The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally written is known as Mandaic, and is a member of the Aramaic family of dialects. It is written in a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellory script. The majority of Mandaean lay people do not speak this language. Some members of the Mandaean community in Iran ( about 300-500 out of a total of ca. 5000 Iranian Mandaeans) continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.