{{Short description|Israeli linguist (1957–2018)}} {{Infobox academic | name = Irit Meir | native_name = {{Script/Hebrew|עירית מאיר}} | native_name_lang = Hebrew | image = Irit Meir 10-2004.jpg | caption = Irit Meir in Dead Sea, Israel, 2004 | birth_name = Irit Eisenstadt | birth_date = {{birth date |1957|08|18}} | birth_place = Jerusalem, Israel | death_date = {{death date and age |2018|02|23 |1957|08|18}} | death_place = Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel |discipline=Linguist|sub_discipline=Sign language linguistics| workplaces = University of Haifa | education = Gymnasia Rehavia | alma_mater = Hebrew University of Jerusalem | thesis_title = Thematic Structure and Verb Agreement in Israeli Sign Language | thesis_url =https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Irit_Meir_Dissertation_1998.pdf | thesis_year = 1998 |doctoral_advisor={{Plainlist| * Yehuda Falk, Hebrew University of Jerusalem * Wendy Sandler, University of Haifa }}| academic_advisors = Professor Yael Ziv, Hebrew University of Jerusalem | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Israeli Sign Language | influences = | influenced = | spouse = Ron Meir, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | children = 3 | website = {{URL|signlab.haifa.ac.il/index.php/2013-01-16-09-49-17/irit-meir}} | footnotes = }}

right|thumb|Irit Meir: Thematic Structure and Verb Agreement in Israeli Sign Language, submitted to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1998

'''Irit Meir''' ({{Langx|he|עירית מאיר}}; August 18, 1957 – February 23, 2018) was an Israeli linguist, who specialized in the linguistics of sign languages. She was an associate professor in the Department of Hebrew Language and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Haifa, and the associate director of the Sign Language Research Lab.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lsa2017.uky.edu/users/iritmeir|title=Irit Meir {{!}} 2017 Linguistic Institute|website=lsa2017.uky.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-04-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/11883433_Irit_Meir|title=Irit Meir's scientific contributions while affiliated with University of Haifa (Haifa, Israel) and other places|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2018-04-20}};<br>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.google.se/citations?user=his11AUAAAAJ&hl=en|title=Irit Meir – Google Scholar Citations|website=scholar.google.se|access-date=2018-04-20}}</ref>

== Early life == Irit Meir was born Irit Eisenstadt on August 18, 1957 in Jerusalem.<ref name=LSA>{{Cite web|url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2018/03/05/memoriam-irit-meir|title=In Memoriam: Irit Meir|website=Linguistic Society of America|language=en-us|access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref> Her parents were Professor Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, an Israeli sociologist,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://assets.cambridge.org/97811070/68032/frontmatter/9781107068032_frontmatter.pdf|title=How India Became Democratic|website=Cambridge|language=en-gb|access-date=April 6, 2018|quote=I obtained some rare research material from the collection of the late '''Shmuel N. Eisenstadt''' thanks to the generosity of '''his daughter Irit Meir.'''}}</ref> and Shulamit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://isa-global-dialogue.net/shmuel-eisenstadt-dies-at-87|title=Shmuel Eisenstadt Dies at 87|website=Global Dialogue, Magazine of the International Sociological Association|language=en-gb|access-date=April 18, 2018|quote=On the personal level, Professor Eisenstadt and his wife, '''Shulamit''', often invited colleagues and students to his home.}}</ref>

During her school years, Irit was involved with the Israeli Scout Movement, where she was a leader. She participated in several Israeli youth delegations to the USA and Europe, and was involved in social and voluntary activities during her school years. She also played the flute for years. Meir finished high school at the top of her class, serving as valedictorian at its graduation ceremony. In 1975 she spent a pre-induction year of social work in the southern town of Mitzpe Ramon.

Her army service was with the IDF Intelligence Corps, in which she furthered her studies of the Arabic language.

== Career in linguistics == Irit Meir obtained her PhD in 1998 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her thesis was entitled, "Thematic structure and verb agreement in Israeli Sign Language." The syntax and semantics of verb agreement was one central strand of her research on sign languages. Another was iconicity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://signlab.haifa.ac.il/index.php/2013-01-16-09-49-17/irit-meir|title=Sign Language Research Lab – Irit Meir|website=signlab.haifa.ac.il|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-04-07|quote=Her research interests include sign language linguistics [...] with a special focus on iconicity and its interaction with grammar.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259700998|title=Competing iconicities in the structure of languages|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2018-04-20}}</ref>

Meir wrote a book on Israeli Sign Language aimed at the general public with Wendy Sandler (Meir & Sandler 2007).

In collaboration with Mark Aronoff, Carol Padden and Wendy Sandler, Meir made fundamental contributions to the investigation of the emergence of language with her research on Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2005-06-21|title=Language Emergence: Clues from a New Bedouin Sign|journal=Current Biology|language=en|volume=15|issue=12|pages=R463–R465|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2005.06.018|pmid=15964267|pmc=2562693|issn=0960-9822|last1=Senghas|first1=Ann}}</ref> Their research is featured in the popular science book, ''Talking Hands'', by Margalit Fox.

Meir was also a scholar of Modern Hebrew, serving on a committee for linguistic terminology in the national Academy of the Hebrew Language.<ref name=LSA /> She authored articles on the linguistics of Modern Hebrew and, with Moshe Bar-Asher, co-edited ''Nit'e Ilan: Studies in Hebrew and Related Fields''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.magnes-press.com/Book/Nit%27e+Ilan.aspx?name=Nit%27e+Ilan&code=45-050216&docNo=1&qid=2|title=Nit'e Ilan – Editor Moshe Bar-Asher, Irit Meir|access-date=2018-04-07|archive-date=2018-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420140105/https://www.magnes-press.com/Book/Nit%27e%20Ilan.aspx?name=Nit%27e%20Ilan&code=45-050216&docNo=1&qid=2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==

* Meir, Irit. 2002. A cross-modality perspective on verb agreement. ''Natural Language and Linguistic Theory'' 20, 413–450. * Meir, Irit. 2010. Iconicity and metaphor: constraints on metaphorical extension of iconic forms. ''Language'' 96, 865–896. * Meir, Irit & Wendy Sandler. 2007. ''A Language in Space: the Story of Israeli Sign Language''. Psychology Press. * Sandler, Wendy, Aronoff, Mark, Padden, Carol & Meir, Irit. (2014). Language emergence. In J. Sindell, P. Kockelman & N. Enfield (Eds.), ''The Cambridge handbook of linguistic anthropology'' (pp.&nbsp;250–284). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Sandler, Wendy, Meir, Irit, Padden, Carol & Aronoff, Mark. 2005. [http://www.pnas.org/content/102/7/2661.full The emergence of grammar: Systematic structure in a new language.] ''PNAS'' 102, 2661–2665. * Sandler, Wendy, Aronoff, Mark, Meir, Irit, Padden, Carol. (2011). The Gradual Emergence of Phonological Form in a New Language. ''Natural Language and Linguistic Theory'' 29, 503–543.

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons}} * [http://signlab.haifa.ac.il Signlab Haifa]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meir, Irit}} Category:Linguists from Israel Category:Women linguists Category:Linguists of sign languages Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Haifa Category:1957 births Category:2018 deaths Category:People from Kiryat Tiv'on