The gender challenge of Hebrew / by Malka Muchnik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muchnik, Malka, author.

Series:

Brill reference library of Judaism ; v. 42.

The Brill reference library of Judaism ; volume 42

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Hebrew language--Gender.

Hebrew language.

Hebrew language--Sex differences.

Sex differences.

Physical Description:

vii, 255 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2015]

Summary:

The Gender Challenge of Hebrew is the first book to delve in depth into gender representation over the 3,000-year history of Hebrew. Malka Muchnik analyses the grammatical characteristics of gender, reveals social and cultural issues reflected, and presents challenges for achieving change. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

Language and Gender as a Cultural and Social Problem 1

Initial Studies on Language and Gender 2

Is Gender a Grammatical or Semantic Issue? 4

Symbolization and Language Organization 5

Gender Markedness 7

Gender Markedness in Natural Languages 7

Gender Markedness in Constructed Languages 9

Grammatical Gender in Hebrew 10

Feminine Markedness and Derivation 10

Grammatical Gender of Animate and Inanimate Nouns 15

Grammatical Gender of Numerals 16

Semantic Impact on Gender 17

Language and Gender Representation 19

Gender and Brain Representation 23

Gender and the Speech Community 25

Language and Gender Research 28

Linguistic Changes in Gender 31

2 Language and Gender in Classical Hebrew 33

General Remarks 33

Gender in the Bible 34

Men and Women's Representation in Biblical Terms 34

Women's Status in the Bible 38

Women and Leadership in the Bible 44

Gender Proverbs in the Bible 47

Grammatical Gender in Biblical Hebrew 49

Gender Shifting of Pronouns and Inflected Prepositions 49

Gender Shifting of Verbs, Participles and Copulas 53

Gender Shifting and Special Cases of Nouns 57

Differences in Forms of Address 61

Gender in Mishnaic Times 63

Grammatical Gender in Mishnaic Hebrew 63

Women's Status in Mishnaic Period 66

Mishnaic Stories about Women 71

Gender in the Middle Ages 74

Grammatical Gender in Medieval Hebrew 74

Women's Status in Medieval Times 77

3 Language, Gender and Religion 83

Men and Women in Judaism 83

Women and the Study of Religious Texts 87

Expectation for Women to Remain Silent 90

Jewish Women's Status Over the Course of Time 92

Linguistic Terms for Religious Functions 95

Jewish Ceremonies 99

Birth Ceremonies and Prayers 99

Bar Mitzvah and BatMitzvah Ceremonies 103

The Wedding Ceremony 105

Special Religious Texts for Women 106

Religious Texts Written by Women 111

Feminist Changes in Judaism 114

Language Changes in Liturgical Texts 119

Blessing for Not Being Created a Woman? 120

Adding the Names of the Matriarchs 124

Alternative Names for God 126

Mentioning Women in Ceremonies 128

4 Gender in Modern Literature and Language 131

The First Women Writers in Hebrew 131

Special Female Genres and Style 133

Special Women's Literature? 135

Women Writers in Israel 137

Hebrew Revitalization and Gender 139

Father Tongue or Mother Tongue? 143

Women Writers Entering the Canon 144

Gendered Language in Literature 147

Social Reasons for Linguistic Differences 150

Gender Distinctions in Hebrew 152

Gender in the Number System 153

Gender in Animal Names 155

Androcentric Generics 158

Gender Saliency and Discrepancy 159

Gender Perceptions in the Language 161

Gender and Metaphoric Uniqueness 166

Stereotypes Reflected in the Language 169

Popular Gendered Expressions 174

5 Gender Changes in the Language 178

Language Change or Social Change? 178

Different Types of Linguistic Changes 180

Applying Linguistic Changes 182

Changes in Constructed Languages 186

Grammatical Changes in Hebrew 187

Changes in Forms of Address 189

Morphological Changes 195

Lexical and Semantic Changes 196

Changes in Professional and Occupational Titles 198

Masculine Use for Female Occupations 203

Masculine Fixed Expressions in Hebrew 206

Gender Use in Proper Names 210

Gender Changes in Proper Names 213

Switching Linguistic Gender 216

Language, Gender and Sexuality 219

Hebrew Terms Referring to Homosexuality 222

6 Summary and Conclusions 226

The Problem of Language and Gender 226

The Gender Problem in Hebrew 226

Gender in Hebrew throughout History 227

Gender Representation in Judaism 227

Gender in Modern Language and Literature 228

Gender Changes in Modern Hebrew 228.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789004282704

900428270X

9789004282711

9004282718

OCLC:

884961871