The Gender Challenge of Hebrew (Brill Reference Library of Judaism, 42)

Description

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. Contents Preface 1 Introduction Language and Gender as a Cultural and Social Problem Initial Studies on Language and Gender Is Gender a Grammatical or Semantic Issue? Symbolization and Language Organization Gender Markedness Gender Markedness in Natural Languages Gender Markedness in Constructed Languages Grammatical Gender in Hebrew Feminine Markedness and Derivation Grammatical Gender of Animate and Inanimate Nouns Grammatical Gender of Numerals Semantic Impact on Gender Language and Gender Representation Gender and Brain Representation Gender and the Speech Community Language and Gender Research Linguistic Changes in Gender 2 Language and Gender in Classical Hebrew General Remarks Gender in the Bible Men and Women’s Representation in Biblical Terms Women’s Status in the Bible Women and Leadership in the Bible Gender Proverbs in the Bible Grammatical Gender in Biblical Hebrew Gender Shifting of Pronouns and Inflected Prepositions Gender Shifting of Verbs, Participles and Copulas Gender Shifting and Special Cases of Nouns Differences in Forms of Address Gender in Mishnaic Times Grammatical Gender in Mishnaic Hebrew Women’s Status in Mishnaic Period Mishnaic Stories about Women Gender in the Middle Ages Grammatical Gender in Medieval Hebrew Women’s Status in Medieval Times 3 Language, Gender and Religion Men and Women in Judaism Women and the Study of Religious Texts Expectation for Women to Remain Silent Jewish Women’s Status Over the Course of Time Linguistic Terms for Religious Functions Jewish Ceremonies Birth Ceremonies and Prayers Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Ceremonies The Wedding Ceremony Special Religious Texts for Women Religious Texts Written by Women Feminist Changes in Judaism Language Changes in Liturgical Texts Blessing for Not Being Created a Woman? Adding the Names of the Matriarchs Alternative Names for God Mentioning Women in Ceremonies 4 Gender in Modern Literature and Language The First Women Writers in Hebrew Special Female Genres and Style Special Women’s Literature? Women Writers in Israel Hebrew Revitalization and Gender Father Tongue or Mother Tongue? Women Writers Entering the Canon Gendered Language in Literature Social Reasons for Linguistic Differences Gender Distinctions in Hebrew Gender in the Number System Gender in Animal Names Androcentric Generics Gender Saliency and Discrepancy Gender Perceptions in the Language Gender and Metaphoric Uniqueness Stereotypes Reflected in the Language Popular Gendered Expressions 5 Gender Changes in the Language Language Change or Social Change? Different Types of Linguistic Changes Applying Linguistic Changes Changes in Constructed Languages Grammatical Changes in Hebrew Changes in Forms of Address Morphological Changes Lexical and Semantic Changes Changes in Professional and Occupational Titles Masculine Use for Female Occupations Masculine Fixed Expressions in Hebrew Gender Use in Proper Names Gender Changes in Proper Names Switching Linguistic Gender Language, Gender and Sexuality Hebrew Terms Referring to Homosexuality 6 Summary and Conclusions The Problem of Language and Gender The Gender Problem in Hebrew Gender in Hebrew throughout History Gender Representation in Judaism Gender in Modern Language and Literature Gender Changes in Modern Hebrew Conclusions References Subject Index Author Index