Non-iterativity, Icy Targets, and the Need for Non-linear Representations in Feature Spreading

Vowel and vowel-consonant harmonies have been central to much linguistic theorizing over the last century. One prevailing theme in this work is the need for non-linear representations. Clements (1981) and Jurgec (2011) argue for the superiority of non-linear representations for the analysis of unbounded and bounded feature spreading, respectively. This paper modifies and extends the metrical analysis in Jurgec (2011) to provide an Optimality Theoretic account for three bounded harmonies, rounding harmony in Central Crimean Tatar, as well as ATR harmony in Bangla and Iny. In all of these patterns, a vowel undergoes harmony but does not further propagate the harmonic feature. The metrical analysis is then compared to analyses employing string-based and autosegmental representations

Sonority-driven stress and vowel reduction in Uyghur

A number of authors have argued that sonority differences among vowels may interact with weight-sensitive stress placement (e.g. Kenstowicz 1994, 1997; de Lacy 2006). In previous work on sonority-sensitivity, variable stress placement has usually been assumed. In this paper, I examine the role of sonority in Uyghur, a language with fixed stress. I argue that sonority is encoded as a weight distinction in the language, which drives asymmetric lengthening of word-final high vowels. I demonstrate that a mora-based analysis also offers insight into medial vowel raising in the language, and sketch out an Optimality theoretic account of the data. Findings from this study support the recent claim made by Shih & de Lacy (2019) that sonority differences are only indirectly available to the grammar in the form of weight distinctions

The Rejoicing Sailor and the Rotting Hand: Two Formulas in Syriac and Arabic Colophons With Related Phenomena in Some Other Languages

A common simile in Greek colophons likens the scribe at the end of the copying work to a sailor reaching harbor, and Greek colophons also sometimes include lines contrasting the abiding power of written texts and the short-lived hands that wrote them. Formulas of both of these kinds also appear in Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. They have been studied before, but few of the texts themselves have been published in full. This paper presents many relevant examples from Syriac and Arabic colophons, with English translation, along with a few remarks on these themes in other literature. The Syriac and Arabic examples are prefaced by several in Greek, which have been published before, but generally without any English translation

The Edessan martyrdom-tale of Habib

A new English translation of the martyrdom of Habib from Syriac

“He loves drinking old wine from the jug”: Some Remarks on Alcoholic Beverages in Syriac Literature Based on Secular and Religious Texts

The history of alcoholic beverages in various cultures, including our own, has often been written. These investigations have looked at viticulture, brewing, distillation, and the economic and religious uses and effects of alcoholic beverages. Syriac literature, being somewhat of an arcane area of interest, has rarely—if ever!—entered into any of the discussions. It is, nevertheless, a corpus with a breadth wide both in size and subject matter, and there is no dearth of references to alcoholic beverages, their preparation, and use. This paper, based on both secular and religious texts in Syriac, most of them composed in a Muslim-majority culture, will touch on questions of what kinds of alcohol were drunk, how these drinks were made, who did the drinking and what was thought of their drinks (including acknowledgement of its detriments), and finally we will ask what Syriac literature contributes to the history of drinking

Garshuni As It Is: Some Observations from Reading East and West Syriac Manuscripts

Syriac script has been used to write several languages other than Syriac, the most well known of which is Arabic, a phenomenon known generally and simply as Garshuni. While both Syriac and Arabic belong to the Semitic family of languages and thus share some phonological similarities, there are also differences. In addition, we are dealing with well-established written traditions on both sides, Syriac and Arabic, but we are also dealing with, on the Arabic side, a reading tradition influenced more or less by the reader’s own Arabic dialect, and thus a reading tradition that does not necessarily have Classical Arabic as its absolute model. Syriac script has a smaller inventory of letters than Arabic script, and while scribes often used diacritical marks to fill out this deficiency, that practice was hardly universal. In an ideal situation, there might be exact correspondences between this Syriac letter (or letter plus diacritic) and that Arabic letter, and such an ideal appears in published charts to describe Garshuni, but manuscripts vary widely from this tidy ideal, and it is the purpose of this paper to highlight that variety with examples from several manuscripts

Greek Literature in the Christian East: Translations into Syriac, Georgian, and Armenian

Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 3 (2015) 15–6

A New Gǝʿǝz Text on Adam and the Judgement of the Angels (Gundä Gunde 177)

Published in Adam Carter McCollum (ed.), Studies in Ethiopian Languages, Literature, and History. Festschrift for Getatchew Haile. Presented by his Friends and Colleagues (Äthiopistische Forschungen 83; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017). 431-446

Notes and Colophons of Scribes and Readers in Georgian Biblical Manuscripts from Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai)

2018, In Liv Ingeborg Lied and Marilena Maniaci, eds.Bible as Notepad: Tracing Annotations and Annotation Practices in Late Antique and Medieval Biblical Manuscripts. Manuscripta Biblica 3. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. Pp 111-12

Philosophy, Science, and Belles-lettres in Syriac and Christian Arabic Literature: A Gentle Introduction and Survey

It might be assumed that the genres of Syriac and Christian Arabic literature are made up exclusively (or almost so) of sacred topics (Bible, commentary, liturgy, asceticism, hagiography, theology, etc.), the writers, scribes, and readers in these communities often being monks, presbyters, deacons, and bishops. A broad look at the surviving evidence of this literature, however, shows an immense interest in subjects not directly connected to the church, monastery, or Christian life at all, among them philosophy, science, and belles-lettres. This paper offers a basic overview of these subjects as Syriac and Christian Arabic authors dealt with them, especially from manuscript collections in eastern Turkey