College of Humanities People
Neil Jacobs, Professor
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures: http://germanic.osu.edu/Melton Center for Jewish Studies: http://meltoncenter.osu.edu/
429 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH, 43210
Email: jacobs.8@osu.edu
Phone: 614-292-4267
Fax: 614-292-8510
Office Hours:
Spring Quarter
T 10:30-1:00, 3:30-5:00, and by appointment
General Background:
Neil G. Jacobs, PhD (Columbia University, 1984). Professor.
Research interests: Yiddish phonology and morphology; history of the Yiddish language; Yiddish linguistic geography; general historical linguistics, Post-Yiddish Jewish ethnolects (especially of German and Dutch); use of language in Jewish cabaret.
Books: Economy in Yiddish Vocalism: A study in the interplay of Hebrew and non-Hebrew components (1990). Harrassowitz Verlag
Yiddish: A linguistic introduction (2005). Cambridge University Press
Edited volumes: Studies in Jewish Geography. Special Issue of Shofar: An interdisciplinary journal of Jewish studies, Vol. 17, No. 1. Fall 1998.
When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence. Edited by Brian D. Joseph, Johanna DeStefano, Neil Jacobs, and Ilse Lehiste. Ohio State University Press. (2003).
Articles on: Hebrew-Aramaic component in Yiddish; Yiddish phonology; Yiddish morphology; history of the Yiddish language; Yiddish linguistic geography; hyperforeignism in general linguistic change; diglossia; ethnogeographic information systems (EGIS) for mainframe and pc; Jewish-German; Jewish cabaret.
Major courses taught: History of the Yiddish language; Yiddish linguistic geography; language and society in interwar Vienna.
New teaching projects include: a group-studies course in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese under the rubric Spanish 694: "Introduction to Papiamentu language and Culture".
My Syllabus
