11.3 The three that just moved
11 · If your family says it differently · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
v ↔ w — the headline one. Urmi turned the old w into a plain v. Nearly everywhere else kept the w. This is the single most visible difference on the page, and §1.3 already flags it:
- taverta "cow" → tawerta
- setva "winter" → setwa
- varda "rose" → warda
- khvara "white" → khwara
- iven "I am" → iwen
u ↔ o. Where this guide has a u in the middle of a word, many Iraqi speakers have an o. Both come from the same older vowel; Urmi raised it:
- akhuna "brother" → akhona
- bruna "boy, son" → brona
- alula "street" → alola
k ↔ q. Some of this guide's *k*s are a sound made further back in the throat, nearer the uvula. Urmi softened them; the Iraqi side keeps the back one:
- kaddisha "holy" → qaddisha
- akubra "mouse" → aqubra
- pukdana "order, command" → puqdana
Again the page can't tell you which k — but the words are recognisable either way round.
---