What is the basic scoop on the Aramaic language? How is it related to
Assyrian, Hebrew and Arabic? Is it still spoken today?

Hi Timespacette :)

I've often wanted to know the basic scoop about the Aramaic language
as well and your question has provided a great opportunity.

The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon found at:

http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/aramaic_language.html

states that the Aramaic language "is one of the Semitic languages, an
important group of languages known almost from the beginning of human
history and including also Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Akkadian
(ancient Babylonian and Assyrian)."

It is indeed closely related to Hebrew,
 
(see http://i-cias.com/e.o/aramaic.htm)

and what is usually called "Hebrew" script is actually a form of
Aramaic script.  Based on the research that I have carried out today,
my understanding is that Aramaic is related to the Assyrian, Hebrew
and Arabic languages by virtue of the fact that it IS a Semitic
language, i.e. it is the language spoken by those who populated the
ancient Near East, and in particular, was maintained by ties of
marriage and common use between various Hebrew tribes and peoples,

(see http://members.aol.com/assyrianme/aramaic/history.html for more
on this, including the shift away from pure Hebrew to Aramaic).

I also suspect it is closely related to the Hebrew language because of
the ancient Hebrew's prolific use of biblical Aramaic for writing and
translating the Hebrew Bible,

(see: the Aramaic Bible site at http://www.v-a.com/bible/ 
and the Aramaic Bible Society at http://www.aramaic.org/history.html 
and the Biblical Aramaic site at 
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/5210/bibarama.htm for
example).

I may stand corrected on this point by my colleagues tehuti-ga and
digsalot-ga who, I suspect, may know an awful lot more about this than
I do and who might be able to clarify the relationship between Hebrew
and Aramaic more precisely.

The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon confirms that Aramaic is still
spoken today in small communities in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. I
suspect that the Aramaic spoken in these communities today is quite
different from say the Aramaic spoken by the ancient Babylonians,
nevertheless, the Aramaic language is still recognised and where, for
example, an ancient word has a modern continuation, the modern aramaic
use will be recorded.

There is a fascinating range of websites discussing the Aramaic
language in its many forms including:

Assyrian Aramaic (including copies of written scripts): 
http://www.assyrianlanguage.com/

The History of the Aramaic Language (including the various stages of
development over the centuries):
http://members.aol.com/assyrianme/aramaic/history.html

Learn to Speak, Read and Write Syraic Aramaic:
http://www.learnassyrian.com/

Some beautiful biblical Aramaic scripts can be found at:
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-aramaic.html

A modern Aramaic translation/lexicon service at:
http://www.atour.com/~lexicon/

The Wikipedia entry on Aramaic at:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language

Languages on the Web Aramaic Links at:
http://www.languages-on-the-web.com/links/link-aramaic.htm

The Omniglot Guide to the Aramaic alpahabet at:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm

A selection of recommended books on Aramaic by the Institute for
Biblical and Scientific Studies at:
http://www.bibleandscience.com/aramaic.htm#Books

I hope that my answer has provided you with some useful basic
background information on this fascinating and beautiful language -
should you require any clarification, please let me know.

Kind regards
jem-ga :)

Google Search Strategy:

search term: Aramaic
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Aramaic

Thank you very much; that should keep me busy for weeks to come!

Hi Again Timespacette :) 

Some further information from fellow researcher ephraim-ga with
thanks:

"I personally know somebody whose family is Syrian Jewish and whose
parents' native language was Aramaic. According to what he told me,
the 20th century version of the language is quite different from what
was spoken in Babylonia 1500 years ago."

:) jem-ga

Those of us who have studied Talmud and Midrash in yeshivas often
throw around some of the common Aramaic expressions that appear there,
and tend to think of Aramaic as a major Jewish language -- but of the
books only.

That's why the following article was written. It's called "What's the
Truth about...Aramaic?" and appeared in an Orthodox Jewish magazine,
to dispel the illusion that Aramaic is a dead language. It has a lot
more details than have already appeared to answer your question. Here
it is:

http://www.ou.org/publications/ja/5762summer/LEGAL-EA.PDF

(You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access it.)

--ravuri-ga

Hi Again Timespacette :)  

You're very welcome and many thanks for the 5* rating.  I genuinely
enjoyed this research and found the background information
fascinating.

:) jem-ga