The Lishana Didan Alphabet

Q: What is Lishana Didan?

Lishana Didan (also written Lishán Didán or Lishan Didan, meaning "our language" in Aramaic, ISO 639-3: trg) is a Jewish Neo-Aramaic (NENA) language spoken by descendants of the Jewish community of Urmia (Orumiyeh) in the Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran [1] . The language is now spoken primarily by diaspora communities in Israel, and a language learning course is offered through 7000 Languages to support heritage speakers. Lishana Didan belongs to the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) group alongside Hulaulá, Lishana Deni, Lishanid Noshan, and Koy Sanjaq Surat. It shows contact influences from Azerbaijani Turkish (reflecting the Urmia region's history as part of the Iranian Azerbaijan province) alongside its ancient Aramaic Semitic core.

Q: What script does Lishana Didan use?

Lishana Didan is written in the Hebrew square script — the 22-letter consonantal alphabet shared by Hebrew and all Jewish Aramaic languages [2] . Traditional manuscripts are consonantal (unvowelled), read right to left. Lishana Didan preserves pharyngeal consonants — Heth (ח) = /ħ/ and Ayin (ע) = /ʕ/ — with their Classical Aramaic values, unlike modern Israeli Hebrew where these are typically merged. Academic documentation uses Latin transliteration with diacritical marks.

Q: Where is Urmia and what is its connection to Lishana Didan?

Urmia (Orumiyeh, Urmi) is a city in West Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran, on the western shore of Lake Urmia [1] . It was historically a multiethnic city, home to Muslims, Christians (Assyrians), Jews, and others. The Jewish community of Urmia spoke Lishana Didan — a distinctive Neo-Aramaic dialect shaped by centuries of contact with Azerbaijani Turkish, Kurdish, and Persian. Most of the Urmia Jewish community migrated to Israel after 1948, bringing Lishana Didan with them. The language is now a diaspora language in Israel, with the 7000 Languages organisation working to preserve it through accessible learning resources.

Q: What influence did Azerbaijani Turkish have on Lishana Didan?

Lishana Didan shows Azerbaijani Turkish contact features not found in other NENA dialects [2] , reflecting centuries of Jewish life in the multilingual Urmia region where Azerbaijani Turkish was the dominant vernacular. These include loanwords, vowel patterns influenced by Turkish vowel harmony, and structural calques. Despite these contact features, the core grammar and basic vocabulary of Lishana Didan remain firmly Aramaic Semitic in origin.

Q: What is the ISO code for Lishana Didan?

The ISO 639-3 code for Lishana Didan is trg [1] . The language is documented through the 7000 Languages learning course, Bar-Ilan University's CRIS research repository, and comparative studies of Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects. The 7000 Languages course provides vocabulary, phrases, and audio recordings that make the language accessible to diaspora community members and heritage learners.

Q: What language family does Lishana Didan belong to?

Lishana Didan belongs to the Afro-Asiatic → Semitic → Aramaic → Eastern Aramaic → NENA → Jewish NENA branch [1] . Its closest relatives are Hulaulá, Lishana Deni, Lishanid Noshan, and Koy Sanjaq Surat. NENA is one of the last living branches of Eastern Aramaic — the lingua franca of the ancient Near East from ~600 BCE to 700 CE. As a Jewish NENA dialect, Lishana Didan descends from the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic underlying the Babylonian Talmud — over 2,000 years of continuous Jewish community use.

Q: How does Lishana Didan differ from Hebrew?

Although Lishana Didan uses the Hebrew square script , it is an Aramaic language — not a form of Hebrew [2] . Key differences: • Language branch : Lishana Didan is Eastern Aramaic; Hebrew is Canaanite — related in the broader Semitic family but separated over 3,000 years ago • Pharyngeals : Lishana Didan preserves ח = /ħ/ and ע = /ʕ/ in actual pronunciation, reflecting Classical Aramaic values; modern Israeli Hebrew has largely lost these distinctions • Grammar : Lishana Didan has its own Aramaic verb system, noun patterns, and pronoun morphology, distinct from Hebrew • Vocabulary : Core vocabulary is Aramaic, with Azerbaijani Turkish, Kurdish, and Persian borrowings alongside Hebrew religious vocabulary The Azerbaijani Turkish contact features in Lishana Didan — vowel harmony influences, loanwords, structural calques — are unique among the Jewish NENA dialects and reflect the specific linguistic environment of the Urmia Jewish community in northwestern Iran.

Q: How many speakers does Lishana Didan have?

