Hebrew as a Medium Sized Hebrew as a Medium Sized Language Community (MSLC)Language Community (MSLC)

Challenges faced by MSLC in the XXI Century Conference

Anat StavansAnat Stavans

Beit Berl Academic College &NCJW- Insitute for Innovation in Education,

Hebrew University in Jerusalem

December 3-4CUSC - Universidad de Barcelona

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF RESEARCH IN BILINGUALISM

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My presentation

• History of Hebrew

• Revival of Hebrew

• Homeland, diaspora and transnationalism

• Language facts of Modern Hebrew

• Language policy in Israel

• Language policy in education in Israel

Hebrew History:Four major periods

Biblical or Classical

• Until 3rd century BC

• Most of the Old Testament is written

Medieval

• 6th - 13th century AD

• Borrows Greek, Spanish, Arabic words and from other languages

Mishnaic or Rabbinic

• Language of the Mishna: collection of Jewish traditions

• Mishnaic Hebrew spoken Rabbinic Hebrew written

• 200 AD - 6th century AD

Haskala and Modern • Europe (1770-1880)• Language of Israel (1886 -

present)

Revival of Hebrew

Beginning:

• Hebrew was diglosic – written Hebrew known by all;

spoken Hebrew was not.

• State of the Jewish nation split with written Hebrew as a

unifying force and spoken Hebrew as divisive force.

• Need for a common language for the new homeland

• 1881-1882 Ben Yehuda begins the: “Hebrew in Hebrew”

movement as a means to educate people under the

ideological credo of “Hebrew man speak Hebrew”

Revival of Hebrew

1889 onwards:

• First Hebrew-only school is established

• Hebrew slowly penetrates all levels of education from

kindergarten to graduation

1900-1910:

• Young generation who was educated and grew on

Hebrew only was getting married

• First generation of Hebrew monolingual home begun

Revival of Hebrew

Modern Hebrew

• Based on biblical language

• Innovations to meet modern needs

• Only colloquial speech based on a written language

• Pronunciation based on Sepharadic (Hispano-Portuguese) Jews rather than Ashkenazi (East European) Jews

• Syntax based on that of the Mishna

• Use of word three-consonants roots with vowels and other consonants added k.t.v yields kotev (writes)

• Written from right to left in a Semitic script of 22 letters

Revival of Hebrew

The impact of the revival of Hebrew (Shohamy, 2008)

1. attempts to revive and preserve endangered language result in:

a. high costs on the individual b. regulations that contradict daily practices and

personal beliefs of an individual or a group

2. the need to revive a language is rooted in:a. ideologically driven agenda b. may last long after revival has been achievedc. may remain even if languages are no longer

endangered.

Revival of Hebrew Hidden agendas

a. the language spoken in Palestine, andb. the unifying force in building a nation

Overt practicesa. “Hebrew Only” policy, b. de-legitimized the home language of the immigrants c. advocating “Ivri daber Ivrit” (Hebrew-man speak

Hebrew)d. maintaining another language, was detrimental e. Policy embraced and institutionalized into educational

programs in Israelf. “exported by proxy” to Jewish communities outside

Israel – catering to ideology, immigration and settlement in Israel

Revival of Hebrew

The outcome of the revival of Hebrew (Ben Rafael, 1994)

1. Hebrew revival is a success story but not without difficulty

2. Its status as an “endangered” language is questionable.

People were gathering and needing a common language of communication

It is not a case of revival but rather of “re-vernacularisation”

Hebrew vernacular liturgical unifying force - ideological

Summary of Hebrew Language History

Hebrew : being a vernacular language

• To: a liturgical language until the nineteenth century

• Then: Haskala movement in Europe expands traditional

Judaism to secular populace, promoting national ideologies

• These ideologies were reinforced by the revival of Hebrew as

a unifying force among the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

• Revival process was completed by 1920

• Hebrew: declared the language of instruction

• Melting Pot measures: compelling immigrants to learn

Hebrew even at the expense of their language of origin in the

late 1930’s.

