Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics

Get access Subject: Language And Linguistics
Edited by: Geoffrey Khan
Associate editors: Shmuel Bolozky, Steven Fassberg, Gary A. Rendsburg, Aaron D. Rubin, Ora R. Schwarzwald, Tamar Zewi

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The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.
The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online features advanced search options, as well as extensive cross-references and full-text search functionality using the Hebrew character set. With over 850 entries and approximately 400 contributing scholars, the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Hebrew linguistics, general linguistics, Biblical studies, Hebrew and Jewish literature, and related fields.

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A (-a/-ah - Azulai H.J.D.)

(7,258 words)

-a/-ah suffix Mnemonic: Medieval Period, Morphology: Rabbinic Hebrew Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia Byzantium, Karaite Hebrew Aaron ben Joseph Byzantium, Grammatical Thought, Medieval Byzantium Aaz apprehendens (Langton) Christian Hebraists: Medieval Period Ab Isda of Tyre Samaritan Hebrew: Late Ab Sakwa ibn As˓ad Grammarians: Samaritan Ab Sikuwwa Addinfi Samaritan Hebrew: Late Abadi, Adina Apposition. Medieval Grammatical Tradition, Discourse Analysis: Modern Hebrew, Discourse Anaphora: M…

Abbreviations

(2,197 words)

Author(s): Rubin, Aaron D.
Various types of abbreviations are in use in Modern Hebrew, some inherited from earlier periods and others introduced only in modern times. Each type will be dealt with below, followed by a short discussion of abbreviations in earlier stages of the language.…

Abecedaries

(2,513 words)

Author(s): Gzella, Holger
In the history of writing systems, the term ‘abecedary’ (from Latin abecedarium; see Sittig 1952) denotes a text, usually a tablet or an ostracon, listing a sequence of letters of a script in a specific order. Examples with West Semitic, Greek, Etruscan, and Latin writing are known from antiquity (Demsky 1977:16). Presumably, many served as teaching aids, exercises, or models for artisans, as lists of letter signs constitute essential tools for learning a script. Some are repetitive, others incomplete, lik…

Acquisition of Language, First

(3,968 words)

Author(s): Berman, Ruth A.
1. Introduction The mystery of how children learn language has intrigued scholars through the ages, while the question of how a small child can gain command of the complex syntactic structures that linguists work hard to explain has motivated the field of developmental psycholinguistics since the 1960s. To this day, children’s acquisition of their mother tongue serves as a testing ground for claims about human language as a branch of cognitive science. Explanations range from behaviorist stimulus-response parad…

Actionality (Aktionsart): Pre-Modern Hebrew

(2,122 words)

Author(s): Cook, John A.
Actionality ( Aktionsart) is a subcategory of Aspect. The term has been applied to at least two different types of aspect: situation aspect and phasal aspect. Situation or Aristotelian aspect (Binnick 1991:135–49) describes predicates according to their internal temporal contours. The standard taxonomy of situation aspect includes state, activity, accomplishment, and achievement. Phasal aspect describes alterations of the temporal constituency of a situation distinguished in terms of what part of …

Addressee-Switching

(722 words)

Author(s): Rendsburg, Gary A.
Addressee-switching refers to the literary-linguistic device in the Bible whereby prophets included foreign elements in oracles (ostensibly) directed at foreign nations. To be sure, thes…

Address, Forms of

(2,080 words)

Author(s): Revell, E. J.
This entry is based mainly on a corpus consisting of the narratives of the Former Prophets, which present a generally homogeneous picture of the society they describe, a picture which seems also to be represented in the limited epigraphic evidence from the same period. A member of this society is typically identified by a personal name, e.g., דָּוִד då̄wīd ‘David’, given at or soon after birth. More precise identification may be achieved by the addition of one or more epithets giving information about that character, such as a significant personal relationship, as with בֶּן־יִשַׁי bɛn-yīšay ‘son of Jesse’, or social status, as with נַעַר naʿar ‘lad’, or characteristic occupation, as with הַמֶּלֶךְ ham- mɛlɛḵ ‘the king’. Where speech is represented, in addition to nominal designations of this sort, characters are referred to by pronouns: first-person pronoun for self-reference by the speaker, second-person for the addressee, and third-person for others. This is the standard, or default, style of speech. A second, marked, style, ‘deferential speech’, is also represented, in which a speaker refers to himself or herself as ‘your servant’ (עַבְדְּךָ ʿaḇdǝ…

Adjective

(6,059 words)

Author(s): Fritz Werner
1. General Introduction The English term ‘adjective’ is derived from the Latin adiectivum, a translation of the Greek epitheton meaning ‘that which is added’. Morphologically, the Hebrew adjective is a part of speech inflected for number (§3.1), gender (§3.1), and definiteness (§3.3); syntactically, it has attributive (§4.1), predicative (§4.2), and adverbial functions (§4.3); it is also used to denote degrees of comparison (§4.4). In Hebrew a שם תואר šem toʾar ‘adjective’ is not marked as such by any unequivocally distinctive morphological markers, so that this …
Date: 2014-10-01

