A Comparison of Dialects - Ma'loula vs. Classical Syriac

Since I'm still typesetting modern reconstructions of the Lord's Prayer in what we know exists of Jesus' dialect, I figure that I'll post what I've put together thusfar between these two dialects. Here is the Lord's Prayer as it is spoken in the dialect of Ma'loula, and how it appears in the Syriac Peshitta. Classical Syriac is an Eastern dialect of Aramaic, this version of the prayer approximately from 200-300AD. Ma'loula's dialect is Western, and is how the prayer is recited today.


Ma`loula
Classical Syriac

abûnah dibishmô

yichkattash éshmax

ythêlé molkax

uxmil bishmô xétt ca larca

léhmah mzhawhra appléh imôdh

xuférlêh htiyôthah

uxmil anah ngôfrin ltiaxit immaynah

la chcaprénnah bichigrébcha

béss haslannah mshirrîra

la-inno lêx molka wkotrtha wmazhta

ltahr al tahrô

amîn

abwun dvashmayâ

nethqadash shmâkh

tithe malkûthakh

nehwe çevyanâk aykanâ dvashmayâ âf barcâ

hav lan laxmâ dsûnqânân yaumânâ

ûshvaq lan xaiveyn

aykanâ dâf xnân shvaqan lxayaveyn

ûlâ teclan lnisyûnâ

ela patçan men bishâ

metul ddhîlâkh hî malkûthâ ûxaylâ ûtheshbûxthâ

lcâlâm lcâlmîn

ameyn



As you can see, the dialects are extremely different. Vocabulary, stress, and phonetic inventory tend to be very dissimilar. However, one can pick out similarities here and there (for example, the first three lines aren't too horribly different).

What the heck do these symbols mean?

b = B like "boy"
v = V like "vet"
g = G like "go"
gh = a voiced "gh" sound in the back of the throat.
d = D as in "dog"
dh = TH as in "this"
h = H as in "hey"
h = CH as in the exclaimation "och!" like one clearing one's throat unvoiced but lightly.
w = W as in "wow"
z = Z as in "zed"
zh = Z as in "azure"
x = like h only stronger.
t = like a cross between "x" above and the English letter T. ("tkh")
y = Y as in "yes"
k = K as in "kick"
kh = like "h" above
l = L as in "like"
m = M as in "mom"
n = N as in "norm"
s = S as in "sane"
c = like an "ugh" at the very back of the throat
p = P as in "peach"
f = PH as in "phone"
ç = CE as in "quince"
q = like a very hard "k" in the back of the throat
r = R in "ring" rolled/flapped once
sh = SH as in "shin"
t = T as in "toe"
th = TH as in "thin"
j = J as in "jump"
ch = CH as in "church"

a = A as in "father"
â = AW as in "awe"
é or e = EY as in "hey"
ê = A as the first "a" in "nasal"
i = I as in "in"
î = EE as in "knee"
o = O as in "opt"
ô = O as in "over"
u = U as in "up"
û = OO as in "goo"

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