Routledge Studies in Jewish Languages

Routledge Studies in Jewish Languages is dedicated to scholarly research into the wide variety of languages that have been spoken and written by Jews throughout history and around the world. Jewish languages are a record of the rich and enduring history of the Jewish people, and they reflect the great diversity of the Jewish experience over the last three thousand years. Jewish languages are attested in the ancient Mediterranean world (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), medieval western Europe (e.g., Judeo-French, Judeo-Occitan, Judeo-Italian), the Middle East and North Africa (e.g., Judeo-Arabic, Neo-Aramaic, Judeo-Persian), Central Asia (e.g., Judeo-Georgian, Judeo-Tat, Bukhori), Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire (e.g., Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Turkish), and beyond (e.g. Jewish Malayalam, Judeo-Urdu, and Judeo-Chinese). Jewish languages are of scholarly relevance for different fields. From a linguistic perspective, they provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore the effects of language contact, since nearly all Diaspora Jewish languages reflect an ongoing relationship between Hebrew , the high-register written language, and a co-territorial non-Jewish vernacular (e.g. Arabic, French, Persian, etc.). They can also shed light on the development of the non-Jewish sister languages; for example, medieval Judeo-French and Yiddish provide clues about the pronunciation of medieval French and German, because they are written phonetically in the Hebrew alphabet. From a literary and cultural point of view, Jewish languages offer unique insights into Jewish life and culture which are not readily accessible through Hebrew or non-Jewish languages. In the present day, Jewish languages can serve as instructive case studies of language endangerment, language shift, and revitalization, as the internet and other 21st-century technologies open up new avenues for (often endangered) minority languages to flourish among heritage speakers. Routledge’s Studies in Jewish Languages is the first book series focused entirely on the scholarly examination this vibrant historical and contemporary Jewish linguistic activity. If you are interested in publishing a monograph or an edited volume in this series, please contact Lily Kahn at [email protected] and Aaron Rubin at [email protected]. We welcome contributions on all aspects of Jewish language research, including, but not limited to, linguistic documentation and description, language contact, sociolinguistics, revitalization, and comparative studies. The series encourages authors to publish their contributions to the series as Open Access volumes when possible. We anticipate the commissioning of 2-3 volumes per year.