J.F. Coakley, Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2002. vii + 181. Four Appendices. Syriac-English and English-Syriac glossaries. Cloth: ISBN 0-19-925409-5 $80.00 Paper: ISBN 0-19-926129-6 $35.00.
Robert R.
Phenix, Jr.
The Institute for the Christians of the Orient
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2003
Vol. 6, No. 2
For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full
copyright.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv6n2prphenix
Robert R. PHENIX Jr.
J.F. Coakley, Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2002. vii + 181. Four Appendices. Syriac-English and English-Syriac glossaries. Cloth: ISBN 0-19-925409-5 $80.00 Paper: ISBN 0-19-926129-6 $35.00.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol6/HV6N2PRPhenix.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2003
vol 6
issue 2
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
Syriac Studies
Grammar
Robinson
Coakley
File created by XSLT transformation of original HTML encoded article.
[1] Among
Semitic languages, the pedagogy of Syriac, a dialect of
Aramaic, suffers because its attested written artifacts fall
well beyond the mainstream interests of students of the Ancient
Near East on the one hand; on the other hand the pillars of
modern Near Eastern studies do not consider Syriac (and its
users) at all relevant. Hence there is little incentive to
produce an introduction to Syriac that, like many competent
grammars of Biblical Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic,
adequately guides students, with drills and exercises, through
its grammatical details and stylistic intricacies. No English
introduction to Syriac presents all of the basics as well as
many of the significant details. In the interest of students of
comparative Semitics, no textbook takes into account the needs
of those who study Syriac as an Aramaic dialect. These are some
of the needs that need to be met to further Syriac studies.
Robinson's original Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac
Grammar was never meant to meet these needs. Coakley's
fifth edition of Robinson is a much-needed correction to this
English workhorse of Syriac studies that has influenced
subsequent publications. Yet the basic need of a sound
introduction is still not addressed thereby.
[2] Coakley
has made some positive and useful improvements to one of the
better-known English manuals of Syriac language and has
presented a solid piece of work commendable for its accuracy,
concision, and clarity. The book is pocket size, but still
rather expensive. It is also practically free of typographical
errors in the English and the Syriac, demonstrating the care
that Coakley took to present a readable and accurate
textbook.
[3] The
preface touts this revision as a "simple and friendly
introduction" to Syriac. Yet the author sees the limitations of
Robinson's design. To supplement the gaps in Robinson, Coakley
advises the student to refer to Nöldeke's Compendious
Syriac Grammar. While this is a theoretical possibility for
advanced students, it is not a pedagogically sound one for
beginners. By analogy, an introduction to Biblical Hebrew
structured in such a way that the student "fills in the gaps"
with Gesenius or Joüon places this pedagogy in some
perspective.
[4]
Coakley's edition follows Robinson's layout fairly closely with
a few significant changes, some of which are improvements. The
grammar is divided into twenty-nine sections. The first section
presents a brief introduction to the historical and comparative
background of Syriac in the Aramaic and wider Semitic context,
along with a brief statement on the relationship between 'East'
and 'West' Syriac. This introduction is clear and concise. More
could have been said about the exact relationships between
Syriac and the other dialects of Aramaic. The presentation
suggests that there was a stage when a single dialect of
Aramaic was spoken throughout Southwest Asia. This is unlikely.
Imperial Aramaic was employed in the Achaemenid Empire (539-332
BC) as the official language of the Mesopotamian satrapies.
Standard Literary Aramaic was a language of wider written
communication in the Hellenistic Period (fourth to first
centuries BC). The distribution of both Imperial Aramaic and
SLA as spoken languages remains unknown. In all periods other
dialects of Aramaic are attested in more restricted
geographical distributions.
[5]
Following this introduction is a good presentation of
sertā, the West Syriac script used in this book.
Coakley presents the letters in their various forms in a table
and usefully explains how to write each letter, illustrating
his remarks with easy to read handwritten examples. This is a
helpful presentation of the writing system, although it should
be supplemented by handwriting exercises. The section ends with
a discussion of the syāmê, inaccurately
translated as "things placed," which would be in Syriac
sīmātā. Syāmê in this
instance means 'symbols' and is an elliptical expression for
syāmê dnūqzê 'symbols of
(grammatical) points.' Coakley includes two good transcription
exercises at the end of this section and of section three, from
sertā script into Latin transcription and
vice-versa. He provides the Latin consonant and vowel
equivalents in two tables. These are useful exercises as they
reinforce the values of the letters and provide some
interaction with the "sounds" of Syriac. Learning the relevant
Latin transcription system is also standard for most other
grammars in Semitic languages.
