Language in Jewish Society

This book presents an integrated analysis of characteristic sociolinguistic behaviour in Jewish communities. Particular attention is given to a discussion of the ways in which Jews have viewed the relationship between language and identity, how this has developed over the course of time (particularly the reaction to modernisation), why it has developed as it has, and how Jews compare to other groups in this respect. Topics discussed include diaspora Hebrew in different times and places, the revival of Hebrew, the survival of Yiddish in Ultra-Orthodox communities and its recent 'sanctification' among secular Ashkenazic Jews, other Jewish languages (particularly Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish) and the phenomenon of Jewish languages in general. Minority language policy in Israel, Hebrew prescriptivism, the role of sociolinguistic phenomena in the Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict are also discussed in detail.

John Myhill is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Haifa, where he has taught sociolinguistics since 1995.