Aaron Rubin's Homepage

Last updated: Novemver 2, 2009

 

Aaron D. Rubin
Pennsylvania State University
221 Weaver Building
University Park, PA 16802
adr10 AT psu.edu


POSITION HELD
Mal and Lea Bank Early Career Professor of Jewish Studies and Assistant Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Linguistics.

Penn State University, July 2004-present.

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Semitic Philology, Harvard University, 2004.
M.A. Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
B.A. Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, 1998.

COURSES TAUGHT
Language Courses:

Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10)

Advanced Biblical Hebrew (Fall 2004, Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)

Rabbinic Hebrew (Fall 2004)
Modern Hebrew Songs (Spring 2005)

Targumic Aramaic (Spring 2005, Fall 2009)
Readings in Aramaic Dialects (Fall 2005)

Yiddish Grammar and Reading (Fall 2005, Spring 2008)

Intermediate Modern Literary Arabic (Fall 2006)

Introduction to Classical Arabic (Spring 2009)

 

Lecture/Seminar Courses:

Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Fall 2004; scheduled Spring 2010)
Freshman Seminar: Literature of the Ancient Near East (Spring 2005)

Writing Systems of the World (Spring 2006, Fall 2008)


GRADUATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Fellow, Modern Hebrew, Harvard University (Fall 2000-Spring 2004)
Instructor, Advanced Biblical Hebrew, Temple Israel, Brookline, MA (Fall 2002-Spring 2003)
Teaching Fellow, Harvard University, Comparative Semitics (Fall 2003)

Instructor, Harvard University, Ethiopic (2nd semester) (Spring 2004)

 

BOOKS AUTHORED

Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization.  Harvard Semitic Series. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005.

  • Review: John Engle, Review of Biblical Literature (2006).
  • Review: Guy Deutscher, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 69 (2006): 464-66.
  • Review: Eran Cohen, Bibliotheca Orientalis 63 (2006): 340-43.
  • Review: John Cook, Hebrew Studies 47 (2006): 433-36.
  • Review: Michael Waltisberg, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 101 (2006): 709-14.
  • Review: Alan S. Kaye, Journal of the American Oriental Society 126 (2006): 284-86.
  • Review: David M. Stec, Journal of Semitic Studies 54 (2009): 253-54.

Samuel David Luzzatto, Prolegomena to a Grammar of the Hebrew Language. Gorgias Press, 2005.

  • Review: Arian Verheij, Review of Biblical Literature (2007).
  • Review: J. Middlemas, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 31 (2007): 266.
  • Review: Clive Fierstone, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 71 (2008): 119-21.
  • Review: Stefan Reif, Journal of Semitic Studies 53 (2008): 363-65.
  • Review: Dennis Pardee, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 68 (2009): 52-53.
  • Review: Martin F. J. Baasten, Journal of Jewish Studies 60 (2009): 151-53.

A Grammar of Omani Mehri. Leiden: Brill (forthcoming, 2010).

 

BOOKS EDITED

Associate Editor, Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill (in progress).

 

JOURNAL ARTICLES
“A Note on the Conjugation of Lamed-He Verbs in the Derived Patterns.” Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 14/1 (2001): 34-41.

“Notes on Genitive Exponents in some Modern Arabic Dialects.” Folia Orientalia 40 (2004): 327-36 (appeared 2006).

“On Syriac hārkā and Aramaic r < *n.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 66/2 (2007): 123-24.

“On the Third Person Preformative n- / l- in Aramaic, and an Ethiopic Parallel.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 44 (2007): 1-28.

“The Mehri Participle: Form, Function, and Evolution.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Series 3) 17 (2007): 381-88.

“The Subgrouping of the Semitic Languages.” Language and Linguistics Compass 2 (2008): 61-84.

“Interrogatives in Mehri: Their Use and Etymologies.” Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik 48 (2008): 75-90.

“The Paradigm Root in Hebrew.” Journal of Semitic Studies 53/1 (2008): 29-41.

“Two Peculiarities of Niphal Participles in Biblical Hebrew.” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 34/2 (2008): 123-30.

“The Functions of the Preposition k- in Mehri.” Journal of Semitic Studies 54/1 (2009): 221-26.

“Genesis 49:4 in Light of Arabic and Modern South Arabian.” Vetus Testamentum 59/3 (2009): 499-502.

“A Proper View of Arabic, Semitic, and More.” Co-authored with Gary Rendsburg and John Huehnergard. Journal of the American Oriental Society 128/3 (2008): 533-41 (appeared 2009).

 

“Ḥōm Sweet Ḥōm: The Unusual Mehri Verb ‘to want’.” Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik 51 (2009) (forthcoming).

“The Development of the Amharic Definite Article and an Indonesian Parallel.” Journal of Semitic Studies 55/1 (forthcoming, Spring 2010).

 “The Form and Meaning of Hebrew ’ašrê.” Vetus Testamentum (forthcoming).

 

“Samuel Archivolti and the Hebrew Vowel Point Controversy.” (under review)

“Mehri Dialect Studies.” (under review)

 

BOOK CHAPTERS

“An Outline of Comparative Egypto-Semitic Morphology.” In Egyptian and Semito-Hamitic (Afro-Asiatic) Studies in Memoriam Werner Vycichl, ed. Gábor Takács, pp. 454-86. Leiden: Brill, 2003.

“Semitic Languages.” In Afroasiatic Languages, eds. Zygmunt Frajzyngier and Erin Shay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming, 2010).

“The Value of Grammaticalization in Semitic.” In Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the International Group for Comparative Semitics (forthcoming).