[6] The
vowels and vowel orthography are deferred to the end of section
three, which treats pronunciation. Coakley uses the Western
vocalization throughout, but transcribes zqāpā
(West Syriac /ō/) as /ā/, and also maintains the East
Syriac orthographic distinction between /o/ and /u/. This is an
example of adopting a "mixed" phonology, for which there is
precedent. (However, other features distinguishing between West
and East Syriac are adopted without informing the student. For
example, the vowel of the G Durative [pecal
imperfect] prefix of verbs I-ālaph shows allophonic
distribution in West Syriac but not in East Syriac.) The
differences between the five- and seven-vowel systems are
summarized but the vowel names are not provided. The rest of
section three covers the consonantal system of Syriac, except
that the complete rules for spirantization of oral stops
(so-called begadkephat letters) have been moved to
Appendix A.
[7] The
presentation of the noun system in Coakley's revision is
condensed and many details that Robinson included are omitted.
For example, there is never any explicit explanation of the
"construct state." Also, smaller details that made Robinson a
unique resource this fifth edition leaves behind. For example,
Robinson presented the peculiarities of the abstract feminine
nouns with long vowels -ī and -ū in his
presentation of the noun, as well as many footnotes with
lexical and semantic details. Coakley omits most of these.
[8]
Terminologically, this revision maintains the same grammatical
terminology Robinson shares with nearly all introductions to
Syriac. Such terminology is a hindrance. Comparative Semitics
has all but abandoned most of this terminology because it
imposes categories on nouns and adjectives that have no
functional explanatory correlation. For example, the "absolute
state" of adjectives is functionally a simple predicate
adjective. On the other hand, nouns in the absolute state
function almost always as adverbs. Syriac nouns in the
"absolute state" are historically adverbial accusatives, with
parallels in other Aramaic dialects and Arabic. Predicate
adjectives parallel the predicative construction, attested in
Akkadian. Hence, the term "absolute state" for Syriac nouns and
adjectives reflects neither their synchronic nor their
diachronic grammar. Again, adjectives never agree with nouns in
the "construct state." Only substantivized adjectives occur in
this form, which is really the Semitic bound form of nominals.
An update of these terms would have forced a better and more
logical presentation of the grammar to students.
[9] Coakley
does make improvements to the section on irregular nouns
(section 12). Instead of Robinson's original table, which was
hard to read, Coakley spreads out the presentation over a few
pages, and in many cases gives a brief historical explanation
of irregular forms. It is well laid-out and informative.
[10]
Robinson's original sequence treated nouns, adjectives,
prepositions and participles in sections three through thirteen
before introducing any component of the verb. Coakley
interrupts this sequence and introduces the
"pecal perfect" (G preterite) of sound verbs
with a brief overview of the Syriac verb system (section eight,
pp. 34-35). The overall presentation of the verb is little
improved in the fifth edition. The terminology of the verb
system is a relic that masks the basic semantics of the verb
stems and makes learning Syriac more difficult. The terms
Robinson used are those of the Hebrew grammarians. For example,
the names of the Syriac verb stems are taken from the verb root
pcl following the Hebrew grammatical
tradition. This root is of very limited occurrence in Syriac
(and is probably a fossil of Syriac translation of the Old
Testament). The root consonants of this verb do not show the
details of spirantization. The verb used as a paradigm for
sound verbs is qtl 'kill.' A better choice is ktb
'write' because all three consonants are susceptible to
spirantizat ion. And writing is more excellent than killing, as
the Syriac Fathers and Mothers might say.
[11]
Robinson's explanation of the semantics of Syriac verb
morphology in terms of "Indo-European" (read: Greek and Latin)
is erroneous. The terms "conjugation" and "tense" do not
correspond well to Semitic grammatical categories. "Perfect"
and "imperfect" are also relics from Hebrew grammar. These are
not, as Robinson asserts, "tenses" in the Indo-European sense
(p. 35). Semitic verb morphology encodes tense within the
fundamental distinction of aspect. Even then, the fundamental
tense category is "past" vs. "non-past," not "past" vs.
"future" (p. 35).
[12] The
lack of adequate discussion of the semantics of the verb system
in the narrative structuring of Syriac prose is a deficiency.
