The Teaching of Corpus Languages in Higher Education

Abstract

Late Eastern Aramaic (Syriac) is one of the main languages of the Aramaic linguistic group. During the Middle Ages, it became the liturgical language of the Christian communities that arose in the Near and Middle East. Its scholars wrote a large amount of literature and implemented a movement for the translation of Greek theological and scientific works. The extent of Arabic after the Muslim conquest led to the gradual disuse of Late Eastern Aramaic. However, today it still remains a communication and liturgical language in several churches. The aim of this chapter is to offer an overview of Late Eastern Aramaic (Syriac) language teaching at the University of Salamanca, including a summary of the learning goals and a description of the approach and method followed. It is preceded by a brief introduction to the tradition of the studies about this language.