scholarly journals A Judaeo-Arabic Biblical Glossary as a Source for Arabic Historical Dialectology

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Nick Posegay
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Phonetic Information ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
History Of ◽  
Book Of Samuel ◽  
Modern Varieties

MS T-S Ar.5.58 is a translation glossary from the Cairo Geniza that contains a list of Judaeo-Arabic glosses for Hebrew words from the biblical book of Samuel. These Arabic words are fully vocalised with the Tiberian Hebrew pointing system, providing more precise phonetic information about the scribe’s native Arabic dialect than could be expressed with standard Arabic vowel signs. This pointing reveals linguistic features known from modern varieties of vernacular Arabic, including a conditional tendency to raise /a/ to /e/ and a reflex of ǧīm as /g/. The manuscript can be dated between the tenth and twelfth centuries, making it an important source for the history of spoken medieval Arabic and Middle Arabic writing.

The Damascus Document

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Fraade
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Ancient Text ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

The Damascus Document is an ancient Hebrew text that is one of the longest, oldest, and most important of the ancient scrolls found near Khirbet (ruins of) Qumran, usually referred to collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls for the proximity of the Qumran settlement and eleven nearby caves to the Dead Sea. Its oldest parts originate in the mid- to late second century BCE. While the earliest discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls occurred in 1947, the Qumran Damascus Document fragments were discovered in 1952 (but not published in full until 1996), mainly in what is designated as Qumran Cave Four (some ten manuscripts altogether). However, it is unique in that two manuscripts (MS A and MS B) containing parts and variations of the same text were discovered much earlier, in 1896 (and published in 1910), among the discarded texts of the Cairo Geniza, the latter being written in the tenth-eleventh centuries CE. Together, the manuscripts of the Damascus Document, both ancient and medieval, are an invaluable source for understanding many aspects of ancient Jewish (and before that Israelite) history, theology, sectarian ideology, eschatology, liturgy, law, communal leadership, canon formation, and practice. Central to the structure of the overall text, is the intersection of law, both what we would call “biblical” (or biblically derived) and “communal,” and narrative/historical admonitions, perhaps modeled after a similar division the biblical book of Deuteronomy. A suitable characterization of the Damascus Document, to which we will repeatedly return, could be “bringing the Messiah through law.” Because of the longevity of its discovery, translation, publication, and debated interpretation, there is a long history of modern scholarship devoted to this ancient text.

CONVERGENCE AND THE FORMATION OF AFRIKAANS

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T. Roberge
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Important Case ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
History Of

As a phenomenon to be explained, convergence in historical linguistics is substantively no different than in creolistics. The general idea is that accommodation by speakers of “established” languages in contact and the formation of new language varieties both involve a process of leveling of different structures that achieve the same referential and nonreferential effects. The relatively short and well-documented history of Afrikaans presents an important case study in the competition and selection of linguistic features during intensive language contact.

Homer's linguistic forebears

1992 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Wyatt
Keyword(s):  
Poetic Language ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Heroic Epic ◽  
Greek Epic ◽  
History Of

M. L. West has recently presented a magisterial account of the history of Greek epic in which Aeolic phases and other entities are assumed. His account is the more impressive because it combines linguistic features skilfully handled with an account of the thematic development of epic, and also specifies at what stages the various linguistic features entered the tradition. West assumes an Aeolic phase, or phases, of heroic epic composition, and accounts for the presence of Aeolic forms (162): ‘It has usually been inferred that they are just a residue left after Ionian poets had adapted an Aeolic poetic language into their own dialect as far as it would go. This is, I have no doubt, the correct interpretation.’ I think it is not.

South Asia

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravinder Gargesh ◽  
Pingali Sailaja
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
The Political ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter traces the history of English in the countries of South Asia, including the political, economic, educational, and social impact of the language on the region. The major debates and processes that led to the institutionalization of the language are highlighted. It then presents an outline of the typical linguistic features and also their variation across the region. Some of the consequences of the multilingual context and the need to communicate by a wide spectrum of groups led to the development of sub-varieties and widespread code-switching; the chapter discusses these phenomena as well. Some theoretical approaches that aim to explain some of the aspects of the linguistic features rather than merely describe the data are then presented.

The Redemption of Yhwh: a Literary Critical Function of the Songs of Hannah and David

1995 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-231
Author(s):  
Randall C. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Critical Function ◽  
Character Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Book Of Samuel

AbstractThe Songs of Hannah and David have been noted to function as hermeneutical frames for the book of Samuel, serving the purpose of guiding the reader's interpretation of the history of Israel presented in the rest of the book. This article, while agreeing with the framing principle, argues that these pieces of poetry serve the function of presenting a theologically orthodox picture of Yhwh, which attempts to offset the depiction of Yhwh found in the narrative sections of the book. The argument is developed by performing a character analysis of Yhwh, as suggested by the contours of the narrative. Specifically the article looks at two aspects of the narrative: the choices of leaders made by Yhwh and the speeches and actions of Yhwh. In addition, there is a focus on what the writer of the book of Samuel is telling the exiles in Babylon about their deity by presenting them with such stories in the structured arrangement of the final form of the book.

scholarly journals Análisis del discurso y ensayo literario: El sujeto enunciador en El laberinto de la soledad

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Karina Alanís Flores
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

In this paper we use the discourse analysis as theoretical framework to discuss the renowned Octavio Paz’s essay, The labyrinth of solitude. Although there are many studies that have been made about this theme which are mainly based on the history of ideas and the philosophy of the culture, in this case we propose a different perspective which focuses on the linguistic features that are used to construct the subject of enunciation in the literary essay. We consider Émile Benveniste’s concepts of his theory of enunciative operations in order to reveal the different positions that the author takes in the text, as well as how he constructs his reader.

