How the words are spelled

About this guide · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

Everything is written in a plain, read-it-as-it-looks spelling — ordinary letters, no scholarly symbols and no accent marks. So sh for the "sh" sound, kh for the throaty "kh," doubled letters for doubled sounds, and — a key one for this variety — the old w sound is written and said as v (so "I am" is iven). Other dialects of Assyrian keep the w and say iwen; if that is what your family says, you are not wrong and neither is the page — The consonants that differ from English (Chapter 1) says what to do about it. It's meant to be read and pronounced the way it looks. If you've seen the academic spelling with dots and lines under letters, don't worry — none of that appears here.