Aaron D. Rubin | |
---|---|
Born | June 30, 1976 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization (2004) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Linguist |
Sub-discipline | Semitic languages,Jewish languages |
Aaron David Rubin (born June 30,1976) is an American linguistics researcher. He is currently the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at The University of Georgia. From 2004 to 2023 he was Malvin and Lea Bank Professor of Classics &Ancient Mediterranean Studies,Jewish Studies,and Linguistics at Penn State University. [1] [2] His main area of study is the Semitic language family,focusing on Hebrew,Arabic,Aramaic,and the modern languages of Southern Arabia,especially Mehri and Jibbali. He has also worked extensively on non-Semitic Jewish languages,as well as on Hebrew and Jewish manuscripts. At Penn State,he has taught numerous language courses (on Hebrew,Arabic,Aramaic,and Yiddish),as well lecture courses on the Bible,Jewish and Ancient Near Eastern literature,and the history of writing systems. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. [3]
Rubin received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania (1998,1999),and Ph.D. degree in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard University (2004). His M.A. thesis was titled "An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of Egyptian and Semitic", [4] and his PhD dissertation was titled "Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization". [5]
Some of Rubin's most significant contributions to the field of Semitics have been focused on the Modern South Arabian languages of Oman. His books,The Mehri Language of Oman (2010) and The Jibbali (Shaḥri) Language of Oman:Grammar and Texts (2014),were both the first grammars of those languages. The latter volume also included many texts,which were the first Jibbali texts published in over a century. His 2010 grammar of Mehri has been superseded by his Omani Mehri:A New Grammar with Texts (2018),which also includes over 100 texts. In addition to his grammars,he has published numerous articles on the Modern South Arabian languages. [6]
In 2016,Rubin co-edited (with Lily Kahn) the Handbook of Jewish Languages. It includes descriptions of around 25 different Jewish languages,some of which (such as Israeli Amharic,Jewish Russian,and Jewish Malayalam) had been the subject of little to no previously published scholarship. Rubin's contribution on Judeo-Italian is the most comprehensive reference available on that language. Rubin and Kahn also wrote Jewish Languages from A to Z (2020),including chapters on more than 40 different languages,and aimed at a more general audience. Rubin has also published the first work on Judeo-Urdu,namely,an edition and study of a 19th-century Hebrew–Urdu glossary,all written in Hebrew characters.[ citation needed ]
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic,Amharic,Hebrew,and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia,the Horn of Africa,and latterly North Africa,Malta,West Africa,Chad,and in large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America,Europe,and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history,who derived the name from Shem,one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.
Ugaritic is an extinct Northwest Semitic language,classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologists in 1929 at Ugarit,including several major literary texts,notably the Baal cycle. It has been used by scholars of the Hebrew Bible to clarify Biblical Hebrew texts and has revealed ways in which the cultures of ancient Israel and Judah found parallels in the neighboring cultures.
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities in the diaspora. The original Jewish language is Hebrew,supplanted as the primary vernacular by Aramaic following the Babylonian exile. Jewish languages feature a syncretism of Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic with the languages of the local non-Jewish population.
Judeo-Arabic dialects are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes,Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb,encompassing four languages:Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju),Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye),Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (yhd),and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).
Judeo-Berber or Judeo-Amazigh is any of several hybrid Berber varieties traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco,and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is a contact language;the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic. Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area,these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of š as s.
Judeo-Tat or Juhuri is the traditional language of the Mountain Jews of the eastern Caucasus Mountains,especially Azerbaijan and Dagestan,now mainly spoken in Israel.
Judeo-Marathi is a variety of Marathi spoken by the Bene Israel,a Jewish ethnic group in Maharashtra. There is no evidence that Judeo-Marathi substantially differed from other forms of Marathi. However,there are several manuscripts of Jewish texts written in Marathi using Devanagari or Hebrew script. For instance,a Haggadah from 1911 contains Hebrew written in Devanagari,and a prayer book with instructions in Marathi written in the Hebrew script. In 2011,a Marathi-Hebrew text titled Poona Haggadah,was found in Salford. The 137-year-old book,which was used by the Bene-Israel community,was discovered by historian Yaakov Wise.
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs),also known as Eastern South Semitic languages,are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula,in Yemen and Oman,and Socotra Island. Together with the modern Ethiopian Semitic languages,the Western branch,they form the South Semitic sub-branch of the Afroasiatic language family's Semitic branch.
Baṭḥari is an Afro-Asiatic language of Oman,located on the southeast coast facing the Khuriya Muriya Islands. The language is very similar to Mehri and some members of the Bathari tribe speak Mehri instead of Bathari.
Mehri or Mahri is the most spoken of the Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs),a subgroup of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is spoken by the Mehri tribes,who inhabit isolated areas of the eastern part of Yemen,western Oman,particularly the Al Mahrah Governorate,with a small number in Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni and Omani borders. Up to the 19th century,speakers lived as far north as the central part of Oman.
Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite in the Middle Bronze Age. The oldest coherent texts are in Ugaritic,dating to the Late Bronze Age,which by the time of the Bronze Age collapse are joined by Old Aramaic,and by the Iron Age by Sutean and the Canaanite languages.
Hobyót is one of the six Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL),a group of South Semitic languages spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula. A severely-endangered Semitic language on the verge of extinction,it is spoken in a small area between Yemen and neighboring Oman. The speaking population is estimated to be about 1000 in Oman and 40 in Yemen,though the true number may be less.
Shehri,,also known as Jibbali,is a Modern South Arabian language. It is spoken by a small native population inhabiting the coastal towns and the mountains and wilderness areas upland from Salalah,located in the Dhofar Governorate in southwestern Oman.
The Judeo-Iranian languages are a number of related Jewish variants of Iranian languages spoken throughout the formerly extensive realm of the Persian Empire. Judeo-Iranian dialects are generally conservative in comparison with those of their Muslim neighbours. Judeo-Shirazi,for example,remains close to the language of Hafez.
Geoffrey Allan Khan FBA is a British linguist who has held the post of Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge since 2012. He has published grammars for the Aramaic dialects of Barwari,Qaraqosh,Erbil,Sulaymaniyah and Halabja in Iraq;of Urmia and Sanandaj in Iran;and leads the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic DatabaseArchived 8 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
Paul Wexler is an American-born Israeli linguist,and Professor Emeritus of linguistics at Tel Aviv University. His research fields include historical linguistics,bilingualism,Slavic linguistics,creole linguistics,Romani and Jewish languages.
Gary A. Rendsburg is a professor of biblical studies,Hebrew language,and ancient Judaism at Rutgers University in New Brunswick,New Jersey. He holds the rank of Distinguished Professor and serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair of Jewish History at Rutgers University (2004–present),with positions in the Department of Jewish Studies and the Department of History.
Comparative Semitics is a field of comparative linguistics and philology concerning the Semitic languages. While existing as a field of study in and of itself,comparative studies in Semitic languages are often taught as part of individual language curricula,or as part of theological language studies.
Judeo-Urdu was a dialect of the Hindustani language,spoken by the Baghdadi Jews in the Indian subcontinent living in the areas of Bombay and Calcutta towards the end of the 18th century. It is a dialect which was written in the Hebrew script,and found to be utilised for a number of pieces of literature,such as Inder Sabha,a copy of which is kept at the British Library.