Courses
GS/HUMA 6222 3.00 Jews, Language, and Society
Humanities 6222: Jews, Language, and Society
HNE 401 Wednesday, 4-7
Prof. K Weiser, kweiser@yorku.ca
Office hours, Wednesday 2.30-3.30 or by appointment, 754 York Research Tower
Course Description
Hebrew, the language of the Torah and much of Jewish legal and religious writing for thousands of years, has come to be closely associated with Jews despite the fact that this Canaanite dialect was not uniquely used by Israelites or Jews and ceased to be a spoken language for roughly 2000 years. Over time, Jews came to speak a multitude of vernaculars closely related to non-Jewish languages and to honour Hebrew and Aramaic, a lingua franca of the ancient Near East, as their sacred tongues. This pre-modern model of language use - Hebrew/Aramaic alongside a diasporic vernacular - prevailed for centuries until the breakdown of traditional Jewish society and the beginnings of Jewish integration into European and other societies. With the advent of nationalism, Jewish language use took on new directions as language-centric movements, usually tied to political movements, began to arise. In the 21st century, Jewish language practices are again rapidly changing. Most traditional Jewish vernaculars, with the exception of Yiddish, are headed toward disappearance. More than half of today's Jews speak Hebrew as their mother or dominant tongue. Yet, despite the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language and symbol of nationhood, English is the language which unites most Jews for secular functions in an age of globalization. And, perhaps paradoxically, Hebrew is a language of everyday life for many non-Jews while Russian has in some contexts become an emblem of Jewish life. Finally, Jews, particularly in North America, may be on their way to creating new Jewish vernaculars.
Drawing on the disciplines of linguistics, sociology, and history, this course will examine the use of language among Jews from antiquity through the contemporary era. The focus will be on understanding the transition from models of language and identity in the pre-modern era until the Enlightenment and beyond. In particular, attention will be given to the effects of nationalism and social integration into non-Jewish society on Jewish language use from the 18th century until today.
This course will examine questions such as the following: do Jews speak differently than non-Jews in all eras and what marks speech as Jewish? What constitutes a Jewish language and why are some languages used by Jews seen as Jewish and others not? How does Jewish language use compare with that of other ethno-religious communities? What can we learn about Jewish/non-Jewish relations through language use? What role does language play in Jewish identity? How does language serve different purposes, e.g. secular and religious? How does language help to construct identity and create community boundaries? What can language tell us about patterns of migration and cultural exchange? What is the relationship between language and power within Jewish societies?
Required Books and Readings
John Myhill, Language in Jewish Society. Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters, Ltd., 2004
Sander Gilman, Jewish Self-Hatred. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986
Jeffrey Shandler, Adventures in Yiddishland: post-vernacular language and culture Berkeley: UCLA Press, 2006
All other readings will be made available by the instructor and are subject to change with advance notice. Primary sources will be announced weekly. For more information and course updates, see my webpage: http://www.yorku.ca/kweiser/.
Recommended
Raymond Scheindlin, A short history of the Jewish people: from legendary times to modern statehood. New York: Macmillan, 1998
Assignments
- 1. A critical review essay , 5-6 pages (30%).
Reviews should be critical and evaluative. Be sure to summarize the content of the book and the author’s theses as well as convey the essential conclusions of the work. Include your appraisal of the author’s methodology, use of sources, and conclusions. Consider also what the book’s strengths and weaknesses are, who its intended audience (e.g. experts in the field, laymen, individuals interested in specialty X) is, its structure, and how, if you can determine, this work may fit into a broader academic field.
- 2. A research paper treating a theme of this course, 20-30 pages (50%). It is recommended (but not necessary) that this paper build on themes explored by the academic book review. The writing of the paper will be in stages:
1. submission of proposed topic and sources (due 21 October); 2. outline (due 11 November); 3. final paper (due at end of semester)
- 3. Oral presentation of one’s research in progress (10%).
- 4. Regular participation in class discussion and introduction of readings (10%).
Class Schedule
I. Introduction
9 September
Jews, language, and communities: an overview
Steven Lowenstein. The Jewish Cultural Tapestry, 1-48 Steven Lowenstein
Bernard Spolsky and Sarah Bunin Benor. “Jewish Languages.” Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 120-124 (available as e-resource)
John Myhill, Language in Jewish Society, 1-29
Introduction to linguistics and the sociology of language
Recommended:
Ronald Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 1-53Wardaugh
George Yule, The Study of Language, 27-40, 43-49, 54-59, 182-191, 195-203, 205-214, 217-225
Primary sources:
R. Akiba Joseph Schlesinger, “An Ultra-Orthodox Position.” The Jew in the Modern World, 202-204
Ehud Banai, “Hebrew Man”
II. Jews and language in antiquity: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin
16 September
What is a Jewish language?