Adjective

(6,055 words)

Author(s): Werner, Fritz
1. General Introduction The English term ‘adjective’ is derived from the Latin adiectivum, a translation of the Greek epitheton meaning ‘that which is added’. Morphologically, the Hebrew adjective is a part of speech inflected for number (§3.1), gender (§3.1), and definiteness (§3.3); syntactically, it has attributive (§4.1), predicative (§4.2), and adverbial functions (§4.3); it is also used to denote degrees of comparison (§4.4). In Hebrew a שם תואר šem toʾar ‘adjective’ is not marked as such by any unequivocally distinctive morphological markers, so that this word class is not distinguishable from that of nouns. As a result, the adjective—similar to the noun—is often labeled a …

Adverb

(4,052 words)

Author(s): Galila Mor
1. Introduction The terms ‘adverb’ and ‘adverbial’ are closely related and are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, however,…
Date: 2014-10-01

Adverb

(4,056 words)

Author(s): Mor, Galila
1. Introduction The terms ‘adverb’ and ‘adverbial’ are closely related and are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, however, ‘adverb’ is a structu…

Adverbial

(1,873 words)

Author(s): Oren, Mikhal
A nominal or prepositional phrase that modifies a verb phrase or an entire sentence is called an adverbial phrase, while a subordinate clause with a similar role is termed an adverbial clause. Note that the latter term is somewhat ambiguous: though it is often taken to refer to the subordinate clause strictly defined, it is in fact the combination of this clause with a preposition and/or conjunction which gives it its adverbial function (Glinert 1988:253–254). Adverbial phrases and adverbial cla…

Adversative: Biblical Hebrew

(382 words)

Author(s): Arnold, Bill T.
The idea of opposition or contrast may be expressed in Classical Hebrew by the lexemes אֲבָל ʾăḇå̄l and אוּלָם ʾūlå̄m. The adverb אֲבָל ʾăḇå̄l expresses the antithesis of a previously stated idea: אֲבָל֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִשְׁתְּךָ֗ יֹלֶ֤דֶת לְךָ֙ בֵּ֔ן ʾăḇå̄l śå̄rå̄ ʾištǝḵå̄ yōlɛḏɛṯ lǝḵå̄ bēn ‘(No), but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son’ (Gen. 17.19) (Clines 1993 1:109; HALOT 1:7). Similarly the conjunction אוּלָם ʾūlå̄m may denote contrast either in a nominal clause (e.g., וְאוּלָ֛ם ל֥וּז שֵׁם־הָעִ֖יר לָרִאשֹׁנָֽה wǝ-ʾūlå̄m lūz šēm-hå̄-ʿīr lå̄-rīšōnå̄ ‘but Luz was the name of the city at f…

Adversative: Modern Hebrew

(2,072 words)

Author(s): Bliboim, Rivka
Adversative conjunctions have been described by various grammarians as reflecting such semantic relations as disagreement, reservation, or agreement with the contrary. The adversative particles to be discussed in the present entry mostly express a contrast between two sentence parts, e.g., הוא אינו ירושלמי אלא תל אביבי hu ʾeno yerušalmi ʾela tel ʾavivi ‘He is not from Jerusalem, but from Tel-Aviv’, or two clauses, e.g., החורף שעבר היה גשום ואילו החורף הנוכחי שחון ha-x̱oref še-ʿavar haya gašum ve-ʾilu ha-x̱oref ha-noxex̱i šax̱un ‘Last winter was rainy, whereas this winter i…

Advertising

(885 words)

Author(s): Zeevi, Irit
Advertisements are part of the cultural landscape of modern society, relating to a particular period and society (Fowles 1996; Lemish 2000). During the first two decades of the State of Israel’s existence, the Israeli advertising field also took its initial steps, slowly shaping the conventions of the form and language of advertising. Over the years, the advertising genre developed, and by the beginning of the 1990s, Israeli advertising had been shaped according to international standards (Hornik and Lieberman 1996). The language of Israeli advertising reflects the transit…

Affixation: Pre-Modern Hebrew

(1,634 words)

Author(s): Fassberg, Steven E.
Affixation is the addition of a formative to a morphological base. Traditionally affixes are divided into prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. Prefixes and suffixes are common in pre-modern Hebrew; infixes are rare. In the nominal system, prefixes may be found in some of the noun patterns (משקלים mišqalim; Mishqal ). The most frequent of them is -מ mV- ( a and i are the most common vowels), which marks nouns of location, e.g., מָקוֹם må̄qōm ‘place’, מִדְבָּר miḏbå̄r ‘desert’, instrument, e.g., מַפְתֵּחַ map̄tēaḥ ‘key’, מִזְבֵּח mizbeaḥ ‘altar’, and abstraction, e.g., מִבְטָח miḇṭå̄ḥ ‘trust’, מ…

