The Neo-Aramaic Dialects of Iran

Spoken vernacular dialects of Aramaic, generally known as Neo-Aramaic dialects, have survived down to modern times in various regions of the Middle East and can be divided into various subgroups. There are some islands of Neo-Aramaic in the West of Iran, which are situated on the eastern periphery of the Neo-Aramaic area. These include dialects spoken by Christians and Jews belonging to the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic subgroup in the West Azerbaijan, Kordestan and Kermanshah provices and Neo-Mandaic spoken by Mandaeans the Khuzestan province. In this paper I examine a number of distinctive features of the Neo-Aramaic dialects of Iran, including those that have been induced by contact with other languages of the area