Semitic language originally spoken by the ancient Aramaeans. The earliest Aramaic texts are inscriptions in an alphabet of Phoenician origin found in the northern Levant dating from &circa; 850 to 600 &BC;. The period 600–200 &BC; saw a dramatic expansion of Aramaic, leading to the development of a standard form known as Imperial Aramaic.
In later centuries, as “Standard Literary Aramaic,” it became a linguistic model. Late (or Classical) Aramaic (&circa; &AD; 200–1200) has an abundant literature, both in Syriac and in Mandaic (&see; Mandaeanism). With the rise of Islam, Arabic rapidly supplanted Aramaic as a vernacular in South Asia. Modern Aramaic (Neo-Aramaic) comprises West Neo-Aramaic, spoken in three villages northeast of Damascus, Syria, and East Neo-Aramaic, a group of languages spoken in scattered settlements of Jews and Christians in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran, and by modern Mandaeans in the Sha&tsubdot;&tsubdot; Al-&ayn;Arab. Since &circa; 1900 persecution has forced most contemporary East Neo-Aramaic-speakers, who number several hundred thousand, into diaspora communities around the world.
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