USD $149.00
Browse results
Author:
Abstract
The article introduces the historical context of multilingual comedy by Greek writers of the early 19th century in Asia Minor, then an Ottoman realm. The author analyzes two passages from Erotomaniac Chatziaslanis and Monsieur Kozis containing Modern Greek dialects, Karamanlidika, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Turkish, and Judeo-Greek. The analysis shows that Jewish characters prefer to communicate in Judeo-Turkish. Both plays actively utilize (Jewish and non-Jewish) linguistic varieties for stereotyping and comedic purposes.
Author:
Abstract
The ever-increasing usage of Yiddish on American sitcoms and other comedic genres encompasses Jewish as well as non-Jewish characters. In this study I offer a metalinguistic analysis of how main or recurring fictional characters who are identified as non-Jewish employ Yiddish loanwords, intonation, and syntax (Yiddishisms) in American comedy television. I argue that Yiddishisms spoken by non-Jewish characters introduce three new tropes: the Yiddish Mask, the Yiddish Tourist, and the Yiddish Connector. In all three tropes, humor derives from the incongruence between the non-Jewish speaker and archetypes or stereotypes associated with speakers of Yiddish; however, the use of Yiddish within the Jewish linguistic repertoire also suggests a range of other semiotic meanings.
Author:
Abstract
The aim of this essay is to problematize the ontology of Judeo-Spanish qua language. First, I argue that its traditional conceptualization as an autonomous, self-contained language is predicated on a (flawed) classical ontological framework that relies on so-called ‘named languages theory.’ Second, I contend that a more enlightened understanding of Judeo-Spanish as a linguistic phenomenon necessitates a paradigm shift toward a hauntological framework consistent with theoretical models such as translanguaging and revivalistics. I conclude that Judeo-Spanish is best understood as an ensemble of the only partially overlapping idiolects of people who share a common Sephardi cultural/ethnic identity and who manage to communicate with reasonable success. Third, I discuss the momentous implications of this shift in three domains: linguistics, minority rights, and education.
Author:
Abstract
Semitic agreement is normally discontinuous (i.e. expressed by more than one affix on the verb) only in the second and third persons. However, in restricted cases in particular languages, first person agreement is also discontinuous. I discuss two types of first person discontinuities. The first manifests the hallmarks of a meta split, persisting across paradigms and exponents. I argue that this type of first person discontinuity arises due to postsyntactic Fission which separates antagonistic sets of features prior to insertion and which is driven by markedness constraints on feature coexponence. The second type of first person discontinuity is restricted to a single paradigm and does not evince true discontinuous bleeding effects. Such discontinuities are best captured via morphological Doubling, modeled via Generalized Reduplication. First person discontinuities thus provide strong empirical support for the autonomy of morpheme splitting rules and morpheme copying rules. I demonstrate that each type of rule has a distinct empirical signature and acts as a repair to a different kind of morphotactic constraint. Consequently, there must be more than one route to discontinuous agreement.
Author:
Abstract
How can we tell whether an agreement feature will end up as a prefix, a suffix, or a combination of exponents? Research on Afroasiatic languages has identified a number of asymmetries which can be found between prefixes and suffixes. This short review considers these asymmetries, points out three cross-Semitic generalizations, and outlines the possible sources for them. Four kinds of theoretical explanations are evaluated: Syntactic, Morphological, Morphotactic and Morphophonological.
Author:
Abstract
This article re-evaluates the status of the Stative paradigm in Akkadian, the language’s only exclusively suffixing paradigm, and argues in favour of a verbal classification on the basis of the possible medialisation of its attested forms. The Stative denotes the state persisting following a perfective-associated event. Thereby, two kinds of Statives are known: a verbal Stative and a nominal Stative. While the root of verbal Statives is mapped onto a Verbal Adjectival base template, the nominal Stative uses either a noun or an adjective’s stem as its base. To the respective bases both forms add the same distinct set of suffixes. Re-evaluating the morphological make-up of the form as well as its semantic connotation, this article proposes a new paradigmatic split between root-derived (verbal) and stem-derived (nominal) Stative forms and adduces previously disregarded evidence for medialisation of both verbal and nominal Statives as the main argument in favour of a verbal interpretation.
A Description and Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Variation
Author:
This work focuses the social context of writing in ancient Western Arabia in the oasis of ancient Dadan, modern-day al-ʿUlā in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula between the sixth to first centuries BC. It offers a description and analysis of the language of the inscriptions and the variation attested within them. It is the first work to perform a systematic study of the linguistic variation of the Dadanitic inscriptions. It combines a thorough description of the language of the inscriptions with a statistical analysis of the distribution of variation across different textual genres and manners of inscribing. By considering correlations between language-internal and extralinguistic features this analysis aims to take a more holistic approach to the epigraphic object. Through this approach an image of a rich writing culture emerges, in which we can see innovation as well as the deliberate use of archaic linguistic features in more formal text types.
A Description and Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Variation
Author:
This work focuses the social context of writing in ancient Western Arabia in the oasis of ancient Dadan, modern-day al-ʿUlā in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula between the sixth to first centuries BC. It offers a description and analysis of the language of the inscriptions and the variation attested within them. It is the first work to perform a systematic study of the linguistic variation of the Dadanitic inscriptions. It combines a thorough description of the language of the inscriptions with a statistical analysis of the distribution of variation across different textual genres and manners of inscribing. By considering correlations between language-internal and extralinguistic features this analysis aims to take a more holistic approach to the epigraphic object. Through this approach an image of a rich writing culture emerges, in which we can see innovation as well as the deliberate use of archaic linguistic features in more formal text types.
Author:
Abstract
Two secret languages used in Tashlhiyt Berber are reported in work by Douchaïna (1996, 1998) and Lahrouchi & Ségéral (2009, 2010ab): Tagnawt and Taqjmit. I propose that they should both be analyzed as instances of prosodic morphology, employing the same prosodic morpheme [L.LL.L]. Prosodic morphemes are common in the regular morphology of Tashlhiyt: the prosodic foot [LL] for the imperfective and Tifrdi, the prosodic word [H.H] for Ukris, and [L.H.L] for Tirrugza, Abnakli and Azddayru (Jebbour 1999, Dell & Elmedlaoui 1992). The prosodic shape [L.LL.L] of the secret languages fills out the paradigm as a variant of [L.H.L], which appears marginally in the secret languages. The shapes [L.LL.L] and [L.H.L] are found also in Tashlhiyt verse metrics, where they form a natural class of verse feet, alternating with the anapest [LL.H] (Dell & Elmedlaoui 2008, Riad 2017). Based in part on the striking shape parallels in Tashlhiyt, I argue that there is an organic connection between prosodic morphemes and the prosodic categories employed in verse. Furthermore, the simultaneous prosodic structures that we find in verse metrics—regular prosody and meter—are applicable also to prosodic morphology, particularly clearly so in root-and-pattern formations.