Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in Northern New Jersey

Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in Northern New JerseyInternational Journal of the Sociology of LanguageSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/JI9Y3IV3/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Christina MichelleWeaverGeorge AntonKirazTuroyo Neo-Aramaic in Northern New Jerseyhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/JI9Y3IV3https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/JI9Y3IV3https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/JI9Y3IV3International Journal of the Sociology of Language237201619-36Turoyo, an endangered Neo-Aramaic language that originated in the area of Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey and had not been written prior to this century, is spoken today by around 50,000 people scattered worldwide. Spurred on by persecution, Turoyo-speaking immigrants began to arrive in the US as early as the late 1890s. We focus our study on a northern New Jersey community in which Turoyo is spoken. This tight-knit community, whose religious and social center is the Mor Gabriel Syriac Orthodox Church, is made up of around 200 families. The community is working hard to pass the language on to their children through speaking Turoyo in the home and in church, and also through programs including a specially created Sunday school curriculum, a weekly Aramaic school, and a summer day camp. However, despite the community’s best efforts, language shift is taking place. We use a sociolinguistic approach involving sociolinguistic methods and interviews to show that family, social networks, and religion influence who is most likely to be a proficient speaker of Turoyo in this community, but that identity is the one sociolinguistic variable that can best account for the variety of cases in which language shift is taking place. Weaver, Christina Michelle, and George Anton Kiraz. “Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in Northern New Jersey.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 237 (2016): 19–36. Christina Michelle Weaver and George Anton Kiraz, Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in Northern New Jersey, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 237 (2016): 19–36.AmericaModern SyriacSyriac languageTuroyoXIX-XXI CEXXI CEdiasporasociolinguistics