11.2 The two sounds Urmi dropped
11 · If your family says it differently · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
The th and dh sounds. Old Aramaic had them — the th of English thin, the dh of this. Urmi lost both, hardening them to plain t and d. Most Iraqi towns kept them. So wherever this guide writes a t or d that your family says with the tongue between the teeth, they're the older pronunciation and you're not doing it wrong:
- mata "village" → matha
- shenta "sleep" → shentha; khmata "mother-in-law" → khmatha
- ida "hand, arm" → idha
- mdita "town" → mdhitha
You can't predict which t is one of these from this guide's spelling — Urmi merged them, so the page has no way to show you. If you know the word, you already know. If you don't, a plain t is understood everywhere.
The throaty h. Arabic-style ح survives in many Iraqi towns and has fallen together with kh in Urmi. Where this guide writes kh, some speakers say the lighter, breathier one.
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