Modern Aramaic languages, such as Suret (Assyrian), are spoken by around 500,000 people, primarily in small communities across Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. These languages descend from Classical Aramaic, which served as a lingua franca of the Near East for centuries. They are written in the Syriac script (and sometimes Hebrew script) and have a fusional morphology with a flexible word order. Despite their rich literary and liturgical heritage especially in Christian traditions they are considered endangered, as many speakers live in diaspora or face cultural assimilation pressures.
Stats
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic
Writing System: Syriac, Hebrew
Writing System Type: Abjad
Writing Direction: R to L
Tones / Pitch Accent: N
Morphology: Fusional
Cases: 3
Grammatical Gender / Noun Class: 2
Number of Verb Tenses: 4
Word Order: Free
Number of Vowels (Monophthongs): 6
Number of Consonants: 38
Areas Where Spoken
Iran (0.06%) (55 k)
Iraq (0.55%) (252 k)
Syria (0.61%) (150 k)
Turkey (0.05%) (44 k)