Syriac language

From Wikinfo

Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language, which used to be spoken by followers of several churches in Turkey and Syria. In its "classical" form, it became extinct in the 10th to 12th centuries, but is still rarely used as a literary secular language; however, descendant dialects/languages are still spoken in several corners of the Middle East, including western Syria (the village of Ma`l�la and two neighboring villages), various villages all over the area often called Kurdistan (especially around Lake Urmia), and isolated communitiies as far north as Azerbaijan. It is still used in the liturgy of the Syrian Orthodox Church and, to a lesser extent, in the Malankara Orthodox Church. it is written in the Syriac alphabet.