The verb forms in prose narrative comprise a system for
encoding volition, necessity, and narrative features such as
topic, background, direct and indirect discourse. These
grammatical features are basic to interpreting Syriac texts
properly. Leading a student through the basics of this
subsystem of Syriac grammar would have been a great
service.
[13] In
the vocabularies pertaining to each section, Coakley presents
the vowels of the pecal perfect. Once the
pecal imperfect is introduced, he includes
the imperfect stem vowel with each verb in the vocabulary. The
stem vowels of the G perfect and imperfect must be learned with
each G verb stem, so this is a welcome improvement over
Robinson. It would have been more helpful to provide a chart of
the imperfect vowels for all verbs occurring in the
vocabularies before the imperfect is introduced in section 13
(p. 60).
[14] The
vocabulary and exercises deserve some comments. First, Coakley
kept the English-to-Syriac exercises alongside the
Syriac-to-English. This is a strong point of Robinson's work.
Coakley reduced the size of the exercises from an average of
fifteen sentences in both Syriac and English exercises in
Robinson to ten each. The Syriac and English exercises contain
sentences that are identical to or close paraphrases of those
found in the Peshitta and in patristic sources. These are not
full texts, but are separate sentences and are more
entertaining and relevant than those in Robinson.
[15] Many
of the exercises in the fifth edition are new but the coverage
of the grammar is not better than in earlier versions. It is
still a shortcoming of Robinson and most other introductions to
Syriac that there are no "drills" of the grammar presented in
each lesson. Robinson often presented vocabulary in the course
of the grammar of the lesson but did not summarize those words
with the rest of the vocabulary at the end of the lesson. This
is one of the biggest complaints students raise about Robinson.
Coakley has commendably eliminated this glaring problem,
consistent with the "friendly introduction" promised in the
preface.
[16]
Coakley includes four helpful appendices. Appendix A covers
exceptions to the phonological rule that spirantizes oral stops
in post-vocalic position and includes relevant orthographic
rules. This is a holdover of material from earlier editions.
Appendix B covers the Estrangçlâ writing system.
This includes material on diacritic points used to distinguish
orthographically identical forms in consonantal texts. Appendix
C is an introduction to the East Syriac script and a helpful
tabulation of the features of East Syriac pronunciation and
orthographic conventions. Appendices B and C conclude with
short passages in the respective script. Appendix D covers
calendrical formulas. It takes material from Robinson,
paragraph 24, that outlines date formulae and supplements it
with the list of month names and correspondences in the Latin
system. These appendices are clearly written and most helpful.
Finally, a great improvement is Coakley's inclusion of an
English-Syriac glossary.
[17]
There are still no Syriac textbooks providing students with a
thorough and sound introduction to Syriac as a written idiom.
Robinson's work lays out the basics of the morphology and a few
notes about syntax, and Coakley corrects and streamlines his
presentation. However, there is little here that is
substantially different from most other English presentations
of the language. In terms of grammatical analysis and
description, there has been no substantial and systematic
attempt to bring Syriac into the light of modern historical and
comparative linguistics.
[18] This
is particularly true with respect to the semantics of syntax.
Semitic languages encode narrative categories, such as topic,
focus, main-line clause, background clause, and dialog using a
remarkably different set of techniques than Western languages.
Much of the difficulty in reading Syriac prose is that these
techniques are very much a prominent part of any text. This
component of syntax is nowhere covered in any introduction to
Syriac of which I am aware. In comparison with the coverage of
such grammatical points in many recent introductions to
Biblical Hebrew, where the importance of syntax and narrative
marking has been recognized in recent English textbooks, Syriac
lags far behind.
[19]
Another problem is that introductions to Syriac neglect the
Semitics student who would benefit from a better presentation
of the comparative and historical grammar of Syriac. Coakley
and Robinson did not intend to address those needs and are in
perfect harmony on this issue with most other Syriac
introductions. By comparison, Huehnergard's A Grammar of
Akkadian is an example of a successful presentation of the
historical and synchronic grammar of a Semitic language. Such
an introduction would be desirable for Aramaic as well.
[20] All
in all, Coakley's contribution to Robinson has made many good
improvements on a text that should appeal to a wide range of
students of Early Christian studies and Semitics students who
want an accurate and fast overview of the grammar. The work
will be most helpful as a quick reference for students who are
beyond the first year.