The Assyrian Prof. Efrem Yildiz at the Salamanca University, answers the question whether the ancient Assyrians took the Aramaic alphabet or the entire language, and if so for what reason. He says the term ”Aramaic Language” was invented by Western orientalists as a reference to the biblical Aramaic. The Assyrian kings usually replaced different peoples from their lands of origin to the heartland of Assyria, so even Aramean tribes were brought to Assyria. Since those brought with them an alphabet of 22 letters (originally of the Fenicians), this paved the way for the Assyrians to gradually adapt it. Under a period of 200 years from the 8th century B.C, the Assyrian language mixed with the Aramean. The result became Suraya or Suryoyo, he says. But our ethnic Assyrian identity has never been the identity of the language we are speaking. It was the Westerners who started using the term Aramaic language and the Assyrian people unfortunately tends to rely more on foreign scholars than their domestic ones, he adds.
As to how to make Assyrian Diaspora generations bilingual and proud of their Assyrian heritage, the parents have a big task. Even ancient Assyrians were bilingual during 200 years when they used both Akkadian-Assyrian and Aramean, he concludes.