Learn Assyrian › Grammar

12 · The Assyrians of Urmi: a background

12 · The Assyrians of Urmi: a background · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

A short history of one community: the Assyrians of Urmi, in north-western Iran, whose speech this whole guide describes. It is not a history of the Assyrians as a whole — the Assyrians of Iraq, Syria and the Turkish mountains have their own stories, touched on here only where they meet this one. It teaches you nothing you can say, and it answers most of what people ask once they start learning: why the written word doesn't match the spoken one, why almost nobody is left in Urmi, and why your grandmother's Assyrian and a book's Assyrian are not quite the same language. Speaking value: none. Read it once.

This is Khan's own account, compressed. He gives it in the introduction to his grammar and then never returns to it, because he is writing for linguists. It turns out to be the part learners want.

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