Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic in Letters from the Cairo Genizah

Wagner, Esther-Miriam

doi:10.1163/ej.9789004187764.i-270

Cited by 13 publications

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“…Interestingly, the only exception to this rule is human controllers, in which case the verb is occasionally in the Specifically, in the latter group, deflected agreement exists as an option with both human and non-human plural controllers, while in the former it is primarily applied with human ones, and only 27 I am aware of two types of Judaeo-Arabic sources where deflected agreement appears with non-human plural heads. I have spotted a couple such cases in Egyptian folktales and letters of merchants also from Egypt and the Maghreb (Connolly 2018;Wagner 2010). Nevertheless, since no transcription corpus is available, nor does a systematic description of agreement in these sources exist, it is difficult to draw any conclusions.…”

Section: A Grammar Of the Jewish Arabic Dialect Of Gabesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Grammar of the Jewish Arabic Dialect of Gabes

Gębski

2024

Semitic Languages and Cultures

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This volume undertakes a linguistic exploration of the endangered Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Gabes, a coastal city situated in Southern Tunisia. Belonging to the category of sedentary North African dialects, this variety is now spoken by a dwindling number of native speakers, primarily in Israel and France. Given the imminent extinction faced by many modern varieties of Judaeo-Arabic, including Jewish Gabes, the study's primary goal is to document and describe its linguistic nuances while reliable speakers are still accessible. Data for this comprehensive study were collected during fieldwork in Israel and France between December 2018 and March 2022. The volume's primary objective is a meticulous comparative analysis of Jewish Gabes, with a special emphasis on syntax, aiming to discern unique linguistic features through comparison with other North African dialects. The results of the study suggest that the Jewish dialect of Gabes emerged in the first wave of the Arab conquest of the Maghreb, thus exhibiting features that set it apart from its Muslim counterpart. This old variety therefore has the potential to provide invaluable information on the formation of Maghrebi Arabic and the mechanisms of language contact in the pre-Islamic Maghreb. The volume is organised in three main sections: phonology, morphology, and syntax, with the syntax section adopting historical and typological perspectives to shed light on this linguistic terra incognita.

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Section: A Grammar Of the Jewish Arabic Dialect Of Gabesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Grammar of the Jewish Arabic Dialect of Gabes

Gębski

2024

Semitic Languages and Cultures

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“…In Egypt, the date in eleventh-and early twelfthcentury Judeo-Arabic letters, at least in mercantile correspondence, occurs in the introductory sentences and follows Classical Arabic style: the verbs baqiyya, "remain," and khalā, "pass," are used in conjunction with li-followed by numerals. 22 In Babylonian letters, in contrast, the date appears at the end of the letter, without the Arabic verbal formulas. 23 Byzantine sources appear to show ‫ש‬ for s more commonly than do letters from other regions.…”

Section: Geography and Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A handy chronological shibboleth can be found in the verbs for the expression "to send (a letter)." 29 In eleventh-and twelfth-century material, the verb nafadha is used for such purposes. 30 The writers of the thirteenth-century material employ the verb sayyara to express "sending."…”

Section: Geography and Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Register and Layout in Epistolary Judeo-Arabic

Wagner

2019

JEW HIST

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Medieval letters from the Cairo Geniza can be broadly classified into private, official, or mercantile correspondence, and all use particular linguistic registers. Official correspondence, for example, shows abundant code switching into Hebrew and the employment of high-style versus lower-style prose. Mercantile letters actively avoid Hebrew and emulate supraconfessional Arabic writing standards. Private letters typically display more colloquial and less standardized forms than other genres and are more often written in crude handwriting. Among these private letters, we find one written by or for women that share common features of colloquiality and less standardization even when they are transcribed by male scribes. Linguistic registers are also influenced by the time and place in which they are written, and comparing Geniza letters from different areas and time periods exposes geographic and chronological characteristics. For example, North African letters tend to be linguistically more conservative, and Babylonian and Egyptian letters show differences in layout and style. Throughout the medieval period, orthographic, grammatical, lexical, and stylistic changes in the letters reflect social and economic evolution over time. The principal trend is a distinct move away from prescriptive Arabic linguistic norms from the late twelfth century on.

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“…Therefore, whereas the following example resembles Classical Arabic orthogra-6 For a more detailed account, see Wagner (2010), in particular pp. Therefore, whereas the following example resembles Classical Arabic orthogra-6 For a more detailed account, see Wagner (2010), in particular pp.…”

Section: The Relative Pronoun Allaḏī / əLdimentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic in Letters from the Cairo Genizah

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

A Grammar of the Jewish Arabic Dialect of Gabes

A Grammar of the Jewish Arabic Dialect of Gabes

Register and Layout in Epistolary Judeo-Arabic

14 Challenges of multiglossia: scribes and the emergence of substandard Judaeo- Arabic registers

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