LINGUIST List 12.1525

Sun Jun 10 2001

FYI: Japanese Discourse, Lang Policy, Aramaic-Hebrew

Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • Yumiko Ohara, Symposium at the National Language Research Institute (Japan)
  • Harold F. Schiffman, Consortium for Language Policy and Planning
  • Elaine Keown, Aramaic-Hebrew character set

    Message 1: Symposium at the National Language Research Institute (Japan)

     Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 15:50:05 +0900
    From: Yumiko Ohara <yumikookokken.go.jp>
    Subject: Symposium at the National Language Research Institute (Japan)


    As part of International Collaborative research concerning Japanese Communication currently being conducted by the National Language Research Institute (Japan), a symposium entitled "Various approaches to Japanese discourse: Conversationanalysis, Discourse analysis, and Critical discourse analysis" will be held on June16th from 2 pm to 5 pm at the National Language Research Institute (Japan).

    Speakers Yumiko Ohara, the National Language Research Institute (Japan) Media ni kansuru kuritikaru disukoosu bunseki (A critical discourse analysis of media discourse)

    Scott Saft, University of Tsukuba (Japan) Conversation Analysis and Japanese discourse: The case of aizuchi

    Haruko Cook, University of Hawai'i at Manoa (USA) An indexical analysis of the Japanese plain forms

    Reiko Hayashi, Konan Women's University (Japan) Aimaihyoogen ni yoru afekuto to sutansu no hyoomei (Manifestation of affect and stance by vague expressions)

    If you would like to attend, please contact Yumiko Ohara by email, her address is yumikookokken.go.jp.

    Message 2: Consortium for Language Policy and Planning

     Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 09:59:50 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Harold F. Schiffman <haroldfsccat.sas.upenn.edu>
    Subject: Consortium for Language Policy and Planning


    This is to announce the formation of a Consortium for Language Policy and Planning, to be hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Language Center and Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict.

    The Consortium is an unincorporated assembly of a number of research universities, advocacy bodies, and other scholars interested in issues of language policy and planning.

    Research Universities are those with programs involving several scholars, disciplines, departments, or schools focused (in whole or in part) on language policy study:

    Current members are:

    City University of New York (Graduate Center); Long Island University, New York University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania.

    Individual Scholars are typically located at institutions without established programs, other than their own research interests.

    Advocacy Bodies are organizations, institutes, centers etc. whose main goal is not research, but are primarily devoted to the advocacy of issues surrounding language policy and conflict.

    MISSION: The objectives of the Consortium are to enhance the quality of research, teaching, and information-dissemination on the subject of language policy formation and study; to strengthen similarly-oriented programs of its member institutions, and to foster dialogue on the process of language policy formation in situations of ethnic and linguistic conflict in the modern world.

    In particular, the Consortium for Language Policy and Planning will have as a primary focus projects that are educational and informational--the Consortium will sponsor workshops, summer institutes, informational and short-courses designed to bring to public discussion issues affecting schools and other multilingual sites of contention in contemporary America and other parts of the world.

    The Consortium welcomes new members and/or affiliations with similarly- oriented institutions. For more information, consult the Consortium's website at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/clpp/

    Message 3: Aramaic-Hebrew character set

     Date: 7 Jun 2001 12:34:26 -0700
    From: Elaine Keown <keownaltavista.com>
    Subject: Aramaic-Hebrew character set


    Hello,

    Below is a preliminary list of the Aramaic-Hebrew character set. It is the result of two years of research, including collaboration with Dr. Seth Jerchower, a scholar of Judeo-Romance, and Prof. Paul Flesher, an Aramaist.

    I am sending the list around to e-discussion groups to begin public review on it. Public review is a requirement for international computer standards work. However, I also am sure that the list is incomplete for Samaritan Aramaic and Hebrew dialects and in the epigraphy.

    I have just been given Web space and hope to put up a site in 4-8 weeks with scanned images of the list items. When finished, I will send you the URL.

    In probably 16-20 months a technical proposal will be written to either the ISO (Geneva, Switzerland) or The Unicode Consortium (Mountain View, California) which will contain an improved version of this list.

    When Unicode and ISO process the proposal and accept whichever subset of the list they like (probably 80-90%), then these symbols will be added to ISO 10646/Unicode, which means they can be used online much more easily, may be supported by more font manufacturers, and might even be supported by standard software manufacturers.

    Thank you, Elaine Keown _______________________________________________________________ NOTE: footnote numbers are in ( ).

    THE ARAMAIC-HEBREW CHARACTER SET: A PRELIMINARY LIST

    Complete Net symbol count(29) count(30) SECTION A.. Ancient or common symbols 1. Most ancient 22-letter alphabet 22 22 2. Ancient epigraphic symbols(31) 12 12 3. Ezra's points (32) 2 2 4. Medial letters 5 5 5. Tiberian pointing and other 53 52 masoretic apparatus 6. Other Hebrew ms symbols(33) 7 7 Net subset totals 100 SECTION B. Variant letters for regional Jewish languages written in square script 7. Arabic(34) 6 4 8. Berber(36) 1 0 9. Persian(37) 3 0 10. Tajik(38) (Bukhari) 4 2 11. Tat(39) 3 2 12. Krimchak(40) 3 1 13. Neo-Aramaic(41,42) (Kurdit) 3 1 14. Greek(43) 3 1 15. French(44) 7 3 16. Shuadit(45), Comtadin(46) 1 0 17. Italian(47) 6 1 18. Ladino(48) 4 2 19. Yiddish(49) 6 3 Net subset totals 20