scholarly journals Place names in the southwest border counties of Missouri

1933 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret Ellen Bell
Keyword(s):  
Economic Structure ◽  
Early History ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Post Offices ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Pioneer Settlement

Counties: Webster, Wright, Christian, Douglas, Ozark, Taney, Stone, Barry, and McDonald||"If, by chance, all the written evidence of the history of a region, the character of its people, its economic structure, and its physical qualities were swept away, the story of that region could be reconstructed with an astounding degree of accuracy, from the place-names of the section alone. The place-names of these counties of the Ozarks remarkably mirror its early history, its people, and their interests and tastes. To enable the reader to grasp the subject more easily and trace its course more methodically, a table of classification has been presented and discussed in the first chapter. All the names have been grouped under five heads: 1) Borrowed Names, 2) Historical Names, 3) Personal Names, 4) Environmental Names, and 5) Subjective Names. These five heads will cover practically all the place-names found in any locality, except for the unsolved and doubtful ones. These unsolved names have been listed at the end of Chapter One for the benefit of future investigators and students. Besides these five groups of classification there remain five additional ways in which almost all the names will repay study. They are: 1) The Composition of Names, 2) The Linguistic Features, such as spelling, pronunciation, and dialect words, 3) Non-English Names, 4) and 6) Folkways and Folklore. Chapter Two comprises a brief survey and discussion of the names with regard to these five special features. Chapter Three, embracing by far the greater part of the thesis in bulk, consists of a dictionary of all the place-names studied. In an Appendix I have discussed separately the school names of the section. Last of all I have placed my Bibliography."--Pages 18-19.||"This thesis is the record of careful research into the origin of the place-names of the lower southwest counties of Missouri. Nine counties, Webster, Wright, Christian, Douglas, Ozark, Taney, Stone, Barry, and McDonald have been studied, and the origin of place-names of counties, towns, post offices, streams, "hollows", hills, springs, "knobs", rivers, prairies, townships, mountains, valleys, ridges, gaps, and "balds" have been recorded, in so far as it was possible. These nine counties constitute a large part of what is known as the Ozark Region. It is only in the last few decades that the possibilities and the resources of this region have been fully realized. However, it is in the early history of this section that the romance of pioneer settlement and the character and qualities of these people are most clearly seen."--Page 1.

scholarly journals Linguistic features of Middle German business prose

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Development Trend ◽  
Written Language ◽  
National Language ◽  
German Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
History Of ◽  
German People ◽  
The Development Trend ◽  
The City

This article discusses business papers XII-XIII century from the city of Augsburg, which is located in the south of Germany. The norm of the modern German language went through several stages of formation before acquiring a unified standard and becoming the so-called Standardsprache. The city of Augsburg belongs to the East Bavarian dialect region and is located on the border of Bavaria and Swabia. Analysis of the written language of documents of the XII-XIII century provided information on the interaction of the features of both dialects (Bavarian and Swabian). In this study, 5 documents related to various taxes were considered, which indicate that they were written in Augsburg, as well as 3 documents in the Augsburg monastery. It is important that for the documents considered there is no characteristic sequence in writing, that is, we are talking about the absence of a spelling norm. Confirmation of this fact is also given in the article with examples from the materials studied. The study showed the presence of similar characteristics in all studied, which indicates their undoubted linguistic kinship. Despite this, there are also features that are characteristic exclusively for the southwestern part of Germany and separately for the southeast. An analysis of the German southern dialects makes it possible to trace the development trend of the German language in its holy language in a period that is closely connected with the history of the German people. The processes of synergy between dialects within the framework of one language are considered, which draws attention to the beginning of the formation of the first national language, and subsequently the national one. The study revealed that Augsburg became a kind of conductor of the Bavarian dialect in the eastern part of the Swabian dialect. The isoglosses studied (phonetic, morphological, lexical) showed that these dialects can be combined linguistically as southern and considered a feature of the Germanic (Yerminon) range. Despite some linguistic differences, a relative unity of linguistic traditions is noted, indicating a sufficient proximity of the dialects of the southwestern and southeastern parts of Germany in the XII-XIII centuries.

scholarly journals A Fragment from Chronicle of George Synkellos in Slavonic Translation

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-149
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Totomanova
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The World ◽  
Editorial Work ◽  
Draft Version ◽  
History Of ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Eastern Traditions ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Made In

The only fragment from the Chronicle of George Synkellos in Slavic translation is found in a chronographic compilation known in five Russian witnesses of the 15th – 16th cc. A large and coherent excerpt from the Chronography of Julius Africanus that survived in about 100 fragments scattered in Latin, Greek and Eastern traditions became a basis of the compilation. Africanus’ excerpt reveals the Christian history of the world from the Creation to the Resurrection of Christ and occupies about two thirds of the whole text. It is complemented by the end of Synkellos’ Chronicle that stops with Diocletian’s reign and by the beginning of the Chronicle of his follower Theophanes the Confessor, which brings the narrative to the foundation of Constantinople. The missionary pathos of the compilation leaves no doubt and makes us think that it occurred on Byzantine soil in the first half of the 9th c. after the end of the iconoclasm. The Linguistic features of the Slavonic text prove that the translation was made in Bulgaria in the early 10th century during the reign of Simeon the Great (893–927). The paper explores the traces of the editorial work of the compilers, who were supposed to bring into line the two historical narratives that disagree in their historical and chronological concepts and refer to different sources. The problem deserves attention given the fact that in the beginning of the last century V. Istrin erroneously identified the compilation as an abridged and even draft version of the Chronicle of Synkellos.

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