Koy Sanjaq Syriac language

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Koy Sanjaq Surat
ܣܘܪܬ Sûrat
Native to Iraq
Region Koy Sanjaq and Armota in Arbil Province
Native speakers
800  (1995)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kqd
Glottolog koys1242[2]

Koy Sanjaq Surat is a modern Eastern Syriac-Aramaic language. Speakers of the language call it simply Surat, or 'Syriac'. It is spoken in the town of Koy Sanjaq and its nearby village of Armota in the Arbil Province as well as in Ankawa. The speakers of Koy Sanjaq Surat have traditionally been Assyrians.

Koy Sanjaq Surat seems to be related to Senaya, which is spoken by Assyrians who originally lived east of Koy Sanjaq, in the city of Sanandaj in Iran. Not enough is known about the language to make any definite comment, but it seems that Koy Sanjaq Surat may have developed as the language of Assyrian settlers from Sanandaj. The dialect also has much more Kurdish influences then other dialects of Syriac. It does not appear to be intelligible with Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, which is spoken by co-ethnics further north, or with the Jewish Neo-Aramaic language of Lishanid Noshan, which was traditionally spoken by the Jews of Koy Sanjaq.

The Madnhâyâ version of the Syriac alphabet is used in writing, but most written material is in the Syriac language used in worship.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Koy Sanjaq Surat at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  2. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Koy Sanjaq Surat". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.