Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of "Jewish" Languages

Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of Author: Paul Wexler
Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
ISBN: 9783447054041
Category : Hebrew language
Languages : en
Pages : 966

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Book Description
The present volume brings together 34 articles that were published between 1964 and 2003 on Judaized forms of Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (including Modern Hebrew and Yiddish, two Slavic languages "relexified" to Hebrew and German, respectively), Spanish and Semitic Hebrew (including Ladino - the Ibero-Romance relexification of Biblical Hebrew) and Karaite. The motivations for reissuing these articles are the convenience of having thematically similar topics appear together in the same venue and the need to update the interpretations, many of which have radically changed over the years. As explained in a lengthy new preface and in notes added to the articles themselves, the impetus to create strikingly unique Jewish ethnolects comes not so much from the creativity of the Jews but rather from non- Jewish converts to Judaism, in search (often via relexification) of a unique linguistic analogue to their new ethnoreligious identity. The volume should be of interest to students of relexification, of the Judaization of non-Jewish languages, and of these specific languages.

Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of "Jewish" Languages

Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of Author: Paul Wexler
Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
ISBN: 9783447054041
Category : Hebrew language
Languages : en
Pages : 966

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Book Description
The present volume brings together 34 articles that were published between 1964 and 2003 on Judaized forms of Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (including Modern Hebrew and Yiddish, two Slavic languages "relexified" to Hebrew and German, respectively), Spanish and Semitic Hebrew (including Ladino - the Ibero-Romance relexification of Biblical Hebrew) and Karaite. The motivations for reissuing these articles are the convenience of having thematically similar topics appear together in the same venue and the need to update the interpretations, many of which have radically changed over the years. As explained in a lengthy new preface and in notes added to the articles themselves, the impetus to create strikingly unique Jewish ethnolects comes not so much from the creativity of the Jews but rather from non- Jewish converts to Judaism, in search (often via relexification) of a unique linguistic analogue to their new ethnoreligious identity. The volume should be of interest to students of relexification, of the Judaization of non-Jewish languages, and of these specific languages.

Jewish Languages from A to Z

Jewish Languages from A to Z PDF Author: Aaron D. Rubin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351043439
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Jewish Languages from A to Z provides an engaging and enjoyable overview of the rich variety of languages spoken and written by Jews over the past three thousand years. The book covers more than 50 different languages and language varieties. These include not only well-known Jewish languages like Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino, but also more exotic languages like Chinese, Esperanto, Malayalam, and Zulu, all of which have a fascinating Jewish story to be told. Each chapter presents the special features of the language variety in question, a discussion of the history of the associated Jewish community, and some examples of literature and other texts produced in it. The book thus takes readers on a stimulating voyage around the Jewish world, from ancient Babylonia to 21st-century New York, via such diverse locations as Tajikistan, South Africa, and the Caribbean. The chapters are accompanied by numerous full-colour photographs of the literary treasures produced by Jewish language-speaking communities, from ancient stone inscriptions to medieval illuminated manuscripts to contemporary novels and newspapers. This comprehensive survey of Jewish languages is designed to be accessible to all readers with an interest in languages or history, regardless of their background—no prior knowledge of linguistics or Jewish history is assumed.

Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages

Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages PDF Author: Joshua A. Fishman
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN: 9789004072374
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description


Handbook of Jewish Languages

Handbook of Jewish Languages PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004359540
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 780

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Book Description
This handbook, the first of its kind, includes descriptions of the ancient and modern Jewish languages other than Hebrew, including historical and linguistic overviews, numerous text samples, and comprehensive bibliographies.

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective PDF Author: Lily Kahn
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004376585
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective is devoted to the diverse array of spoken and written language varieties that have been employed by Jews in the Diaspora from antiquity until the twenty-first century. It focuses on the following five key themes: Jewish languages in dialogue with sacred Jewish texts, Jewish languages in contact with the co-territorial non-Jewish languages, Jewish vernacular traditions, the status of Jewish languages in the twenty-first century, and theoretical issues relating to Jewish language research. This volume includes case studies on a wide range of Jewish languages both historical and modern and devotes attention to lesser known varieties such as Jewish Berber, Judeo-Italian, and Karaim in addition to the more familiar Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino. "On top of Brill’s Journal of Jewish Languages and a number of recent publications providing systematic overviews of Jewish languages as well as related theoretical discussions, this volume is a valuable addition to the increasing interest in Jewish languages and linguistics." -Wout van Bekkum, Groningen, Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXVI 3-4 (2019)

The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews

The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews PDF Author: Paul Wexler
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 9781438423937
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
The author uses linguistic, ethnographic, and historical evidence to support his theory that the origins of Sephardic Jews are predominantly Berber and Arab.

History of the Yiddish Language

History of the Yiddish Language PDF Author: Max Weinreich
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300109603
Category : Yiddish language
Languages : en
Pages : 1743

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Book Description
Max Weinreich’s History of the Yiddish Language is a classic of Yiddish scholarship and is the only comprehensive scholarly account of the Yiddish language from its origin to the present. A monumental, definitive work, History of the Yiddish Language demonstrates the integrity of Yiddish as a language, its evolution from other languages, its unique properties, and its versatility and range in both spoken and written form. Originally published in 1973 in Yiddish by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and partially translated in 1980, it is now being published in full in English for the first time. In addition to his text, Weinreich’s copious references and footnotes are also included in this two-volume set.

Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures

Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures PDF Author: Anita Norich
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472053019
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
This collection of essays brings to Jewish Language Studies the conceptual frameworks that have become increasingly important to Jewish Studies more generally: transnationalism, multiculturalism, globalization, hybrid cultures, multilingualism, and interlingual contexts. Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures collects work from prominent scholars in the field, bringing world literary and linguistic perspectives to generate distinctively new historical, cultural, theoretical, and scientific approaches to this topic of ongoing interest. Chapters of this edited volume consider from multiple angles the cultural politics of myths, fantasies, and anxieties of linguistic multiplicity in the history, cultures, folkways, and politics of global Jewry. Methodological range is as important to this project as linguistic range. Thus, in addition to approaches that highlight influence, borrowings, or acculturation, the volume represents those that highlight syncretism, the material conditions of Jewish life, and comparatist perspectives.

The Languages of the Jews

The Languages of the Jews PDF Author: Bernard Spolsky
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110705544X
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
A vivid commentary on Jewish survival and Jewish speech communities, investigating difficult questions about language varieties and choices.

German as a Jewish Problem

German as a Jewish Problem PDF Author: Marc Volovici
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503613100
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
The German language holds an ambivalent and controversial place in the modern history of European Jews, representing different—often conflicting—historical currents. It was the language of the German classics, of German Jewish writers and scientists, of Central European Jewish culture, and of Herzl and the Zionist movement. But it was also the language of Hitler, Goebbels, and the German guards in Nazi concentration camps. The crucial role of German in the formation of Jewish national culture and politics in the late nineteenth century has been largely overshadowed by the catastrophic events that befell Jews under Nazi rule. German as a Jewish Problem tells the Jewish history of the German language, focusing on Jewish national movements in Central and Eastern Europe and Palestine/Israel. Marc Volovici considers key writers and activists whose work reflected the multilingual nature of the Jewish national sphere and the centrality of the German language within it, and argues that it is impossible to understand the histories of modern Hebrew and Yiddish without situating them in relation to German. This book offers a new understanding of the language problem in modern Jewish history, turning to German to illuminate the questions and dilemmas that largely defined the experience of European Jews in the age of nationalism.