The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History

376 Pages·2014·3.218 MB·

by  Bernard Spolsky

The Languages of the Jews
Historicalsociolinguisticsisacomparativelynewareaofresearch,investigat-
ing difficult questions about language varieties and choices in speech and
writing. Jewish historical sociolinguistics is rich in unanswered questions:
when does a language become “Jewish”? What was the origin of Yiddish?
HowmuchHebrewdidtheaverageJewknowoverthecenturies?Howwas
Hebrewre-establishedasavernacularandadominantlanguage?Thisbook
explorestheseandotherquestions,andshowstheextentofscholarlydisagree-
mentovertheanswers.Itshowsthevalueofaddingasociolinguisticperspec-
tive to issues commonly ignored in standard histories. This is a vivid
commentary on Jewish survival and Jewish speech communities, and is
essential reading for students and researchers interested in the study of
MiddleEasternlanguages,JewishStudies,andsociolinguistics.
bernard spolsky is Professor Emeritus of the English Department at
Bar-Ilan University and editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Language
Policy(2012).

The Languages of the Jews
A Sociolinguistic History
Bernard Spolsky
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pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-1-107-05544-5
1. Jews–Languages–History. 2. Sociolinguistics. 3. Jews–History.
I. Title.
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Contents
Listofmaps pagex
Prefaceandacknowledgments xi
Glossary xiv
1 IsHebrewanendangeredlanguage? 1
Twoquestions 1
Sociolinguisticecology 2
Domains 7
Hebrewisnotendangered 13
2 TheemergenceofHebrew 17
Historicalsociolinguisticsandthepuzzleoforigins 17
EarlyHebrewandlanguageinthetwokingdoms 22
Babylonianexile 28
Languageshift 32
3 Hebrew–Aramaicbilingualismandcompetition 35
Whatistheevidence? 35
DidHebrewsurvivethereturn? 38
4 ThreelanguagesinHellenisticandRomanPalestine 46
LinguisticeffectsofAlexander’sconquests 46
ThesurvivalofHebrew 53
ThelanguagesituationinRomanPalestine 55
WhataboutLatin? 59
Thethreelanguagevarieties 61
5 FromstatehoodtoDiaspora 63
Thelossofstatehood 63
TheroleofGreekandthegrowthoftheDiaspora 69
WhatisaJewishlanguagevariety? 72
BabyloniaandJudeo-Aramaic 75
6 TheArabianandAfricanconnections 80
Addinganothermajorlanguage 80
YemenandYemanic 88
BetaIsrael:JudaisminEthiopia 90
BlackJewsandtheirlanguages 92
vii
viii Contents
7 ThespreadofIslam 95
TheMuslimconquestofSyriaPalestina 95
TheKaraites:aJewishcounter-movement 100
TheIslamicconquestofBabyloniaandTalmudicHebrew–Aramaic 101
TheconquestofEgypt 102
TheIslamicconquestofSpain 105
ThedevelopmentoflocalvarietiesofArabic 110
8 TheJewsofFrance 117
ThelanguagesoftheJewsofTsarfat 117
Jewsasothers:thebasisforanti-Semitism 121
JewishcommunitiesinnorthernFrance 122
9 TheJewsofSpainandtheirlanguages 129
JewsinSpain 129
Al-AndalusunderMuslimrule 132
JewishlanguagesandJudeo-Spanish 140
10 Loter-AshkenazandthecreationofYiddish 146
JewsinAshkenaz 146
Jewishmultilingualismatthemillennium 155
ThebirthofYiddish 156
11 TheYavanicarea:GreeceandItaly 159
GreeceandItaly 159
Jewishpublishing 168
Yavan 169
12 JewsinSlaviclands 171
Wheredidtheycomefrom? 171
ThemurkyoriginsofYiddish 178
InSlaviclands 186
13 LinguisticemancipationandassimilationinEurope 190
Intothemodernworld 190
TheEnlightenmentinwesternEurope 194
EastEuropeandtheadditionofco-territorialvernaculars 201
Yiddishunderattackinwestandeast 206
Solet’smakealanguage:Esperanto 214
14 Britain,itsformercolonies,andtheNewWorld 216
Apersonalhistory 216
Westernization:BritainandtheBritishCommonwealth 217
LanguageloyaltiesintheUnitedStates 221
OtherEnglish-speakingcountries 226
Spanish:asecondNewWorldlanguage 230
Summingup:emancipatedBritainandtheNewWorld 233
15 IslamandtheOrient 234
Jewsinpost-medievalIslam 234
TheIslamicOrient 241
Contents ix
JewsinAsia 243
TheOrient:asummary 248
16 ThereturntoZionandHebrew 249
BackgroundtotheemergenceofspokenHebrew 249
TheYiddish–Hebrewstruggle 251
Hebrewbecomesofficial 259
HebrewasthehegemoniclanguageofIsrael 262
Historyorsociolinguistics? 266
Appendix EstimatedcurrentstatusofJewishlanguages 269
Notes 273
References 311
Index 342