Variation within and across Jewish Languages

June 26th - 28th, 2013
Variation within and across Jewish Languages
University of Antwerp, Hof van Liere, Prinsstraat 13 - 2000 Antwerpen

With the financial support of FWO Vlaanderen
With the participation of Kazerne Dossin

The conference aims to bring together scholars who work on linguistic aspects of Jewish languages with the focus on domains such as linguistic structure, language variation, language change (dialectology and diachrony), bilingualism and comparison of written and spoken uses.

The conference will also stimulate research in to date enriched areas in the domain of Jewish language studies; for example, language acquisition and development (in communities of native speakers), learning of Jewish languages as second language, language loss, etc.

In addition, the conference is expected to produce publications that will cover the best of contemporary research on Jewish languages as domain of linguistic inquiry.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Moshe Bar-Asher (Hebrew University)
Sarah Benor (Hebrew Union College)
Frank Alvarez-Pereyre (French National Center for Scientific Research)
Aharon Maman (Hebrew University)

Invited symposia:

Hebrew - Dorit Ravid (Tel Aviv University)
Yiddish - Steffen Krogh (Aarhus University)
Ladino - Ora Schwarzwald (Bar-Ilan University)
Judeo-Arabic - Yehudit Henshke (Haifa University)
Israeli Multilingualism - Joel Walters and Sharon Armon-Lotem (Bar-Ilan University)

Linguistic Advisory Committee:

Dorit Ravid (Tel Aviv University)
Johan Van der Auwera (Antwerp University)
Steffen Krogh (Aarhus University)
Ora Schwarzwald (Bar-Ilan University)
Benjamin Hary (Emory University)
Steven Gillis (Antwerp University)
Yehudit Henshke (Haifa University)
Klaas Smelik (Ghent University)
Netta Abugov (Antwerp University)

Organizing Committee:

Netta Abugov (Antwerp University)
Vivian Liska (Antwerp University)
Steven Gillis (Antwerp University)
Jean-Christophe Verstraete (KU Leuven)

Keynote speakers

Prof. dr. em. Moshe Bar-Asher
Hebrew University

Moshe Bar-Asher is Prof. Emeritus Hebrew University and President of the Academy of Hebrew Language. He was Founder (1985) and Director (1985-2007) of The Center of Jewish Languages and Literatures in Hebrew University, Founder (1983) and Editor (1985-1996) of the periodical MEHQARIM BA-LASON, Founder (1984) and Editor (1984-1997) of the periodical MASSOROT, and Founder with Devora Dimant (2003) and Editor with her (2003-2010, Vols I-IX) of the annual MEGHILLOT. He is Editor of LESHONENU since 2000. Prof. Bar-Asher wrote 18 books and over 300 articles, and edited about 90 books and scientific reviews. He is Recipient of the Israel Prize 1993, the Rothschild Prize 2008, and the EMET Prize 2012, and is Doctorat Honoris Causa of INALCO in Paris University 1995, and Haifa University 2005.

Prof. dr. Sarah Benor
Hebrew Union College

Sarah Bunin Benor is Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles campus) and Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Linguistics in 2004. She is the author of Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers University Press, 2012), as well as many articles about Jewish languages, linguistics, Yiddish, American Jews, and Orthodox Jews. Dr. Benor is founding editor of the Journal of Jewish Languages (Brill) and the Jewish Language Research Website.

Prof. dr. Frank Alvarez-Pereyre
French National Center for Scientific Research

Trained as a linguist and an anthropologist, Frank Alvarez-Pereyre is mainly dealing with language and with cultural matters in an ethnolinguistic and an ethnomusicological perspective. His dedication to the Jewish languages has got a strong typological character. Interdisciplinary research remains his most constant topic when considering his teaching at French and Israeli universities. His scientific publications closely reflect this variety of interests. He has directed, together with Jean Baumgarten, the comprehensive book Linguistique des langues juives et linguistique générale (Paris, 2003).

Prof. dr. Aharon Maman
Hebrew University

Aharon Maman holds the Bialik Chair for Hebrew Language at The Hebrew University, in the department of Hebrew and Jewish Languages, and is Vice-President of the Academy for Hebrew Language. His research interests span Medieval Hebrew and Hebrew Philology, Genizah studies (Genazim’s site, The Friedberg Geniza Project), traditional Maghrebian Hebrew and Arabic and Jewish languages. Since 1999, he is the director of the Jewish Traditions Research Center at the Hebrew University. He is the author of two books and approximately 100 scholarly articles, and editor and co-editor of about thirty volumes.

Program

Wednesday 26 June 2013

15.00-18.00	Visit to the Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights (Mechelen) Guided by Herman Van Goethem, conservator of the museum Bus pick-up at 15.00 at Hof van Liere, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen
19:00-20:00	Registration
20:00	Welcome by Johan Meeusen (Vice-Rector, University of Antwerp) and Vivian Liska (Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp)
20:15-21:15	PLENARY KEYNOTE: Sarah Benor (Hebrew Union College) Distinctive Jewish Repertoires: A Research Agenda For Comparative Jewish Linguistic Analysis
21:15-22:30	Reception

Thursday 27 June 2013

9:00-10:00	PLENARY KEYNOTE : Aharon Maman (Hebrew University) Variation In The Hebrew Component Of Judeo-Arabic Dialects
10:00-10:15	Coffee Break
SESSION 1 10:15-12:15	BILINGUALISM AND REGISTERS OF JUDEO-ARABIC: PAST AND PRESENT Convener: Yehudit Henshke Chair: Ofra Tirosh-Becker	NEW PERSPECTIVES IN YIDDISH STUDIES Chair: Marion Aptroot
	The Place Of Judeo-Arabic In Contemporary Hebrew: A Lexical Consideration Yehudit Henshke	The Corpus of Modern Yiddish - A New Tool Not Only For Linguistic Research Denis Kirianov, Sandra Birzer, Björn Hansen
	Remnants Of Maghrebi Judeo-Arabic Among French-Born Jews Of North African Descent Cyril Aslanov	Tense And Aspect System Of Modern-Day Yiddish Revisited: A Corpus-Based Study Malgorzata Kozyra
	Variation And The Periodization Issue: A Comparative Perspective Frank Alvarez-Pereyre	"Yiddish", Regional Peculiarities And "Linguistic Integrity" Among Prewar-Born Native Yiddish Speakers In Contemporary Eastern Europe Dov-Ber Kerler
	Jerusalem Arabic In Communal Perspective: New Evidence Ori Shachmon	Is The Current Classification Of Yiddish Dialects Linguistically Appropriate? Alexander Beider
12:15-13:30	Lunch

SESSION 2 13:30-15:30	JEWISH COMMUNITIES Chair: Dalit Assouline	JEWISH LANGUAGES IN WRITTEN TEXTS Chair: Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald
	Jewish Languages And Languages Of The Jews Bernard Spolsky	A Journey Eastward - Linguistic Variation Within An Early Nineteenth Century Yiddish Travelogue Marion Aptroot
	Secret Language In The Jewish Community Of The Eastern Caucasus Vitaly Shalem	From Valladolid To Istanbul: Syntactic Phenomena In Jewish Written Texts Maria Rita Castaldi
	Disappearing Jewish Languages Of New York: A Field Report Ross Perlin, Daniel Kaufman, Habib Borjian	Maqre Dardeqe And The Jewish Italian Bible And Siddur Translations: Tradition And Changes In The Roman Component Of The Jewish Italian Between 15th And 16th Centuries Michael Ryzhik
	Hasidic Yiddish Print In New York: Main Problems And Possible Solutions Tatiana Panova	Secular Sarh? The Curious Case Of The Marquis's Daughter Slavomír Céplö
15:30-16:00	Coffee Break

