Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar

by Coakley, J. F.

• ISBN13: 9780199254095
• ISBN10: 0199254095
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

T. H. Robinson published Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar in 1915 to meet the need for 'something of an elementary nature which should be of value to the student who takes up Syriac for the first time'. Since then, the book has met this need for generations of students. Still,teachers have recognized its weaknesses and this fifth edition is a thorough revision. Much of the old explanatory text and many of the exercises have been superseded. Some matters of grammar and pronunciation receive more systematic treatment and there are new appendices to introduce the estrangelaand East Syriac scripts. In its format and level, however, the book aims to be, as before, an approachable introduction to this important language.

Author Biography

J. F. Coakley is Senior Lecturer in Syriac at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(4)
The script	4	(6)
Pronunciation	10	(6)
Pronouns. Particles. Simple sentences	16	(5)
Nouns and adjectives: gender, number, state	21	(5)
Pronominal suffixes	26	(4)
Prepositions. The words and	30	(4)
Verbs. The perfect tense	34	(6)
Simple nouns with variable vowels	40	(5)
Participles	45	(5)
Other nouns with variable vowels	50	(5)
Miscellaneous and irregular nouns	55	(5)
The imperfect tense	60	(4)
The imperative and infinitive. The verb	64	(4)
The ethpe'el	68	(5)
The pa'el and ethpa'al	73	(6)
The aph'el and ettaph'al. Other conjugations	79	(5)
Objective pronominal suffixes, 1: attached to the perfect	84	(5)
Objective pronominal suffixes, 2: attached to other forms of the verb	89	(5)
Weak verbs. Pe-nun verbs	94	(4)
Pe-alaph verbs	98	(5)
Pe-yod verbs	103	(4)
`E-alaph verbs	107	(4)
Hollow verbs	111	(5)
Geminate verbs	116	(4)
Lamad-yod verbs, 1: the pe'al	120	(5)
Lamad-yod verbs, 2: other conjugations	125	(4)
Pronominal suffixes attached to lamad-yod verbs	129	(5)
Numbers	134	(15)
Appendices
A. Pronunciation of the bgdkpt letters	139	(2)
B. The estrangela script. Diacritical points	141	(3)
C. East Syriac writing and phonology	144	(3)
D. Dates	147	(2)
Syriac-English glossary	149	(16)
English-Syriac glossary	165