'..fascinating and multifaceted... a paean to linguistic creativity.
It is especially timely in the present
historical context of rapid globalization and linguistic inter-influence.'
- Professor James A. Matisoff, Department
of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
'The volume is extremely impressive. Zuckermann demonstrates a mastery
of European and Hebrew
lexicography... In addition to developing a rigorous analytical
framework, he offers many detailed word
(and compound) histories and carves out a well-defined position
on issues of much significance.'
- Jeffrey Heath, Professor of Linguistics,
University of Michigan
'...this is the first time that anyone has drawn attention to the
extent to which 'phono-semantic matching'
applies in word formation...a most important contribution to the
study of Israeli Hebrew word formation in
particular and of language change in general.'
- Shmuel Bolozky, Professor of Hebrew,
University of Massachusetts
'This book will interest not only researchers and graduate students
in the topic but also Hebraists. Moreover,
any layman who loves words will find it absorbing and entertaining...
it is both scholarly and original [and] an
outstanding contribution to the science of etymology.'
- Professor Geoffrey Lewis, St Antony's
College, University of Oxford
'The book is an outstanding piece of scholarship which undoubtedly
represents a milestone in the field of lexicology.'
-Linguist List
'It would be foolhardy
for any lexicographer, lexicologist, etymologist, language planner,
morphologist not to have a copy of this book handy. The work is
accessible to a general audience though. Zuckermann set himself an
ambitious task which he has achieved with astounding brilliance.'
-Linguist List
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
ON LINGUIST LIST
Israeli Hebrew is a spoken language, 'reinvented' over the
course of the twentieth century. It has responded
to the social demands of the newly emerging state, as well as to escalating
globalization, with a vigorously
developing lexicon, enriched by multiple foreign language contacts.
In this detailed and rigorous study, the
author provides a principled classification of neologisms, their semantic
fields and the roles of source languages,
along with a sociolinguistic study of purists' and ordinary native
speakers' attitudes towards lexical enrichment.
His analysis of the tension between linguistic creativity and the
preservation of a distinct language identity
takes the discussion beyond the case of Israeli, through innovative
comparisons with Revolutionized Turkish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Yiddish, Estonian, Swahili, pidgins
and creoles, and other languages. At the beginning of the third
millennium, our world is characterized by worldwide communication
and the vast
distribution of technological and 'talknological' devices. The mobility
of the word respects no borders and the extent of that mobility may not be paralleled even in future (less
heterogeneous) generations. The study of
the modes and dynamics of language contact could hardly be more
timely.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. New Perspectives on Lexical Enrichment
2. The Case of Israeli: Multisourced Neologization (MSN) as an Ideal
Technique for Lexical Enrichment
3. Addition of Sememe Versus Introduction of Lexeme
4. MSN in Various Terminological Areas
5. Sociolinguistic Analysis: Attitudes Towards MSN in 'Reinvented
Languages'
6. The Source Languages
7. Statistical Analysis
8. Conclusions and Theoretical Implications
Appendix: Transcription, Transliteration and Translation
References
Index
Language and culture; Languages in contact; Lexicology; Linguistics;
Aavik; Afroasiatic languages; American English; Americanization; Anthropology;
Anthropological linguistics; Arabic language; Aramaic; Arts; Asian
languages; Ben-Yehuda;; Bible; Bilingualism; Bloomfield; Borrowing;
Camouflage; Change; Chinese language; Comparative linguistics; Contact
linguistics; Creativity; Creole dialects; Culture; Derrida; Dictionaries;
Education; English as the global language; English language--Foreign
countries; English language--Influence on foreign languages; Estonian;
Etymology; Europe; Far East; Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase
Books; Foreign Language Study; French language--Influence on foreign
languages; Gender; German language--Influence on foreign languages;
Globalization; Grammar, Comparative and general--Word formation; Greek
language--
Influence on foreign languages; Hamito-Semitic languages; Hebrew;
Hebrew language--Foreign words and phrases; Hebrew language--New words;
Hebrew language--Revival; Hebrew language--Word formation;
Historical linguistics; History; Human behaviour; Humanities; Indo-European
languages; Innovation; Israel; Jamaican Creole; Japanese language;
Imitation; ; Jewish learning and scholarship; Jewish languages; Judaic
studies; Judaism; Language; Language and languages--Etymology; Language
and languages--Orthography
and spelling; Language planning; Lexical enrichment; Lexicography;
Lexicon/lexis; Linguistic change; Mandarin; Medieval Hebrew(s); Middle
East; Mishnah; Literature; Modern Hebrew; Morphology; Multilingualism;
Non-fiction; Old Testament; Orthography; Philology; Phonetics; Phonology;
Pidgin languages; Polish language--Influence on foreign languages;
Politics; Portuguese; Purism; Rabbinic Hebrew; Reference; Religion;
Revitalization; Revival; Revolutions; Russian language--Influence
on foreign languages; Saussure; Semantics; Semitic languages;
Singlish (Singaporean English); Social Science; Society; Sociolinguistics;
Sociology; Spanish; Survival; Swahili; Psychology; Psycholinguistics;
Talmud; Turkish language; Vernacular; Vernacularization; Vocabulary;
Yiddish language; Words; Writing; Written communication.
Dr Ghil'ad Zuckermann, D.Phil. (Oxford), is Gulbenkian Research Fellow
at Churchill College, Cambridge. He teaches at the Faculty of Oriental Studies and is affiliated with
the Department of Linguistics, University of
Cambridge. He has published in English, Israeli, Italian, Yiddish,
Spanish, German and Russian; has taught in Singapore, the USA and Israel; and has held research posts in Italy,
Japan and Australia. His further
publications are listed here
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