BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Some aspects of verb morphology and syntax in Modern Aramaic - Pro
 f Geoffrey Khan (Faculty of Oriental Studies\, University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20070125T170000Z
DTEND:20070125T183000Z
UID:TALK5649@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christopher Lucas
DESCRIPTION:Aramaic\, a language belonging to the Semitic family\, was one
  of the major languages of the Ancient Near East and has survived as a spo
 ken language down to modern times in various dialect groups. The largest a
 nd most diverse group of these modern dialects is the North Eastern group\
 , which is generally known as North Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). This consi
 sts of dialects spoken by Christian and Jewish communities across a wide a
 rea encompassing northern Iraq\, north-west Iran\, south-eastern Turkey\, 
 Armenia and Georgia. The Christian dialects in all cases differ from the J
 ewish dialects\, even where the Christians and Jews lived in the same town
  or region. In this dialect group radical changes have taken place in the 
 verbal system in comparison with earlier forms of Aramaic. \n\nOne of the 
 most conspicuous changes is the acquisition of ergative inflection in the 
 past perfective forms of the verb. This feature developed through contact 
 with Iranian languages\, especially the Kurdish dialects\, which have\, or
  have had at some stage in their history\, ergative syntax in the past for
 ms of verbs. In many respects\, however\, the ergative construction has de
 veloped with a life of its own in NENA in a way that differs from its deve
 lopment in the modern Iranian dialects. There is\, furthermore\, considera
 ble diversity across the dialect group regarding the way the ergative has 
 developed. Three stages of development are discernible: (1) dialects in wh
 ich the ergative inflection occurs on past perfective verbs that are high 
 in transitivity due to their having an agent or agent-like argument and pu
 nctual–dynamic actionality by virtue of their lexical meaning. (2) diale
 cts in which ergative inflection is generalized to the expression of all a
 ctions that are presented by the speaker with past perfective dynamic aspe
 ct irrespective of the existence of agent properties in one of the argumen
 ts. (3) dialects in which the ergative inflection has been generalized to 
 the expression of all actions that are presented with past perfective aspe
 ct irrespective of dynamicity.\n\nThe verbal system of the dialect group h
 as also acquired numerous clitic particles\, which have evolved from finit
 e auxiliary verbal forms. The function of these particles has undergone co
 nsiderable diachronic change. Particles that now express the habitual aspe
 ct\, for example\, have developed either from particles that originally ex
 pressed the progressive or from those that originally expressed the future
 .\n
LOCATION:GR06-7\, English Faculty\, 9 West Road (Sidgwick Site)
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR