Quantifying lexical distances among Nudiz, Mahmudi, and Verin Dvin Urmi (North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic) / Количественная оценка лексических различий между нудезнайским, мамедайским и верин-двинским урмийским (северо-восточные новоарамейские языки)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study documents and analyzes lexical data from four Christian North-Eastern Neo- Aramaic varieties: Mahmudi, Nudiz, Verin Dvin Urmi, and Urmia Urmi, focusing on the previously undescribed Mahmudi and Nudiz. We provide correspondences from these lects for an extended 226-item basic vocabulary list collected for this study with etymologies, cognates from earlier Aramaic, and loanword sources. Cognate share calculations reveal that all four varieties belong to a single language. Notably, Mahmudi and Verin Dvin Urmi - spoken in the same village for 67 years - exhibit stronger convergence than with their genealogical relatives (Nudiz and Urmia Urmi respectively), highlighting contact-driven divergence from inherited patterns.
Source: Voprosy âzykovogo rodstva
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7167690803