Aramaic has been spoken uninterruptedly for more than 3000 years, yet a generation from now most Aramaic dialects will be extinct. The study of the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects has increased dramatically in the past decade as linguists seek to record these dialects before the disappearance of their last speakers. This work is a unique documentation of the now extinct Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Challa (modern-day ukurca, Turkey). It is based on recordings of the last native speaker of the dialect, who passed away in 2007. In addition to a grammatical description, it contains sample texts and a glossary of the dialect. Jewish Challa belongs to the cluster of NENA dialects known as 'lishana deni' and reference is made throughout to other dialects within this group.

Steven E. Fassberg, Ph.D. (1984) in Semitic Philology, Harvard University, teaches in the Department of Hebrew Language, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has written on Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics including A Grammar of the Palestinian Targum Fragments (Scholars, 1990) and Studies in Biblical Syntax (Magnes, 1994).