persian empires.
Aramaic was actually also in the heritage of the Hebrew tribes because their ancestors were Arameans. It was very close to Hebrew and also shared the same simple alphabet.
Akkadian is related to Aramaic but the writing system was far more complicated and hence it retained a usage more for the governmental religious and educated segments of the population. Aramaic became the language of the common people. It was later made an official language alongside Akkadian.
Assyrians today speak a modern version of Aramaic that is heavily influenced by Akkadian and also more modern languages like Arabic, Kurdish and Persian depending on which country they live in.
Shamasha Paul.
Much like Arabic today is spoken by all ethnic groups in the middle east as a lingua franca since the times of the Arab conquest - Aramaic was spread throughout the Assyrian empire after their conquests. Later it was also employed during the Chaldean and later the Persian empires.
Aramaic was actually also in the heritage of the Hebrew tribes because their ancestors were Arameans. It was very close to Hebrew and also shared the same simple alphabet.
Akkadian is related to Aramaic but the writing system was far more complicated and hence it retained a usage more for the governmental religious and educated segments of the population. Aramaic became the language of the common people. It was later made an official language alongside Akkadian.
Assyrians today speak a modern version of Aramaic that is heavily influenced by Akkadian and also more modern languages like Arabic, Kurdish and Persian depending on which country they live in.
Shamasha Paul.