Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar

by J.F. Coakley

T. H. Robinson's Paradigms and exercises in Syriac Grammar was first published in 1915 to meet the need for "something of an elementary nature which should be of value to the student who takes up Syriac for the first time." Since then, the book has met this need for generations of students. The fifth edition of 2002 remains the grammar of choice for many teachers of Syriac classes as well as for students learning by themselves. The present revision, drawing on ten more years of university teaching experience and students' comments, clarifies some of the grammatical explanations and exercises. Improvements to the fonts and a larger format make for easier reading. As before, the West Syriac script and grammatical tradition are followed in the body of the lessons, and appendices introduce reading in the other (estrangela and Eastern) scripts. The book remains a plain and friendly introduction to this important language.

Genres: Language

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2003

Reviews

[H.D.B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5*

This was easier to get through because I can already read Syriac fluently and have a (extremely) minimal understanding of the traditional language, but still, the exercises had no key (i found one online but that one was very unreliable) and were such weird sentences that they made little sense. And I also missed translations at certain parts to properly explain the difference between tenses.

Still, it provides a thorough overview of the conjugations of the different tenses and how the placement of vowels can completely change the meaning of a verb (the very much trickier part of this language)

[Alex S · Rating 4 out of 5]

ܬܒ ܫܦܝܪ ܗܘ ܟܬܒܐ ܗܢܐ ܐܠܐ ܬܠܡܝܕܐ ܚܒܢܢܐ ܐܢܐ 😅

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine and brief introduction. Only the occasional typo. The vocabulary and definitions, as well as the standard paradigms, are geared toward later Syriac rather than earlier Syriac, and he tends to interpret words through the lens of meaning given to the equivalent word in Latin theology -- so "favor" or "goodwill" becomes "grace" (carrying, potentially, a lot of loaded Augustinian ideas unknown to the Syriac East). Paradigms are of limited use in the later chapters (when you really need them), because the brevity of the text permits him only to present the tendencies and specific changed forms of irregular / weak verbs, rather than reproducing whole paradigms for comparison.

[Paul G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An instructional grammar certainly isn't exciting, but from my humble experience in Syriac this is the best learner's textbook for those who don't need an extra-digestible, kid-friendly approach such as that of Kiraz (and I don't mean to knock that approach!). To compare it more specifically to Thackston's textbook, I found that Coakley's edition is superior because it i) does not rely on distracting transliteration of vocabulary, ii) is well-structured and doesn't split up unified topics, and iii) explains the concepts adequately well and furnishes the student with good exercises. Overall, a good introduction to Syriac.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, this breaks down Syriac into digestible bits of about 4 pages long, and if you set yourself a task of doing an exercise over one or two weeks, you can get through the book fairly quickly. However, a lot of things get glossed over fairly quickly (the most incredible one was the covering of an important feature of the language within a parenthetical remark). A good supplement to the actual grammar is to try and begin to read the Peshitta alongside it fairly early on.

[Adam Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Weingreen of Syriac! In other words, it's an excellent introduction. I used this for a 6 week intensive course in Basic Syriac which I just completed at CUA this week.