Langenesis

Afro-Asiatic family

Western Neo-Aramaic

c. 1200 CE – today Living

Western Neo-Aramaic (c. 1200 CE – today) is a living Afro-Asiatic language. Lineage: Proto-Afro-Asiatic → Proto-Semitic → … → Old Aramaic → Imperial and Middle Aramaic → Western Neo-Aramaic.

See Western Neo-Aramaic on the interactive map
ISO 639-3
amw
Glottocode
west2763

The only surviving Western Aramaic variety, spoken in Maaloula and nearby villages in Syria. Severely endangered.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Afro-Asiaticc. 10,000 BCE – 7,000 BCE
  2. Proto-Semiticc. 4,000 BCE – 2,500 BCE
  3. Proto-West Semiticc. 3,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE
  4. Proto-Central Semiticc. 2,500 BCE – 1,500 BCE
  5. Proto-Northwest Semiticc. 2,000 BCE – 1,200 BCE
  6. Old Aramaicc. 1,000 BCE – 700 BCE
  7. Imperial and Middle Aramaic700 BCE – 700 CE
  8. Western Neo-Aramaicc. 1200 CE – today

Sister languages 3

Also descended from Imperial and Middle Aramaic.

Sources