 2014 - 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0627-3605-01 | Language and Ethnic Identity in Israel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 4.0
Course description
Language and Ethnic Identity in Israel
In this class we will focus on the two official languages of Israel, Hebrew and Arabic, from a sociolinguistic point of view. We will explore how speakers use the variation in their language to position themselves in the social ethnic landscape, and how the study of such phenomena can enrich our understanding of the role of ethnic identity in Israeli society.
The majority of the course will be dedicated to Jewish ethnic identities and the use of Hebrew. We will begin by exploring the ethnic make-up of the Jewish community in Israel, trying to problematize the broad labels most often used by Israelis, Mizrahis and Ashkenazis, and proceed to a more nuanced picture. We will then have the tools to look at specific features of Hebrew and how they are interpreted socially. We will first explore features that are stereotyped as “Mizrahi” – such as the pharyngeal sounds – and see that these features are not simply linguistic markers for Mizrahi ethnicity, highlighting the fact that these cannot be analyzed as a Ashkenazi-Mizrahi binary. We will track how the use of these features has changed over time, and taken on new meanings, by seeing their divergent usage in conversation, formal speech giving, and singing registers. We will then move on to further linguistic features of Hebrew, which are not stereotypically related to ethnicity, and see which may be relevant for investigation.
Finally, in the last section of the course we will shift our focus to the Arabic speaking community in Israel. We will explore how the choice of language between Arabic and Hebrew varies between different speakers and different settings, and move on to looking at linguistic features of Arabic as spoken in Israel, and whether some of them can be attributed to an influence of contact with Hebrew.
Prerequisites: Intro to sociolinguistics (or authorization from teacher)
Course requirements: final seminar paper
In this class we will focus on the two official languages of Israel, Hebrew and Arabic, from a sociolinguistic point of view. We will explore how speakers use the variation in their language to position themselves in the social ethnic landscape, and how the study of such phenomena can enrich our understanding of the role of ethnic identity in Israeli society.
The majority of the course will be dedicated to Jewish ethnic identities and the use of Hebrew. We will begin by exploring the ethnic make-up of the Jewish community in Israel, trying to problematize the broad labels most often used by Israelis, Mizrahis and Ashkenazis, and proceed to a more nuanced picture. We will then have the tools to look at specific features of Hebrew and how they are interpreted socially. We will first explore features that are stereotyped as “Mizrahi” – such as the pharyngeal sounds – and see that these features are not simply linguistic markers for Mizrahi ethnicity, highlighting the fact that these cannot be analyzed as a Ashkenazi-Mizrahi binary. We will track how the use of these features has changed over time, and taken on new meanings, by seeing their divergent usage in conversation, formal speech giving, and singing registers. We will then move on to further linguistic features of Hebrew, which are not stereotypically related to ethnicity, and see which may be relevant for investigation.
Finally, in the last section of the course we will shift our focus to the Arabic speaking community in Israel. We will explore how the choice of language between Arabic and Hebrew varies between different speakers and different settings, and move on to looking at linguistic features of Arabic as spoken in Israel, and whether some of them can be attributed to an influence of contact with Hebrew.
Prerequisites: Intro to sociolinguistics (or authorization from teacher)
Course requirements: final seminar paper