Learn Aramaic

In the Syriac script  a dot is positioned over or under the letter to mark a vowel.If you do not use such a dot sometimes ambiguities arise .Such is the case of the words malka-king and melka-advise.They are written  exactly the same way but pronounced different.The only way to differentiate between them is by using a dot to mark the different vowels. mlk' or malka or melka king or advise malka king melka advise Read also vowels in Aramaic .

After the dissolution of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great as a result Greek influence and culture spread all over the Middle East.It was then that Aramean scholars first became familiar with the Greek alphabet which already had a fully developed and quite accurate vowel system. On the other hand the Aramaic script indicated basically consonants and its weakness was thus exposed due to this contact.So Arameans thought they could use vowels to the benefit of their own script. The result was the development of two vowel systems the Eastern and Western after the split of the Syriac church into the Western branch under Byzantine rule and Eastern branch under Sassanid Persia. The Western borrowed directly the Greek vowels themselves which were written above the letter.The second used one or two dots above or below the letter to indicate vowels.Later appeared a combined system of the two. The Estrangela script originally made no use of vowels and these two systems initially dev...