“Phyla and Waves: Models of Classification of the Semitic Languages.” Co-authored with John Huehnergard. In The Semitic Languages (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science), ed. Stefan Weniger et al. Berlin: De Gruyter (forthcoming).

 

REFERENCE ARTICLES

“Hebrew.” Co-authored with Jeremy M. Hutton. In New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2, ed. Katharine D. Sakenfeld et al., pp. 768-78. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2007.

“Hebrew Language and Literature.” In Encyclopedia of the Modern World, ed. Peter N. Stearns, vol. 4, pp. 1-2. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

“Linguistics and Biblical Studies.” In New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 3, ed. Katharine D. Sakenfeld et al., pp. 667-68. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2008.

“Hieroglyphics.” In Encyclopedia of World History. Vol. 1: Ancient World, 8000 BCE to 600 CE, ed. Mark F. Whitters, pp. 198-99. New York: Facts on File, 2008.

“Abbreviations,” “Egyptian and Hebrew,” “Egyptian Loanwords in Biblical Hebrew,” “Grammaticalization,” “Hebrew Loanwords in Polynesian Languages,” “Indefinite Article,” “Paradigm (in post medieval Hebrew grammatical tradition).” In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, ed. G. Khan et al. Leiden: Brill (forthcoming, 2010/11).

 

BOOK REVIEWS

M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Judean Aramaic. Hebrew Studies 46 (2005): 387-89.

A. Dotan, The Awakening of Word Lore: From the Masora to the Beginnings of Hebrew Lexicography. Hebrew Studies 47 (2006): 460-62.

L. Jiménez Patón and A. Sáenz-Badillos, Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Sefer Moznayim. Journal of Semitic Studies 52 (2007): 166-68.

M. Ángeles Gallego, El judeo-árabe medieval: Edición, traducción, y estudio lingüístico del Kitāb al-taswi’a de Yonah ibn Ğanāh. Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 4 (2007): 412-15.

E. Ruiz Gonzalez and A. Sáenz-Badillos, Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Safah Berurah: La Lengua Escogida. Journal of Semitic Studies 52 (2007): 399-400.

J.N. Postgate, ed., Languages of Iraq: Ancient and Modern. Bulletin of the American Schools for Oriental Research 354 (2009): 79-81.

Émile Puech, ed., Qumrân Grotte 4 (XXVII): Textes Araméens, Deuxième Partie (4Q550-4Q575a, 4Q580-4Q587, et appendices). Discoveries in the Judean Desert 37. Review of Biblical Literature (2009).

R. Voigt, ed., From Beyond the Mediterranean: Akten des 7. Internationalen Semitohamitistenkongresses. Journal of Semitic Studies 55/1 (forthcoming, Spring 2010).

M. Gómez Aranda, Dos comentarios de Abraham ibn Ezra al libro de Esther. Journal of Semitic Studies 55/1 (forthcoming, Spring 2010).

A. Sáenz-Badillos, Storia della lingua ebraica. Journal of Near Eastern Studies (forthcoming).

Alan S. Kaye, ed., The Morphologies of Asia and Africa. Journal of the American Oriental Society (forthcoming).

Edward M. Cook, A Glossary of Targum Onkelos. Journal of Semitic Studies (forthcoming).

Kees Versteegh, ed., Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Volume III: Lat-Pu. Journal of Near Eastern Studies (forthcoming).

Geoffrey Khan, The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar, together with Geoffrey Khan, The Jewish Neo-Aramaic of Urmi. Journal of Semitic Studies (forthcoming).

Francesco Aspesi et al., eds., Il mio cuore è a Oriente: Studi linguistica storica, filologia e cultura ebraica dedicati a Maria Luisa Modena.” Journal of the American Oriental Society (forthcoming).

Alexander Sima, Mehri-Texte aus der jemenitischen Šarqīyah. Annotated and edited by Janet C.E. Watson and Werner Arnold. Journal of Semitic Studies (forthcoming).

 

TALKS

“The Definite Article in Central Semitic,” Harvard University Semitic Workshop, December 5, 2003.

“The Definite Article in Central Semitic,” Penn State University, March, 2004.

“A Short History of the Hebrew Language,” Harvard University, May 5, 2006.

“The Preformative n- / l- in Aramaic, and Parallels,” 2nd Meeting of the International Group for Comparative Semitics, Sitges, Spain, June 1, 2006.

“The Development of the Amharic Definite Article.” American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, March 14, 2008.

“The Mehri Language of Oman.” Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities, March 20, 2008.

“Grammaticalization and the Definite Article in Semitic.” 3rd Meeting of the International Group for Comparative Semitics, Turin, Italy, October 3, 2008.

“The Study of Hebrew Grammar from the Talmud to Today.” University of Texas, Austin, March 27, 2009.

“The Origins of Definite Articles in Semitic.” Groupe Linguistique d’Études Chamito-Sémitique (GLECS), Paris, France, May 28, 2009.

 

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS

Editorial Assistant for J.F. Coakley, Robinson’s Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar, Oxford University Press, 2002.

Coordinator, Harvard University Workshop in Semitic Philology, 2003-2004.

Series Editor, Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, Leiden: Brill, 2009-present.


AWARDS AND GRANTS
Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching: Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2001, Spring 2002, Fall 2003, Spring 2004.

IAH Individual Faculty Grant for Fall, 2007.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Comparative Semitic Linguistics
Biblical and Modern Hebrew Historical Grammar

History of the Field of Hebrew Studies
Mehri Morphology and Syntax

Aramaic Historical Grammar and Dialectology

Masoretic Studies

Targumic Studies

Historical Linguistics


Links