Jackson Lennock
Well-known member
What if the Zionists had chosen Judeo-Aramaic as their preferred national tongue, rather than a revived Hebrew?
In many ways it serves the same function as Hebrew. It is (1) written in Hebrew script, (2) neutral among different Jewish subgroups, (3) associated with a history of Jewish sovereignty, and (4) a language which was already partly used in pidgin as a second tongue for different Jews just as Aramaic was.
But the key distinction (which is why I phrase this as a cultural what if) is that there are still other peoples who speak Aramaic. It is the language of the Armenian bible, and dialects of Aramaic were spoken by Assyrians, other Syriac Christian communities, some Maronite communities still spoke it as a native tongue until the late nineteenth century, and some small Christian villages in the Judean Hills still spoke Aramaic even in the mid-20th century.
Plausibly, the development of Judeo-Aramaic resources and culture could perhaps spill over into benefiting the intellectuals of various Christian ethnic groups into their own linguistic education and revivals. What would happen if that were the case?
In many ways it serves the same function as Hebrew. It is (1) written in Hebrew script, (2) neutral among different Jewish subgroups, (3) associated with a history of Jewish sovereignty, and (4) a language which was already partly used in pidgin as a second tongue for different Jews just as Aramaic was.
But the key distinction (which is why I phrase this as a cultural what if) is that there are still other peoples who speak Aramaic. It is the language of the Armenian bible, and dialects of Aramaic were spoken by Assyrians, other Syriac Christian communities, some Maronite communities still spoke it as a native tongue until the late nineteenth century, and some small Christian villages in the Judean Hills still spoke Aramaic even in the mid-20th century.
Plausibly, the development of Judeo-Aramaic resources and culture could perhaps spill over into benefiting the intellectuals of various Christian ethnic groups into their own linguistic education and revivals. What would happen if that were the case?