Homeland, Diaspora and Transnationalism

Transnationalism characterized by the new conditions resulting from globalization:

a. de-territorialization of economic, social, cultural and political relations

b. does not depend on distance or borders

c. interactions and relationships continue to be developed without international borders laws, regulations and national narratives

d. new readings of past conditions and experiences of migratory flows of Diaspora communities change the character of new social/communal formations

Homeland, Diaspora and Transnationalism

Diasporas are previous formations of transnationalism:

a. Globally dispersed yet collectively self-identified ethnic groups

b. Territorial states and contexts where such groups

reside

c. Emotional/ideological and ethnic ties to the homeland

states and contexts their forebears arrived from

Homeland, Diasporah and Transnationalism

The world Jewry is a case of transnationalism

because:

a. Their place of origin marked the migratory flows

b. They shaped their communal life

c. Built their associational and institutional profile and their

collective consciousness as part of a broader feeling of

peoplehood

d. Developed a sense of belonging that expressed itself as

well through global political interactions

Israel’s population:

7,466.3 millions

• 75.5% Jews and Jewish Immigrants;

• 20.2% Israeli Arabs

• 4.3% Foreign (non-jewish)

Immigration from:

America & Oceania 24.5%

(former) USSR 41.0%

Europe 5.2%

Africa 13.8%

Asia 9.8%

Jewish population outside Israel:

13,305.000 (2008)

The Destiny of Hebrew

Hebrew in Israel and in the Diaspora is undergoing major changes due to globalizationglobalization effects (Nevo & Olshtain, 2007).

Modern colloquial Hebrew -drastically impoverished by globalization --- loosing its authenticity, pure form, and properness.

Hebrew -- a dynamic communicative system -- inevitably undergoes changes according to trends of globalization.

Language policy of Israel TODAY

OFFICIALLANGUAGES

HEBREW ARABICSemi-Official

ENGLISH

All Ordinances, official notices and official forms of the Government and all official notices of local authorities and municipalities in areas to be prescribed by order of the High Commissioner, shall be published in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

82nd paragraph of the “Palestine order in Council” issued August 14, 1922, for the British Mandate of Palestine

Any order in the law which requires the use of the English language is hereby abolished.

Adopted and amended by the State of Israel, on May 19, 1948.

Current state of Hebrew outside Israel TODAY:

HEBREW

INSTRUMENTAL HERITAGE

Multilingualism in Israel

Israel is a complex, multilingual,

multicultural society !

A linguists Heaven!!!

Multilingualism in Israel

Language policy

• Overt and covert

• National

Multilingualism in Israel

Language policy

• Overt and covert

• Private/sectorial

Israel’s Language Policy must provide for all the languages of Israel TODAYHebrew - official, principal language, spoken by most people

Arabic - second official language, medium of instruction in the Arabic sector of public schools and the heritage language of Jews from Arabic countries

English - major foreign language

Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Tat, Judeo-Berber - endangered Jewish languages brought by immigrants

Russian, Polish, Hungarian, English, French, Amharic, Tigrinya - some of the community languages of immigrants

French, German, Japanese - a few of foreign languages taught

Armenian, Assyrian (Aramaic), Circassian - some of the community languages of non-Jewish Israelis

Language Education Policy in Israel

• No overt policy concerning the place of languages in Israeli education until 1995.

• Policy for Language Education in Israel, issued in the Ministry of Education Director-General's Circular dated June 1, 1995, revised on 15 April 1996 (Ministry of Education, 1996) and in effect as of September 1996

• Policy covers mother tongue teaching, and second and foreign language education.

Language Education Policy in Israel

• Mother Tongue Education

• Foreign Language Education

As for the:

THE LANGUAGE EDUCATION SYSTEM

We will discuss it in the panels tomorrow.

Gràcies Gracias

Thanks Youתודה רבה

لك شكراСпасибо