Lishana Didan is endangered , with most fluent speakers now elderly members of the Urmia Jewish diaspora community in Israel [1] . The Urmia Jewish community emigrated to Israel primarily after 1948, integrating into Modern Hebrew-speaking Israeli society. Intergenerational transmission of Lishana Didan largely ceased in Israel, with most younger-generation descendants speaking Modern Hebrew as their primary language. The 7000 Languages organisation offers a free Lishana Didan language learning course (7000.org/lishandidan) — one of the few active revitalisation initiatives for this language — designed to help heritage speakers and diaspora community members reconnect with the ancestral language. Bar-Ilan University's CRIS repository provides academic documentation of the language's grammar and phonology.

Lishana Didan Language at a Glance

Lishana Didan (Lishán Didán, "our language", ISO 639-3: trg) is a Jewish Neo-Aramaic (NENA) language spoken by descendants of the Jewish community of Urmia (Orumiyeh) in northwestern Iran; language learning resources for Lishán Didán are preserved by 7000 Languages ^[1]
The name "Lishán Didán" is Aramaic for "our language" — the same self-designation found in Lishana Deni and Lishanid Noshan, reflecting the community identity of Jewish Neo-Aramaic speakers ^[2]
Lishana Didan uses the Hebrew square script; the 22 consonants preserve Classical Aramaic phonological values including pharyngeal Heth (ח = /ħ/) and Ayin (ע = /ʕ/) ^[2]
Bar-Ilan University's Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages documents Lishana Didan within its research programme on endangered Jewish languages of the diaspora ^[2]
Lishana Didan shows contact features from Azerbaijani Turkish (reflecting the Urmia region's historical identity as part of the Azerbaijan Province of Iran) alongside its Aramaic Semitic core ^[1]
The language is closely related to Hulaulá, Lishanid Noshan, Lishana Deni, and Koy Sanjaq Surat — the Jewish NENA dialects of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey now spoken by diaspora communities in Israel ^[2]

Consonants (Hebrew Script):

[ʔ]

[b/v]

[g]

[d]

[h]

[w/v]

[z]

[ħ]

[tˤ]

[j]

[k/x]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[s]

[ʕ]

[p/f]

[sˤ]

[q]

[r]

[ʃ]

[t]

[ʔ]

Glottal stop /ʔ/ — Alap retains its consonantal Aramaic value in Lishana Didan

[b/v]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/ or labiodental fricative /v/ — B or V

[g]

Voiced velar stop /g/ — G as in "go"

[d]

Voiced alveolar stop /d/ — D as in "dog"

[h]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/ — H as in "house"

[w/v]

Labio-velar approximant /w/ or /v/; also mater lectionis for vowels

[z]

Voiced alveolar fricative /z/ — Z as in "zebra"

[ħ]

Voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ — deep guttural H; preserved in Lishana Didan pronunciation

[tˤ]

Pharyngealised (emphatic) /tˤ/ — emphatic T inherited from Proto-Semitic

[j]

Palatal approximant /j/ — Y as in "yes"; also mater lectionis for /i/

[k/x]

Voiceless velar stop /k/ or velar fricative /x/ — K or CH (as in "loch")

[l]

Alveolar lateral approximant /l/ — L as in "lamp"

[m]

Bilabial nasal /m/ — M as in "mother"

[n]

Alveolar nasal /n/ — N as in "night"

[s]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ — S as in "sun"

[ʕ]

Voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ — the guttural Ayin of Classical Aramaic, preserved in Lishana Didan

[p/f]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/ or labiodental fricative /f/ — P or F

[sˤ]

Pharyngealised (emphatic) /sˤ/ — emphatic sibilant

[q]

Voiceless uvular stop /q/ — deeper than K; Q in "Qatar"

[r]

Alveolar trill or approximant /r/ — R as in "rain"

[ʃ]

Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ — SH as in "shoe"

[t]

Voiceless alveolar stop /t/ — T as in "time"

Vowels (Latin Transliteration):

[a]

[aː]

[e]

[i]

[iː]

[u]

[uː]

[ə]

[o]

[a]

Short open vowel /a/; A as in "cat"

[aː]

Long open vowel /aː/; A as in "father"

[e]

Short mid front vowel /e/; E as in "met"

[i]

Short close front vowel /i/; I as in "bit"

[iː]

Long close front vowel /iː/; EE as in "machine"

[u]

Short close back rounded vowel /u/; U as in "put"

[uː]

Long close back rounded vowel /uː/; OO as in "moon"

