General Information
Neo-Mandaic (ISO 639-3: mid) represents the latest stage of the development of Classical Mandaic, a language of the Middle East which was first attested during the period of Late Antiquity and which continues to be used to the present date by the Mandaean religious community of Iraq and Iran. While the members of this community, numbered at roughly 70,000 or fewer adherents throughout the world, are familiar with the classical dialect through their sacred literature and liturgy, only a few hundred Mandaeans, located primarily in Iran, speak Neo-Mandaic (known to them as the raṭnā) as a first language. Two surviving dialects of Neo-Mandaic have thus far been documented, those of Ahvāz (in Macuch 1965a, Macuch 1965b, Macuch 1989, and Macuch 1993) and Khorramshahr (in Häberl 2008). These dialects are mutually intelligible to the extent that speakers of either dialect will deny that there are any differences between the two.
Read more about this topic: Neo-Mandaic
Famous quotes containing the words general and/or information:
“There is in general good reason to suppose that in several respects the gods could all benefit from instruction by us human beings. We humans are—more humane.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I believe it has been said that one copy of The Times contains more useful information than the whole of the historical works of Thucydides.”
—Richard Cobden (1804–1865)