Tamar Sovran

Tamar Sovran

Tamar Sovran (Hebrew: תמר סוברן) (born 1948 in Rishon LeZion) is an Israeli linguist and Hebrew Culture Studies researcher in Language Department of Tel Aviv University.

Biography

Born and educated in Israel in Rishon leZion, the second daughter of Lea and Gershon Mann (Minkow), sister of Nira and Na'ama. Served in the IDF. Graduated with distinction in Hebrew Language and Literature and Philosophy from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Received her master's degree with distinction and Ph. D. in Philosophy of Language from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Post doctoral studies in Linguistics and Cognitive Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Lived with her family in Kibbutz Erez between 1972 and 1994. Taught Hebrew language, literature, and philosophy at Sha'ar Hanegev high school and Sapir College, taught philosophy and linguistics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Taught Modern Hebrew at the department of Hebrew Language and Philosophy of Language in the Amirim honors program for outstanding students at the Hebrew University. Taught in the Culture and Interpretation Doctoral Studies program at Bar Ilan University. Currently professor of Hebrew Language at Tel Aviv University. Founder of the new Hebrew and Jewish Studies program in the Hebrew Culture Studies department at Tel Aviv University and its chair (2007–2010). Since August 2013 Prof Sovran is the chair of the Hebrew Culture Studies department. Sovran is married to Benjamin Sovran (Wonsover) and the mother of three sons: Roy, Yair, and Iddo. She lives with her family in Ramat Gan.

Research and Main contributions

Sovran has three main lines of research: Cognitive Semantics: Semantic fields and frames, theory of metaphor; Poetic semantics: The contribution of linguistic semantic analysis to literary interpretation, and the revival and development of styles in Modern Hebrew's prose and poetry.

Books

• Semantic fields, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem 1994
• Investigations in conceptual semantics, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem 2000
• Language and meaning – the birth and growth of cognitive semantics, University of Haifa Press, 2006 (Winner of Bahat prize for the best nonfiction book, 2005)
• Relational Semantics and The Anatomy of Abstraction. Routledge,New York. 2013

Edited books and volumes

• New Faces and Directions in Contemporary Jewish Studies (in press)
• Xelkat Lashon Vol 44 (with Ruth Burstein, in press)
• Poetic semantics – Guest editor Balshanut Ivrit vol. 66 (in press)
• New Faces and Directions in Contemporary Jewish Studies, 2011
• Xelkat Lashon Vol 43- 44 (with Ruth Burstein), 2012
• Poetic semantics – Guest editor 'Balshanut Ivrit' vol. 67, 2013

External links

• Tamar Sovran's Site, including texts of her publications.
• Relational Semantics and the Anatomy of Abstraction. Routledge. New York 2013