The Department of Hebrew Language offers a variety of programs whose goal is to introduce students to the complex history of the Hebrew language and its structure, and to provide them with skills and theoretical tools for advanced study of Hebrew. Our academic programs focus on:
Undergraduate studies in the department are organized around three foci:
Students in the B.A. program gain knowledge in all historical layers of the language, including its relationship with close members of the Semitic language family. They also enjoy rigorous training in linguistics, essential for understanding the inner workings of language and its internal structure.
Students can elect to specialize in one of two tracks: a linguistic track and a track in Jewish studies.
Information about our Ph.D. program is available from The Authority for Research Students here.
The Ben-Yehuda Center adjacent to the Department of Hebrew Language awards two Postdoctoral Fellowships each year to two researchers who have recently received their Ph.Ds. Ben-Yehuda Fellows teach in the department and receive an additional research stipend. A call for applications is posted annually on the departmental website and in the relevant mailing lists.
The goal of the M.A. program is to provide students with the necessary skills and theoretical tools for advanced study of Hebrew.
The department provides a Research Track, in which the student completes an original extended research paper, and a Regular Track, which places an emphasis on course work.
According to the student’s individual interests, a program of studies is devised to offer further specialization in (a) the historical stages of Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew, Modern Hebrew), (b) any area of linguistics (phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicography), or (c) a combination of the two.
For more information, please consult the M.A. program description here and the course catalog here (view information by year).