SESSION 3 16:00-17:30	LINGUISTIC VARIATIONS IN EARLY LADINO BOOKS Convener: Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald Chair: Dorit Ravid
	Judeo-Spanish And The Study Of Syntactic Variation And Change Josep M. Fontana, Aldina Quintana
	Linguistic Variation As A Discourse Topic In The Judezmo Press David M. Bunis
	Linguistic Variations In Early Ladino Translations Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald
20:00	Conference dinner (only speakers)

Friday 28 June 2013

9:00-10:00	PLENARY KEYNOTE : Frank Alvarez-Pereyre (French National Center for Scientific Research) Variation And The Jewish Languages: Which Principles Behind The Facts?
10:00-10:15	Coffee Break
SESSION 4 10:15-12:15	THE ULTIMATE JUDAIC LANGUAGE: MODERN HEBREW AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY AND CURRENT CONTEXTS Convener: Dorit Ravid Chair: Steven Gillis	YIDDISH DIALECTS AND BEYOND Chair: Steffen Krogh
	Homography In The Development Of Hebrew Reading: An Ancient Challenge In New Contexts Amalia Bar-On	The Linguistic Position Of Western Yiddish: A Comparison Of Morpho-Syntactic Constructions With Their German And Eastern Yiddish Counterparts Jürg Fleischer, Lea Schäfer
	Derivational Morphology In Schoolage Hebrew: Development In The Shadow Of Language Disorder And Low Socio-Economic Status Ronit Levie	Synchronic And Diachronic Variation In Adjective Endings In Yiddish Rachel Steindel Burdin
	Conjunct Constructions In Hebrew Narratives: Modern Usage And Echoes Of The Past Liat Hershkovitz	Gender Change In The Southeastern And Central Yiddish Dialects Marina Shcherbakova
	Spoken And Written Organization In Hebrew Narratives Dorit Ravid & Yehudit Har Zahav	Analytic Verb Forms Of Infect Tenses In Yiddish And Judeo-Greek. A Comparative Study Valentina Fedchenko
12:15-13:30	Lunch

SESSION 5 13:30-15:30	CONTEMPORARY HASIDIC YIDDISH: EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS Conveners: Steffen Krogh & Netta Abugov Chair: Johan van der Auwera
	Convergence And Divergence In Haredi Yiddish Dialects Dalit Assouline
	Noun Plurals In Antwerp Hasidic Yiddish Netta Abugov & Steven Gillis
	Time Adverbials Vs. Locative Adverbials In The Yiddish Of New York Satmar Women Zelda Newman
	How Yiddish Is Haredi Satmar Yiddish? Steffen Krogh
15:30-15:45	Coffee Break
15:45-17:00	PLENARY KEYNOTE : Moshe Bar-Asher (Hebrew University) Jewish Languages and the Hebrew Language Discussion: Dorit Ravid, Sarah Benor, Frank Alvarez-Pereyre, Aharon Maman
17:00-17:15	Closing Remarks: Netta Abugov

Speaker abstracts

Speaker abstracts (PDF)

Social Program

Wednesday 26 June: Guided visit to the Kazerne Dossin - Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights.
The visit will be guided by Prof. dr. Herman Van Goethem (conservator of the museum).
Bus pick-up at 15.00 at Hof van Liere, Prinsstraat 13.
Please notice that the number of participants is limited!

Wednesday 26 June at 21.15: Reception

Thursday 27 June at 20.00: Conference dinner

Call for papers

Please note the deadline for abstract submission has passed and we no longer accept submissions.

Submissions for the following formats:
- Oral talks (20 min presentation + 10 min discussion)
- Posters
Abstract format: 1 page, 400 words, single-spaced, font size 12 pt, Times New Roman, 2.5 cm margins on all sides.

Heading should include:
- Title of the paper
- Author(s) name
- Form of presentation (oral/poster)
- Author(s) affiliation
- E-mail address of principal author

Abstracts should be sent to: ijs@uantwerpen.be (attention of Jan Morrens)

Conference fee:
Regular fee: 70 €.
Student fee: 40 €.

Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: 30 November 2012.
Notification of acceptance: 30 January 2013.
VJL conference: 26-28 June 2013.