Table 1
Manuscript Selection Framework.
| Primary | 1 | Accessibility | Restricted to manuscripts hosted by the Digital Syriac Corpus including approximately 571 records comprising 78 transcribed works by 38 known authors (and 24 anonymous authors) as at June 2024. |
| 2 | Date | Preference given to manuscripts where estimated date of original composition is known. Years rounded to the nearest century with each century represented, where possible. | |
| 3 | Genre | Poetry and biblical manuscripts excluded due to known genre effects on syntax (Black, 2020). Letters prioritised, where available. | |
| 4 | Translated | Translated manuscripts excluded as a cautionary measure due to problems they pose to historical syntax (Campbell, 2013, p. 400), including potential word-order effects in Aramaic (Pat-El, 2012, p. 101). | |
| Secondary | 5 | Authorial attribution | In the first instance, historical manuscripts with known authors are selected; anonymous authors are included as a last resort. |
| 6 | Textual copies | Preference is given to manuscripts based on a manuscript witness; manuscripts based on copied texts were selected as a last resort. | |
| 7 | Textual autonomy | Preference is given to autonomous manuscripts with those appearing in a larger body of work selected as a last resort. | |
| 8 | Dialectal identification | In the absence of known effects on Aramaic syntax, manuscript selection was not motivated by dialect; nonetheless, an even spread was attempted, but not prioritised. |
Table 2
Syriac Research Corpus.
| AUTHOR | TITLE | DIALECT | GENRE | TRANSLATED | EDITION | SOURCE | AUTONOMOUS | CENTURY | WORDS (POS%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mara bar Serapion | Letter of Mara bar Serapion | W | Lr | N | B | Cureton (1855) | Y | 1st | 1,594 (61.61%) |
| 2 | Bardaisan | Book of the Laws of Countries | W | Ex | N | B | Drijvers (1965) | N | 2nd–3rd | 5,277 (75.38%) |
| 3 | Aphrahat | The Demonstrations | E | Ex | N | B | Parisot (1894) | Y | 4th | 77,685 (77.52%) |
| 4–6 | Rabbula of Edessa | Letter from Cyril to Rabbula | ||||||||
| Letter from Rabbula to Andrew of Samosata | W | Lr | N | B | Overbeck (1865) | N | 5th | 882 (58.84%) | ||
| Part of a Letter from Rabbula to Cyril | ||||||||||
| 7–8 | Barlaha | Letter from Simeon of Mart Maryam in Response to Barlaha | ||||||||
| Letter from Barlaha to Simeon on the Translation of the Psalms | W | Lr | N | D | Vat. Syr. 135 | Y | 6th | 9,391 (63.38%) | ||
| 9 | Isaac of Nineveh | Ascetic Discourses | E | Ex | N | B | Bedjan (1909) | Y | Late 7th | 90,320 (51.11%) |
| 10 | Anton of Tagrit | On Divine Providence | W | Ex | N | D | BL Add. 14,726 | Y | 9th | 19,429 (59.31%) |
| 11 | Dionysius bar Salibi | Commentaries | W | Ex | N | D | SOAH 00012 | Y | 12th | 231,157 (63.32%) |
| 12 | Gregorius bar Hebraeus | Treatise of Treatises | W | Ex | N | B | N/A | Y | 13th | 39,106 (56.72%) |
| 474,841 (avg. 63.13%) |
[i] Note: a ‘word’ is defined by space boundaries.
Abbreviations
Dialects: W = West; E = East
Autonomous: N = No (i.e., part of larger body of work); Y = Yes (i.e., autonomous manuscript)
Translated: N = Not (likely) translated
Edition: D = Diplomatic (i.e., transcribed from source); B = Best-text (i.e., transcribed from print)
Genre: Lr = Letter; Ex = Exposition
Source: BL Add. = British Library Additional Manuscripts collection; SOAH = Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Homs; Vat. = Digital Vatican Library; N/A = No source available on the DSC platform
| 1. | <syntax category>-<state>__<syriac word> |
e.g., EMP-N__ “blessing” (Emphatic state noun) |