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Abstract
Sometimes, in the Commedia dell’arte, Jewish characters who speak Judeo-Italian appear on the stage, revealing a strong intention on the part of non-Jewish authors to mimic the language spoken by contemporary Jews. Therefore, the study of these external sources is very useful to enrich our knowledge of the Judeo-Italian of the early modern period. In this article I will present the scena all’ebraica of the comedy Novantanove Disgrazie di Pulcinella (Rome 1769) by Gregorio Mancinelli. The text, published here in its entirety for the first time, will be preceded by an introduction and accompanied by an English translation and an analysis of the language and contents.
Abstract
Although few linguistic corpora are available in Yiddish, there are numerous sources of so-called “found data” that can be adapted for language research, pedagogy, and resource development. We describe the steps taken to create the first speech synthesis (text-to-speech) program in Yiddish. A state-of-the-art TTS model, FastSpeech 2, was trained on a hand-corrected data set consisting of literary texts paired with audio narrations by native speakers of the Polish and Lithuanian dialects. A quantitative evaluation by listeners found that the system produced speech that was both intelligible and natural-sounding. To demonstrate the system’s applications for language pedagogy, we offer a qualitative evaluation of Yiddish phonological features that are present or absent in a sample of synthesized recordings. We hope that the success of speech synthesis in Yiddish will inspire future projects to enable technological support for other minority languages in which transcribed recordings are available.
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.
Abstract
In this short article we publish, with translations, a macaronic Hebrew cum Middle Greek religious poem, accompanied by a refrain in Ottoman Turkish, all written in Hebrew characters and fully vocalized. The text comes from a Karaite prayerbook printed in Venice in 1528 on behalf of the Constantinople Karaite community. This poem and its origins played a role in different manipulations of Karaite identities and history during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Abstract
Arabic contrasts with the rest of Semitic by the widespread use of “deflected agreement,” i.e., f.sg. agreement with plural controllers. Given the lower frequency of the phenomenon in earlier texts as compared to later ones, it is commonly considered to be an innovation of Arabic. However, as shown in our detailed literature review, a satisfactory account of how “deflected agreement” emerged/grammaticalized is still missing. The present article aims to fill this lacuna. Based on the first part of this paper (2021), I continue to exploit the diachronic implications of an agreement hierarchy-based approach to Qurʾānic Arabic, however focusing on inanimate controllers and adding more variables to the analysis (e.g., word order, plural formation, actual distance). It is suggested that deflected agreement arose sometime prior to the sixth century CE, through the reinterpretation and reanalysis of an ambiguous use of number-neutralized feminine agreement in VSO verbs (and other pre-controller targets) with inanimate masculine broken plural subjects/controllers, and that it then spread to the post-controller domain.
Abstract
Egyptian and Sudanese authors originating from Nubia have for decades produced a minority literature that can be described as Nubian literature – even though not all Nubian authors identify with this label, and some national intellectuals do not appreciate it. Nubian authors such as Ḥajjāj Uddūl, Yaḥyā Mukhtār and Aḥmad al-Malik write fiction in Arabic, the majority language of both Egypt and Sudan, but they often refer to their own cultural background, and they also address issues that are directly related to their social and political experiences as Nubians. Among the features shared by these authors, the omnipresence of the Nile is essential. This article focuses on the different representations of the Nile in Nubian literature, in its cultural as well as its social and political dimensions.
المُستَخْلَص
يهدف هذا المقال إلى تسليط الضَّوء على أحد أقدم نصوص التَّراجم التي أُفرِدَت للنّساء في التاريخ الإسلاميّ، وهو ذِكْر النِّسوة المتعبِّدات الصّوفيّات لشيخ التصوُّف في نيسابور أبي عبد الرَّحمن السُّلَمي (ت. 412/1021)، وذلك من خلال إجراء معاينة ذاتِ محورين اثنين: الأول هو محور المعالجة التّحليليَّة لعناصر الخطاب المكوِّن لمجموعة التراجم بالاستناد إلى الطرح السيمانتيكيّ/الدّلاليّ الذي يعتمد على تناول بُنى الجُمَل المستعملة في تعريف الشّخصيات النِّسائيَّة وضمّه إلى معطيات وردت في مصادر أخرى لتشكيل فهمٍ أعمقَ لطبيعة الأدوار النسائية في أوساط الزهّاد والصُّوفية في القرن الهجريِّ الرّابع. أما المحور الثاني فيستند إلى مقارنة بُنية التراجم النِّسائية بين كلٍّ من نصّ السُّلَمي وكتاب صِفَة الصَّفوة لابن الجوزي (ت. 597/1200) الذي وُضع في القرن السّادس/الثّاني عشر. ومع أنَّ الورع النسائي في ذِكْر النِّسوة يبدو متشابهًا في خواصّه العامّة مع الورع الذّكوريّ المعاصر له؛ إلا أنَّ الممارسات التعبدية التي تكشفها تراجمُ النساء ما زالت تشي بسماتٍ وخواصَّ مميزة. وبالعدول إلى مقارنة خطاب التراجم النِّسائية لدى السُّلَمي وابن الجوزي نجد السُّلمي أكثرَ إصغاءً لأصوات النِّساء وأقلَّ حرصًا من ابن الجوزي على أن تعكس تراجمُهنّ ورعَ الذكور من معارفهنّ وأقاربهنّ. تعكس تراجمُ النساء في ذِكْر النِّسْوة الصورةَ التي اختطَّها السُّلمي ومعاصروه للنّساء اللَّواتي عشن في طور تاريخي سابق كما تعكس جوانبَ هامّةً من الورع النسائي المعاصر للسُّلمي وبخاصة في نيسابور، وهو ورع ارتبط وثيقا بشيء من الثراء أتاح للنساء تعهّد إخوانهنّ الفقراء والإنفاق عليهم. وقد أسهمت هذه الظاهرة في تعميق مفهوم الفقر الصوفي، وتغليب دلالته الباطنية على دلالته الفعليّة المباشرة.