Linguistic And Cultural Studies In Aramaic And Arabic

This is a Festschrift for Professor Moshe Piamenta, a great linguist, scholar and researcher, who has contributed to the field of Arabic and Hebrew language and culture for more than six decades. The book is divided into two parts: studies on Arabic and Hebrew, concerning aspects of both the dialects and literary register of Arabic, including lexicological issues. Part II deals with culture as manifest in Jerusalem.Part I: H. Amit Kokhavi, Introducing Register Competence into Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language in Israeli Hebrew-Speaking SchoolsP. Behnstedt, Notes on the Arabic Dialects of Eastern North-Yemen (ilGawf, Sirwah, Marib, Bani Dabyan)J. Blau, Theory and Practice in Middle Arabic: Two Cases of Deficient Self-KnowledgeFurther articles by: A. Borg, O. Jastrow, M. Nevo, Y. Ratzaby, J. Rosenhouse, H. Shehadeh, A. Shivtiel, S. Shrayboym-Shivtiel, and R. TalmonPart II: M. Maoz, Jerusalem in the Modern Era: Political and Social ChangesA. Cohen, A Tale of Two Women: A Jewish Endowment in the 19th Century JerusalemFurther articles by: A. Elad-Bouskila, and R. Sni

Essays by 33 colleagues, friends, and students of the Johns Hopkins University Arabist and linguist. Topics include (1) humanism, culture, and literature; (2) Arabic; (3) Aramaic; and (4) Afroasiatic.

The aim of this enterprise is to assemble together in one volume works on various syntactic aspects of Arabic and Hebrew, in the hope that it will spur further comparative work within the Semitic family at the level of richness achieved in other language families such as Germanic and Romance. Although a substantial amount of work on the syntax of Arabic and Hebrew already exists in various forms, volumes of the type we have attempted are still practically non-existent. Moreover, apart from some notable exceptions, existing studies rarely take a systematic within-family comparative stance towards the phenomena they discuss, although cross-references between studies on Arabic and Hebrew are not uncommon. Obviously, we would ideally have preferred the volume to include papers on numerous other Semitic languages, including the languages of the Ethio Semitic branch as well as numerous spoken varieties of Arabic that have yet to be explored. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to circumstances beyond our control. We very much hope that the existence of this volume will make more inclusive volumes on the syntax of the Semitic languages only a matter of time.

Language and Identity in the Arab World explores the inextricable link between language and identity, referring particularly to the Arab world. Spanning Indonesia to the United States, the Arab world is here imagined as a continually changing one, with the Arab diaspora asserting its linguistic identity across the world. Crucial questions on transforming linguistic landscapes, the role and implications of migration, and the impact of technology on language use are explored by established and emerging scholars in the field of applied and socio-linguistics. The book asks such crucial questions as how language contact affects or transforms identity, how language reflects changing identities among migrant communities, and how language choices contribute to identity construction in social media. As well as appreciating the breadth and scope of the Arab world, this anthology focuses on the transformative role of language within indigenous and migrant communities as they negotiate between their heritage languages and those spoken by the wider society. Investigating the ways in which identity continues to be imagined and re-constructed in and among Arab communities, this book is indispensable to students, teachers, and anyone who is interested in language contact, linguistic landscapes, and minority language retention as well as the intersections of language and technology.

Aramaic is a constant thread running through the various civilizations of the Near East, ancient and modern, from 1000 BCE to the present, and has been the language of small principalities, world empires, and a fair share of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Holger Gzella describes its cultural and linguistic history as a continuous evolution from its beginnings to the advent of Islam. For the first time the individual phases of the language, their socio-historical underpinnings, and the textual sources are discussed comprehensively in light of the latest linguistic and historical research and with ample attention to scribal traditions, multilingualism, and language as a marker of cultural self-awareness. Many new observations on Aramaic are thereby integrated into a coherent historical framework.