Department of the Hebrew Language
Subject: The request expressions in the emergence period of Modern Hebrew
Advisor: Prof. Yael Reshef, Prof. Adina Moshavi
Abstract: My doctoral research focuses on the expression of requests during the emergence period of Modern Hebrew. The study combines textual analysis with linguistic theories concerning speech acts and pragmatics. The corpus for research consists of texts from the first three decades of the 20th century, reflecting natural and everyday writing, rather than elevated writing, such as personal letters, university acceptance letters, letters to officials in institutions, etc., which are preserved in different archives. The aim of the research is twofold: first, to uncover the strategies and patterns that shaped the expression of requests during the emergence period of Modern Hebrew, and second, to explore how the diverse mother tongues of Hebrew writers during that time influenced the expression of requests.
Bio: Shiyu Hong earned her B.A. studies in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture from Peking University. She pursued her M.A. studies in the Department of Hebrew Language at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her thesis focuses on the use of adjectives in the Hebrew newspapers from 1870s to 2020, under the supervision of Prof. Yael Reshef. Shiyu is currently a PhD student in the Hebrew language at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her doctoral research focuses on request expressions during the revival period of Modern Hebrew, under the joint supervision of Prof. Yael Reshef and Prof. Adina Moshavi.
President Scholarship 2022/23