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Micro language planning and the revival of Hebrew: A schematic framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

Moshe Nahir
Moshe Nahir
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3T 2N2, [email protected]
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Abstract

Supported by contemporary evidence, this study discusses the revival of Hebrew a century ago (within two or three decades), with a focus on the actual total shift of pre-Israel Palestine's Jewish community from Yiddish and several other languages to Hebrew as an all-purpose means of communication. First, four “factors” that prevailed prior to and during the revival are discussed: the “communicative”, “political”, “religious”, and “literary.” The study then proposes schematically that the shift to Hebrew evolved in a cycle consisting of four consecutive albeit partially overlapping “steps”: (1) The children are instilled with desired language attitudes. (2) The children acquire the code, Hebrew. (3) The children transfer Hebrew, now a second language, out of the schools. (4) With these children now adults, their newly born receive Hebrew as a first language. Finally, the study suggests that, in the absence of a central authority, the revival can be seen as a case of “micro language planning,” in which potential speakers constituted “language planning agents” active in “language planning cells.” (Language revival, Hebrew, language planning, language shift, vernacular)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , June 1998 , pp. 335 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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