    SECTION C. Other pointing, reading, masoretic systems 20. Babylonian(50) 39 35 21. Palestinian(51) 31 18 22. Samaritan(52) 21 12 Net subset totals 65 SECTION D. Rare or unique symbols 23. Bodleian Hebrew e63, fol. 106r- 2 1 121v(53) 24. Cairo Codex(54) 1 1 Net subset totals 2

    Total Aramaic-Hebrew symbols found to date: 187

    NOTES:

    29. This number includes the complete set of extra symbols found in the subset.

    30. This number is the net number of symbols after subtracting those found in more than one category.

    31. Y. AHARONI, Arad Inscriptions, Jerusalem, 1986, p. 34. This count includes the ten widely used numerals, originally from New Kingdom Egyptian, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Persian, Nabataean, etc. epigraphy, ostraca, bullae, and other materials. For an excellent presentation, see G. IFRAH, The universal history of numbers: from prehistory to the invention of the computer, New York, 2000, pp. 236-237. See also R. DEUTSCH, New epigraphic evidence from the Biblical period, Tel Aviv, 1995. For their use in Aramaic edicts of A?oka, see G. Pugliese CARRATELLI and G. GARBINI, A bilingual Graeco-Aramaic edict by A?oka, Roma, 1969, p. 43.

    32. These two very old points, an upper middle and a lower middle dot, occur in Qumran texts and are found in Torah scrolls. Aboth de R. Nathan calls them Ezra's points. Later, European-influenced literature calls them "puncta extraordinaria." See Aaron DOTAN, "Masorah," Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971, col. 1408. See R. BUTIN, The ten nequdoth of the Torah, New York, 1969, p. XXV, 23.

    33. Here I include inverted nuns, pehs, and tsadis plus the two abbreviation symbols ( and ).

    34. Benjamin HARY, "Adaptations of Hebrew script," in Peter T. DANIELS, The World's Writing Systems, Oxford, 1995, pp. 727-734.

    35. Judeo-Arabic texts were apparently first computerized at Dropsie by Prof. Lawrence V. Berman. Later in the 1970s Prof. Alan Corr? produced a computerized lexicon.

    36. P. GALAND-PERNET, Une version berb?re de la haggadah de Pesach, Paris, 1970. See also M. O'CONNOR, "The Berber scripts," in DANIELS, cited above, p. 115.

    37. Judeo-Persian, Bukhari, and Tat are dialects of Persian from different areas. See Herbert PAPER, A Judeo-Persian Pentateuch, Jerusalem, 1972, p. for the alphabet.

    38. Nissim TAGGER, Milon Ivri-Bukhari, Tel Aviv, 1960, passim.

    39. Harald HAARMAN, "Yiddish and the other Jewish languages in the Soviet Union," in J. FISHMAN, ed., Readings in the Sociology of Jewish languages, Leiden, 1985, p. 165.

    40. Krimchak, a Kipchak Turkic language, also called Judeo-Crimean Tatar, is one of at least three Turkic Rabbanite or Karaite languages (the others are Karaim and Khazar). For Krimchak symbols, see I. IANBAY and M. ERDAL, The Krimchak Translation of the Book of Ruth, Mediterranean Language Review, 10, 1998, pp. 1-53. See also W. MOSKOVITZ, "Krimchak Language," Encyclopaedia Judaica Yearbook 1988/9, Jerusalem, 1989, p. 371.

    41. The languages called "Kurdit" in Modern Hebrew are actually Neo-Aramaic dialects, originally from Kurdistan and other regions. See I. AVINERY, The Aramaic dialect of the Jews of Zakho, Jerusalem, 1988, p. v.

    42. For symbols, see Yona SABAR, Targum de-Targum: an old Neo-Aramaic version of the Targum on Song of Songs, Wiesbaden, p. 9.

    43. For some symbols, see Nicholas DE LANGE, Greek Jewish Texts from the Cairo Genizah, Tubingen, 1996, pp. 5-79.

    44. Menachem BANITT, The glossaire de B?le. Texte. Academie Nationale des Sciences et des Lettres d'Israel, Jerusalem, 1972, pp. ix, x.

    45. For Shuadit symbols, see Susan SILBERSTEIN, The Provencal Esther Poem Written in Hebrew Characters c. 1327 by Crescas de Caylar: Critical Edition. Dissertation, 1973, University of Pennsylvania, pp. 260-272.

    46. For symbols of Comtadin, see E. SABATIER, Chansons H?bra?co-Provencales des Juifs Comtadins, Paris, 1927, pp. 11-12.

    47. Alan FREEDMAN, Italian texts in Hebrew characters: problems of interpretation, Wiesbaden, 1972, p. 123.

    48. B. HARY, "Judeo-Spanish (Ladino)," in DANIELS, cited above, p. 734.

    49. Howard ARONSON, "Yiddish," in DANIELS, pp. 735-742.

    50. Paul KAHLE, Der Masoretische Text des Alten Testaments nach der ?berlieferung des Babylonischen Juden, Leipzig, 1902, pp. 24, 34, 46-47.

    51. Manfried DIETRICH, Neue pal?stinisch punktierte Bibelfragmente: Ver?ffentlich und auf Text und Punktation hin untersucht, Leiden, 1968, p. 88* [Tafel II]. This count does not include variant Palestinian marks such as found in Genizah materials.

    52. Rudolf MACUCH, Grammatik des Samaritanischen Hebr?isch, Berlin, 1969, pp. 61-76.

    53. Ugo MARAZZI, Tevarihi Ali Osman: cronaca anonima ottamana in trascrizione ebraica, Napoli, 1980.

    54. Mar?a Josefa de AZCARRAGA-SERVERT, "El ketib/qere en el libro de Josue del Codice de Profetas de El Cairo," Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the International Organization for Masoretic Studies (IOMS), Jerusalem, 1994, p. 7.