Featured Resources
- Ma'agarim - Historical Dictionary Project The Historical Dictionary Project has accumulated texts of all the extant Hebrew compositions from the time of the canonization of the Hebrew Bible until the end of the Geonic period, and large selections of Hebrew literature from the mid-18-th century until the founding of the State of Israel. In recent years medieval compositions have begun to be processed into the database.
- Jewish Language Research Website Throughout the world, wherever Jews have lived, they have spoken and/or written differently from the non-Jews around them. Their languages have differed by as little as a few embedded Hebrew words or by as much as a highly variant grammar. A good deal of research has been devoted to a number of Jewish languages, including Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Italian, Jewish English, and Jewish Neo-Aramaic. This website displays information about several Jewish languages and about some of the researchers who have written about them.
Reading Hebrew: the language and the psychology of reading it by
Over the last two decades, the study of languages and writing systems and their relationship to literacy acquisition has begun to spread beyond studies based mostly on English language learners. As the worldwide demand for literacy continues to grow, researchers from different countries with different language backgrounds have begun examining the connection between their language and writing system and literacy acquisition. This volume is part of this new, emerging field of research. In addition to reviewing psychological research on reading (the author's specialty), the reader is introduced to the Hebrew language: its structure, its history, its writing system, and the issues involved in being fluently literate in Hebrew. Chapters 1-4introduce the reader to the Hebrew language and word structure and focuses on aspects of Hebrew that have been specifically researched by experimental cognitive psychologists. The reader whose only interest is in the psychological mechanisms of reading Hebrew may be satisfied with these chapters. Chapters 5-8briefly surveys the history of the Hebrew language and its writing system, the origin of literacy in Hebrew as one of the first alphabetic systems, and then raises questions about the viability (or possibility) of having full-scale literacy in Hebrew. Together, the two sets of chapters present the necessary background for studying the psychology of reading Hebrew and literacy in Hebrew. This volume is appropriate for anyone interested in comparative reading and writing systems or in the Hebrew language in particular. This includes linguists, researchers, and graduate students in such diverse fields as cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, literacy education, English as a second language, and communication disorders.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2005
Language History & Linguistics
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The Story of Hebrew by
A unique history of the Hebrew language from biblical times to the modern Jewish state This book explores the extraordinary hold that Hebrew has had on Jews and Christians, who have invested it with a symbolic power far beyond that of any other language in history. Preserved by the Jews across two millennia, Hebrew endured long after it ceased to be a mother tongue, resulting in one of the most intense textual cultures ever known. It was a bridge to Greek and Arab science. It unlocked the biblical sources for Jerome and the Reformation. Kabbalists and humanists sought philosophical truth in it, and Colonial Americans used it to shape their own Israelite political identity. Today, it is the first language of millions of Israelis. The Story of Hebrew takes readers from the opening verses of Genesis--which seemingly describe the creation of Hebrew itself--to the reincarnation of Hebrew as the everyday language of the Jewish state. Lewis Glinert explains the uses and meanings of Hebrew in ancient Israel and its role as a medium for wisdom and prayer. He describes the early rabbis' preservation of Hebrew following the Babylonian exile, the challenges posed by Arabic, and the prolific use of Hebrew in Diaspora art, spirituality, and science. Glinert looks at the conflicted relationship Christians had with Hebrew from the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation, the language's fatal rivalry with Yiddish, the dreamers and schemers that made modern Hebrew a reality, and how a lost pre-Holocaust textual ethos is being renewed today by Orthodox Jews. A major work of scholarship, The Story of Hebrew is an unforgettable account of what one language has meant to those possessing it.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2017
The Word: the dictionary that reveals the Hebrew sources of English by
Proves that English words can be traced back to the universal, original language, Biblical Hebrew. This book features data suggesting that the roots of all human words are universal and that words have related synonyms and antonyms that must have been intelligently designed. It contains 22,000 English-Hebrew links that provide surprising evidence.
Location: Mugar Reference X PE1582.H4 M69 2000Publication Date: 2000
A Social History of Hebrew : its origins through the Rabbinic period by
More than simply a method of communication shared by a common people, the Hebrew language was always an integral part of the Jewish cultural system and, as such, tightly interwoven into the lives of the prophets, poets, scribes, and priests who used it. In this unique social history, William Schniedewind examines classical Hebrew from its origins in the second millennium BCE until the Rabbinic period, when the principles of Judaism as we know it today were formulated, to view the story of the Israelites through the lens of their language. Considering classical Hebrew from the standpoint of a writing system as opposed to vernacular speech, Schniedewind demonstrates how the Israelites' long history of migration, war, exile, and other momentous events is reflected in Hebrew's linguistic evolution. An excellent addition to the fields of biblical and Middle Eastern studies, this fascinating work brings linguistics and social history together for the first time to explore an ancient culture.
Location: Mugar Stacks PJ4545 .S434 2013 and OnlinePublication Date: 2013
Language in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding by
This book argues that the usage of language in Jewish societies can be understood as following from certain specific principles, particularly regarding the relationship between language and identity. Phenomena discussed include the revival of Hebrew, Hebrew in the Diaspora, the survival and 'sanctification' of Yiddish, the idea of 'Jewish languages', and the role of sociolinguistic phenomena in the Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2004
Linguistics Encyclopedias
- Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics This link opens in a new window The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online offers a systematic treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics by Location: Mugar Memorial Library Reference X (P29 .E48 2006 )Publication Date: 2005These 4 volumes contain articles on central linguistic themes, their related concepts and relationships with other disciplines. They intend to be authoritative, comprehensive and international in scope, while appealing to an academic audience. There is an alphabetic list of the articles; the longer entries are signed and followed by bibliographies.
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics by Location: Mugar Memorial Library Reference X (P29 .I58 2003)Publication Date: 2003The goal of this source is to present articles on the full range of linguistic disciplines (applied, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc.) and their inter-relationships, as well as their intersections with other disciplines.