Affrication

(597 words)

Author(s): Koller, Aaron
Phonetically, affricates are consonants which begin with a plosive sound (a quick release of air following complete closure somewhere in the vocal tract) followed by homorganic audible friction. Sounds such as English <ch>, pronounced [tʃ], or Israeli <צ>, pronounced [ts], are affricates. Although the phonetic definition of an affricate is clear, its phonological reality is less so. Since the work of Trubetzkoy and Martinet (see Martinet 1939), linguists have wondered how to distinguish true affricates, which are perceived as monophonem…

Afroasiatic and Hebrew: History of Scholarship

(870 words)

Author(s): Rubin, Aaron D.
The Semitic family, of which Hebrew is a member (Semitic Language, Hebrew as a), is part of a larger macro-family that is usually called Afroasiatic. The term Hamito-Semitic has been used in the past, but Afroasiatic is preferable, since the former inaccurately implies a binary split between Semitic and the other (Hamitic) branches. Other language families within Afroasiatic are Egyptian, Cushitic, Berber, and Chadic. The inclusion of an additional family, Omotic, remains debated. Some believe O…

Afroasiatic and Hebrew: Linguistic Features

(2,317 words)

Author(s): Voigt, Rainer
For the reconstruction of Afroasiatic (also called Semitohamitic, Hamitosemitic), it is necessary to draw primarily on those languages whose morphologies show archaic traits, e.g., Akkadian for Semitic, the Berber varieties, and Beja (Biɖhâwyêt) for Cushitic. In the main it is the verbal morphology that has undergone the fewest changes over the millennia. The characteristic traits of Afroasiatic verbal morphology—which are also preserved in Hebrew—are the prefix conjugations (§2, below) and the …

Agent

(493 words)

Author(s): Oren, Mikhal
In general terms, the agent is defined as the entity performing a given action, as opposed to the Patient, the entity affected by it. In active constructions (Voice) the agent occupies the position of Subject, while in passive clauses it is usually omitted, but may be expressed by an adjunct phrase, e.g., הטכנאי תיקן את המחשב ha-ṭexnay tiqen ʾet ha-max̱šev ‘the technician repaired the computer’ vs. ‏הטכנאי) המחשב תוקן (על ידי ha-max̱šev tuqan (ʿal yede ha-ṭexnay) ‘the computer was repaired (by the technician)’. Experiencers of cognitive processes, e.g., as in שמחנו לראות אתכם śamax̱nu l…

Agnon

(2,195 words)

Author(s): Breuer, Yochanan
Shmuel Yosef Agnon is thought by many to have been the most important Hebrew writer in modern times. He was the first Israeli, and the only Hebrew author, who has so far been awarded the Nobel Prize. Most of the writers of his generation have been forgotten, but Agnon continues to attract growing interest to this day. More studies have been published on his writings than on any other Hebrew writer (Laor 2010). His language is unique and differs greatly from the common usage of his generation. Hi…

Agreement: Biblical Hebrew

(4,789 words)

Author(s): Levi, Yaakov
The term ‘agreement’ (or ‘congruence’) indicates syntactic correspondence of words in gender, number, person and determination. Generally in Hebrew, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns agree, depending on whether they are masculine or feminine, singular or plural. Thus, in אָמַ֞ר הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל֙ ʾå̄mar ham-mɛlɛḵ hag-gå̄ḏōl ‘said the great king’ (2 Kgs 18.19) all forms, i.e., the verb אָמַ֞ר ʾå̄mar ‘said’ and the adjective הַגָּדוֹל֙ hag-gå̄ḏōl ‘great’ agree with הַמֶּלֶךְ ham-mɛlɛḵ ‘the king’, the verb in terms of person (3rd), gender (m), and number (s), the a…

Agreement: Modern Hebrew

(2,707 words)

Author(s): Melnik, Nurit
1. Agreement Agreement is a type of relationship between two linguistic elements. An oft-cited definition is that of Steele (1978:610): “The term agreement commonly refers to some systematic covariance between a semantic or formal property of one element and a formal property of another”. An alternative characterization views agreement as an asymmetric relationship where one element, the controller (also source or trigger), determines the agreement features of another, the target, within a particular syntactic domain. In Modern Hebrew (MH) agreement is controlled by no…

Agreement: Rabbinic Hebrew

(1,489 words)

Author(s): Shivtiel, Avihai
Though the morphological marking of person, gender, and number in Rabbinic Hebrew largely complies with the norms of the biblical grammatical system, Rabbinic Hebrew sometimes deviates from the conventions of Biblical Hebrew with respect to agreement. 1. Pronouns and Pronominal Suffixes The biblical personal pronouns, pronominal suffixes, and verbal prefixes and suffixes (with the exception of the feminine plural in the imperfect and the imperative, which were amalgamated with the masculine plural) are generally used in Rabbinic Hebrew…
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