[ə]

Central reduced vowel /ə/ (schwa); characteristic of NENA phonology

[o]

Mid back rounded vowel /o/; O as in "go"; influenced by contact with Azerbaijani Turkish

[geresh]

[gershayim]

[dagesh]

[ḥad]

[trēn]

[tlātha]

[arbʿa]

[xamša]

[šitta]

[šbaʿ]

[tmānya]

[tšaʿ]

[ʿsara]

[ḥad]

One — Aramaic ḥad; cognate with Syriac ܚܕ (ḥad) and Hebrew אחד (eḥad)

[trēn]

Two — Aramaic trēn; cognate with Syriac ܬܪܝܢ (trēn)

[tlātha]

Three — Aramaic tlātha; cognate with Arabic ثلاثة (thalātha) and Syriac ܬܠܬܐ

[arbʿa]

Four — Aramaic arbʿa; cognate with Arabic أربعة (arbaʿa) and Hebrew ארבע

[xamša]

Five — Aramaic xamša; cognate with Arabic خمسة (khamsa) and Hebrew חמש

[šitta]

Six — Aramaic šitta; cognate with Arabic ستة (sitta) and Hebrew שש

[šbaʿ]

Seven — Aramaic šbaʿ; cognate with Arabic سبعة (sabʿa) and Hebrew שבע

[tmānya]

Eight — Aramaic tmānya; cognate with Arabic ثمانية (thamāniya) and Hebrew שמונה

[tšaʿ]

Nine — Aramaic tšaʿ; cognate with Arabic تسعة (tisʿa) and Hebrew תשע

[ʿsara]

Ten — Aramaic ʿsara; cognate with Arabic عشرة (ʿashara) and Hebrew עשר (ʿeser)

[ʔ]

[b/v]

[g]

[d]

[h]

[w/v]

[z]

[ħ]

[tˤ]

[j]

[k/x]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[s]

[ʕ]

[p/f]

[sˤ]

[q]

[r]

[ʃ]

[t]

[ʔ]

First letter — glottal stop /ʔ/

[b/v]

Second letter — /b/ or /v/

[g]

Third letter — voiced velar stop /g/

[d]

Fourth letter — voiced alveolar stop /d/

[h]

Fifth letter — voiceless glottal fricative /h/

[w/v]

Sixth letter — /w/ or /v/; also mater lectionis for vowels

[z]

Seventh letter — voiced alveolar fricative /z/

[ħ]

Eighth letter — voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/

[tˤ]

Ninth letter — pharyngealised emphatic stop /tˤ/

[j]

Tenth letter — palatal approximant /j/; also mater lectionis for /ī/

[k/x]

Eleventh letter — /k/ or /x/

[l]

Twelfth letter — alveolar lateral /l/

[m]

Thirteenth letter — bilabial nasal /m/

[n]

Fourteenth letter — alveolar nasal /n/

[s]

Fifteenth letter — voiceless alveolar fricative /s/

[ʕ]

Sixteenth letter — voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/

[p/f]

Seventeenth letter — /p/ or /f/

[sˤ]

Eighteenth letter — pharyngealised emphatic sibilant /sˤ/

[q]

Nineteenth letter — voiceless uvular stop /q/

[r]

Twentieth letter — alveolar rhotic /r/

[ʃ]

Twenty-first letter — voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/

[t]

Twenty-second letter — voiceless alveolar stop /t/

Expand All Collapse All

What is Lishana Didan?

What script does Lishana Didan use?

Where is Urmia and what is its connection to Lishana Didan?

What influence did Azerbaijani Turkish have on Lishana Didan?

What is the ISO code for Lishana Didan?

What language family does Lishana Didan belong to?

How does Lishana Didan differ from Hebrew?

How many speakers does Lishana Didan have?

References:

[1] 7000 Languages — Language Learning Resource. "Lishán Didán — 7000 Languages" — 7000 Languages has created a free course for Lishán Didán (ISO 639-3: trg), the Jewish NENA language formerly of Urmia, Iran, now maintained by a diaspora community in Israel. Retrieved from 7000 Languages — Lishán Didán Course
[2] Bar-Ilan University — Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages (CRIS). "Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages Research — Bar-Ilan University" — Bar-Ilan University documents Lishana Didan (ISO 639-3: trg), the Jewish NENA language of the former Urmia Jewish community, now primarily in Israel. Retrieved from Bar-Ilan University — Dept of Hebrew & Semitic Languages (CRIS)