Syria's communities and civilizations – history, sites and heritage
Western Neo-Aramaic speakers (Maaloula, Jubb'adin, Bakhʿa)
الناطقون بالآرامية الغربية الحديثة (معلولا وجبعدين وبخعة)
Ethnic and linguistic communities
Three villages in the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus are the last places where a Western Aramaic language is spoken. The speakers are Christians and Muslims; the language is classed as definitely endangered.
Western Neo-Aramaic is the only surviving form of Western Aramaic and is spoken in three villages of the Qalamoun region: Maaloula, Jubb'adin and Bakhʿa, each with its own dialect. It is a linguistic community rather than a separate ethnic group: Maaloula has a large Christian (Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic) population, while the two neighbouring villages are mostly Muslim.
Sources and details
UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger classes Western Neo-Aramaic as definitely endangered, and Ethnologue rates it as shifting. Migration of young people to Damascus and other cities reduces daily use. Damascus University opened an Aramaic course in Maaloula in 2006/2007; it was frozen in 2010 after controversy over the script used. The linguist Werner Arnold has documented all three dialects.
The war seriously affected the villages. MRG reported that churches in Maaloula were found vandalised or looted after government forces retook the town; Bakhʿa was heavily damaged, its residents were displaced in March 2014, and a 2020 interview reported that it had not been resettled. No reliable current number of speakers was found.
Sites connected with this community 3
- Convent of Saint TheclaRif Dimashq · Churches & monasteries
Greek Orthodox convent of Mar Taqla in Aramaic-speaking Maaloula.
- MaaloulaRif Dimashq · Archaeological sites
The best-known of the three villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken.
- Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Mar Sarkis), MaaloulaRif Dimashq · Churches & monasteries
Melkite Greek Catholic monastery of Mar Sarkis above Maaloula.
Further sites (not yet in the atlas)
- Jubb'adin جبعدينRif Dimashq
One of the three villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken.
- Bakhʿa (al-Sarkha) بخعة (الصرخة)Rif Dimashq
Western Neo-Aramaic-speaking village, heavily damaged and depopulated after 2014.
Sources (5)
- Minority Rights Group International – Syria: Christians, Armenians and Assyrians updated 2018-03
- Wikipedia – Western Neo-Aramaic (secondary pointer; cites Arnold 2011 and others)
- Eid, G., Seyffarth, E. & Plag, I. – The Maaloula Aramaic Speech Corpus (MASC), Proceedings of LREC 2022: 6513–6520 2022
- Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad – The village of Bakh'a in Qalamoun: interview January 26, 2020
- Beach, Alastair – Easter Sunday: a Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, Christian Science Monitor April 2, 2010
These categories describe history, language and faith – not exclusive identities. Many Syrians belong to several, and some names refer to civilizations of the past.