Multiglossia in Judeo-Arabic: With an Edition, Translation, and Grammatical Study of the Cairene Purim Scroll

This volume contains a study of multiglossia in Judeo-Arabic in addition to a critical edition, annotated translation, and a cultural and a grammatical study of The Purim Scroll of the Cairene Jewish Community, written in 1524 to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews of Cairo from Ahmad Pasha, the governor of Egypt.
'Multiglossia' is a linguistic state in which different varieties of a language exist side by side in a language community and are used under different circumstances or with various functions. 'Judeo-Arabic' has been written and spoken in various forms by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
Part One places the language of the Judeo-Arabic text of the Scroll within the multiglossic history of Judeo-Arabic. Part Two introduces the two critical editions of the Scroll, both in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic, with the variant readings followed by an annotated translation. Part Three presents a detailed grammar of the Scroll using the framework of Judeo-Arabic multiglossia.

Benjamin Hary (Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies, University of California, 1987) is Director of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Emory University. He has published extensively on Judeo-Arabic language and linguistics, Arabic linguistics and dialectology, the history of Judaic languages, and proficiency-based teaching of Hebrew and Arabic.