MANDAEAN LANGUAGE
OVERVIEW
Classical Mandaic is a dead language, but we are fortunate to have a variation called Modern Mandaic still being spoken in amoung the Mandaenas of Iran. This version has been altered due to the addition of Persian and Arabic words as will as a change of grammerical forms. Modern Mandaic is a language baically without written material.
Pronunciation of Mandaic has been preserved by the priesthood. Before a male student is initiated into the priesthood, the student must learn by heart a large amount of sacred material. This material must be pronounce correctly in order for the rites to be valid-thus the student is corrected many times by his teachers (priests) in order to achieve what can be considered tradtional.
Lady E.S. Drower was able to get recordings of Mandaic as it was spoken in 1954 by the priests.
