Hebrew in its West Semitic Setting. A Comparative Survey of Non-Masoretic Hebrew Dialects and Traditions. Part 2. Phonetics and Phonology; Part 3. Morphosyntactics


Book Description

This work is a comprehensive survey of non-Masoretic Hebrew dialects and traditions against the background of the related, primarily other West Semitic lanugages, but also the less close East and South Semitic and non-Semitic branches of the Semito-Hamitic phylum are taken into account. The previously published Part One contains Hebrew and comparative lexical material. Part Two contains a systematic phonetic and phonological discussion including an historical survey. Part Three contains a discussion of morphological and syntactical aspects as well as a comprehensive statistical synopsis of the entire language structure compared with selected related languages.




The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought


Book Description

One of the earliest Karaite grammatical texts that have come down to us from the Middle Ages, is the Diqduq, by ’Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf ibn Nūḥ, of Jerusalem. It is a grammatical commentary on the Hebrew Bible. This volume presents a critical edition of a large section of that Hebrew grammatical text, together with an annotated English translation and a detailed analysis of its contents. The analysis concerns the tradition of Hebrew grammatical thought that was developed in the Middle Ages by grammarians belonging to the Karaite movement of Judaism. The work is an important contribution to the study of the history of Hebrew grammar and to the study of medieval Jewish thought in general. It brings to light, for the first time, one of the major Hebrew grammatical texts from the tenth century, which predates most of the works of the Spanish school of Hebrew grammar.




Hebrew in its West Semitic Setting. A Comparative Survey of Non-Masoretic Hebrew Dialects and Traditions. Part 1. A Comparative Lexicon


Book Description

Preliminary Material /A. MURTONEN -- FOREWORD /A. MURTONEN -- GENERAL INTRODUCTION /A. MURTONEN -- PROVISIONAL LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS /A. MURTONEN -- BIBLIOGRAPHY to Section A /A. MURTONEN -- TRANSLITERATION KEY /A. MURTONEN -- INTRODUCTION TO SECTION A: SECTIONAL SYNOPSIS AND COMMENTS ON THE NAME LIST /A. MURTONEN -- THE LIST OF NAMES /A. MURTONEN.




The Phonological Structure of the Verbal Roots in Arabic and Hebrew


Book Description

This book contains an investigation of the co-occurrence between the consonants in the triliteral and quadriliteral verbal roots of Arabic and Hebrew. The consonants are grouped on the basis of Manner or of Place. Both co-occurrence restrictions and co-occurrence preferences of consonants and of consonant groups are described in detail. The statistical test for pronomial proportions is used in order to determine the statistical significance of the results. These results are compared to those of earlier work by other authors on this subject. The findings are explained within the framework of generative phonology. The methods used are described in detail and the book contains a wealth of tabulated material which can be of great use to other investigators.




The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja


Book Description

This volume contains a detailed grammatical description of the spoken Aramaic dialect of the Jewish communities in the towns of Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja in North Eastern Iraq. It also includes a transcription of oral texts recorded in the dialect. The grammar is based on extensive fieldwork carried out among native speakers. It consists of sections on phonology, morphology and syntax. There is also a study of semantic fields in the lexicon of the dialect and full glossaries of lexical items. This Aramaic dialect, which belongs to the North Eastern Neo-Aramaic group, has never been described before. The Jewish communities left Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja in the 1950s and the dialect is now on the verge of extinction.




The Development of the Syntax of Post-Biblical Hebrew


Book Description

This volume is concerned with a historical development of the syntax of Hebrew in the post-biblical periods, more specifically from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries as used in non-artistic prose in Southern France and Spain, a period in which the language underwent some fundamental changes and developments. With his superb knowledge of all phases of Hebrew the author portrays and analyses these developments in relation to Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew. This is a highly original and important contribution to a diachronic description of Hebrew syntax, and undoubtedly a necessary reading for any serious Hebraist and Semitist.




The Verbal System in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sira


Book Description

This volume is a revised and enlarged version of the author's Ph.D. dissertation (1999). It gives a comprehensive analysis of the morphosyntax and syntax of the tenses in the Hebrew text of Ben Sira. Due attention is paid to the heterogeneous character of the textual evidence (three manuscripts from the Desert of Judah and six mediaeval manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza), which complicates any linguistic study of Ben Sira. A descriptive analysis is complemented by a comparison with other contemporaneous, earlier, and later forms of Hebrew. It is argued that the Hebrew of Ben Sira is a literary language in its own right, rather than an imitation of Biblical Hebrew or a predecessor of Mishnaic Hebrew.




Comparative Semitic Philology in the Middle Ages


Book Description

This volume deals with medieval comparative Semitic philology (Hebrew/Aramaic/Arabic) as practised by Hebrew philologists in the Arabic speaking lands, from Iraq to Spain, discussing its development through the generations, its technics and its theoretical basis. This research is based upon an analysis of over ten thousand occurrences of comparisons in linguistic works, biblical commentaries and the like, made by fourteen Hebrew scholars from the 10th-12th centuries CE, among them Saʿadiah Gaon, Judah b. Quraysh, David b. Abraham Alfasi, Jonah b. Janah and Isaac b. Barūn. Several aspects of this comparisons are presented and studied here for the first time.




The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh


Book Description

Containing a detailed grammatical description of the spoken Aramaic dialect of the Christian community in the town of Qaraqosh, which lies on the Mosul plain in Northern Iraq, this volume also includes a transcription of oral texts recorded in the dialect. The grammar is based on extensive fieldwork carried out among native speakers. It consists of sections on phonology, morphology and syntax. There is also a study of semantic fields in the lexicon of the dialect and full glossaries of lexical items. This Aramaic dialect has never been described before. It is one of the most archaic dialects in group known as North Eastern Neo-Aramaic that contains many features that have not been found in other dialects. These include several lexical elements that are not found in earlier literary Aramaic but can be traced back to Akkadian and Sumerian. Knowledge of the dialect is now being lost among the younger generations, so this volume is an important linguistic record.




Approaches to Arabic Dialects


Book Description

This volume brings together 22 contributions to the study of Arabic dialects, from the Maghreb to Iraq by authors, who are all well-known for their work in this field. It underscores the importance of different theoretical approaches to the study of dialects, developing new frameworks for the study of variation and change in the dialects, while presenting new data on dialects (e.g., of Jaffa, Southern Sinai, Nigeria, South Morocco and Mosul) and cross-dialectal comparisons (e.g., on the feminine gender and on relative clauses). This collection is presented to Manfred Woidich, one of the most eminent scholars in the field of Arabic dialectology.




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