Research
The research of Geoffrey Khan includes philological and linguistic studies of Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. He has a broad interest in all periods of the Hebrew language and is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, which was first published in 2013 (Boston: Brill) and is updated on an annual basis. This contains approximately 1,000 articles on all periods, traditions and methodological approaches to the Hebrew language. He has a specific interest in Biblical Hebrew. In his Ph.D. thesis he addressed various aspects of Biblical Hebrew syntax and subsequently worked on a variety of manuscript sources relating to the Tiberian Masoretic tradition and the pronunciation traditions of Biblical Hebrew. A concise overview of his work in this field can be found in his book A Short Introduction to the Masoretic Hebrew Bible and its Reading Tradition (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2nd edition, 2013). Closely related to his work on the Tiberian Masoretic tradition is his research on medieval Hebrew grammatical thought, especially that of the Karaite grammarians, who were closely associated with the Tiberian Masoretes. He has been commissioned by Oxford University Press to prepare the Oxford Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, which will present an updating and major expansion of Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar. Geoffrey Khan’s interests in Aramaic focus for the most part on the documentation of modern spoken forms of the language. He has undertaken extensive fieldwork on the many endangered dialects of the so-called North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic subgroup, which were originally spoken in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and western Iran. This research has resulted in the publication of a variety grammatical descriptions and an on-line database. In the field of Arabic his main published research has been on medieval Arabic documents. He has edited various corpora of documents, including Arabic papyri from early Islamic Egypt, documents from early Islamic Khurasan, and documents from Fatimid and Ayyubid Egypt that have been preserved in the Cairo Genizah. He is currently working on documents from the Fatimid period that were discovered in Qaṣr Ibrīm (Nubia) by the Egypt Exploration Society. He also works on some aspects of the history of the Arabic language, in particular the development of Judaeo-Arabic at various historical periods, including the modern spoken varieties, on which he has carried out fieldwork.
Publications
The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of the Assyrian Christians of Urmi. 4 vols. Vol. 1 Grammar: Phonology and Morphology. Vol. 2 Grammar: Syntax. Vol. 3 Lexical Studies and Dictionary. Vol. 4 Texts (Brill, Leiden, 2016)
A Short Introduction to the Masoretic Hebrew Bible and its Reading Tradition (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2012, second expanded edition 2013)
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2009), 631pp.
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Urmi (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2008), 624pp.
Neo-Aramaic Dialect Studies, editor, (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2008), 204pp.
The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar. 3 vols.Vol. 1 Grammar. Vol. 2 Lexicon. Vol. 3 Texts. (Brill, Leiden, 2008), 2175pp.
Arabic Documents from Early Islamic Khurasan (Nour Foundation, London, 2008), 183pp.
Publications (from Symplectic)
2015
2014
2013
2012 (No publication date)
2012
2011
2009
2008
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004167650.i-2198
2007
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1993
1992
1990
1988
2014
2012
Doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2011.11.008
2011
2010
2009 (Published online)
Doi: 10.2143/aram.21.0.2047091
2008
2007
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgl034
2006
2003
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1163/000000003780492665
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
Doi: 10.1093/jss/xliii.2.265
1997
Doi: 10.18647/2002/jjs-1997
1996
Doi: 10.1093/jss/xli.1.65
1994
Doi: 10.1017/s1356186300005976
1993
1992
1991
1990
Doi: 10.1017/s0035869x00107841
Doi: 10.1017/s0041977x00021224
1989
1988
1987
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/jss/XXXII.1.23
1986
Doi: 10.1017/s0041977x00045067
1984
Doi: 10.1017/s0041977x00113709