Chaim Rabin, “What Constitutes a Jewish Language?” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 19-28 Chaim Rabin
Joshua Fishman. “The Sociology of Jewish Languages from a General Sociolinguistic Point of View,” Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages, 3-20 Fishman
Uzzi Ornan, “Hebrew is not a Jewish Language,” Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages, 22-24 Ornan
Myhill, 29-57Ornan
Jews and language in antiquity
Max Weinreich, History of the Yiddish Language, “Yiddish in the Framework of Other Jewish Languages,” 45-74Weinreich%201
Myhill, 58-69, 109-118
Bernard Spolsky, “Jewish Multilingualism in the First Century: An Essay in Historical Sociolinguistics,” Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages, 35-50 Spolsky
Richard L. Goerwitz, “The Jewish Scripts.” The World’s Writing Systems, 487-499Goerwitz
Recommended:
Saenz-Badillos, A History of the Hebrew Language 1-15, 50-56, 76-86, 112-129Saenz-Badillos%201
Primary Sources:
Genesis 10:1-32; Genesis 11:26-32, 12:1-9; Genesis 31:43-50
Deuteronomy 26:5-10
For on an online translation of the Hebrew bible: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm
III. Jews and language in medieval and early modern society
23 September
Jewish languages and Diglossia
Charles Ferguson, “Diglossia” Word 15 (1959): 325-340Ferguson
Max Weinreich, History of the Yiddish Language, 74-174Weinreich%201a
Lowenstein, 54-67Lowenstein%20languages
Benjamin Hary and Howard I. Aronson, “Adaptations of Hebrew Script.” The World’s Writing Systems, 727-734 and 741-742Writing%20system%202
Norman Stillman, “The Judeo-Arabic Heritage,” Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry, 40-54Stillman
David Bunis, “Judeo-Spanish Culture in Medieval and Modern Times,” Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry, 55-75Bunis
Jonathan Decter, “Literatures of Medieval Sepharad,” Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry, 76-100Decter
Recommended:
Peter Burke, Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Articles on Judeo-Berber, Judeo-French, Judeo-Greek, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Provencal at www.jewish-languages.org
30 September
Language and Religion.
Max Weinreich, History of the Yiddish Language, 175-246 (the way of the SHaS)Weinreich%202, 351-4 (merged Hebrew)Weinreich%20merged%20Hebrew
Myhill, 62-69
Lowenstein, 49-54
Saenz-Badillos, A History of the Hebrew Language, 202-209Medieval%20Hebrew
Norman Stillman “Language Patterns in Islamic and Judaic Societies.” Islam and Judaism: 1400 Years of Shared Values, 41-55Stillman%20patterns
Dovid Katz, Words on Fire, 79-111Katz%20Words_0001_NEW_0001
David Bunis, “A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Judezmo and Yiddish,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 49-70Bunis%20Comparative
Shaul Stampfer, “Heder Study, Knowledge of Torah, and the Maintenance of Social Stratification in Traditional East European Jewish Society,” Studies in Jewish Education, 3 (1988): 271-289Shampfer%201
IV. The Crisis of Modernity
7 October
The breakdown of traditional society and its linguistic impact
Sander Gilman, Jewish Self-Hatred
Lowenstein, 69-83Lowenstein%20names
21 October
The Jewish “National Renaissance” and the quest for monolingualism
Hebrew and Haskalah
Myhill, 126-140
Primary Sources
The Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) among Eastern European Jews
Language and Nationalism: Yiddish, Judezmo, Esperanto, Hebrew
Yael Chaver, What Must Be Forgotten, 1-44Chaver
Yisrael Bartal, “From Traditional Bilingualism to National Monolingualism.”Hebrew in Ashkenaz, 141-149Bartal
Joshua Fishman, Ideology, Society & Language, 38-71Fishman%20Birnbaum
Aaron Rodrigue, “The Ottoman Diaspora: The Rise and Fall of Ladino Literary Culture,” Cultures of the Jews, ed. David Biale, 863-885Rodrigue
Sarah A. Stein, "Asymmetric Fates: Secular Yiddish and Ladino Culture in Comparison," The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 96, No. 4 (Fall 2006) 498–509 96.4stein
Norman Berdichevsky, “Zamenhof and Esperanto,” Ariel 64 (1986): 58-71Zamenhof
Recommended:
Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1789
Sarah A. Stein, Making Jews Modern. The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires
28 October
The Interwar Period: the contested linguistic sphere and language authorities
Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 3-62Mendelsohn
Todd Endelman, “Assimilation.” YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, 81-87Assimilation
Barry Trachtenberg, "Ber Borochov’s 'The Tasks of Yiddish Philology'," Science in Context 20/2 (2007); 341–352Trachtenberg
Ber Borochov, "The Tasks of Yiddish Philology," Science in Context 20/2 (2007): 341–352Borochov.
Chone Shmeruk, “Hebrew-Yiddish-Polish; a trilingual Jewish culture.” The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars, ed. Yisrael Gutman et al, 285-311
Shlomo (Solomon) Birnbaum, "Jewishness and Yiddish," Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, ed., Voices from the Yiddish, 122-128Birnbaum
Kalman Weiser, “The ‘Orthodox’ Orthography of Solomon Birnbaum,” Studies in Contemporary Jewry XX (2004): 275-295Weiser
Yosef Klauzner, "Ancient Hebrew and Modern Hebrew," Benjamin Harshav, Language in Time of Revolution, 208-215 Klausner
Benjamin Harshav, “Language. Multilingualism.” The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, 991-996Language Multilingualism
Rakhmiel Peltz and Mark Kiel, “The Soviet Yiddish-imperye.” Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages: Their Past, Present and Future, ed. Isabelle T. Kreindler, 277-309Peltz
Recommended: Lucy Dawidowicz, From That Place and Time
VI. Language use in contemporary Jewish life
4 November
Post-World War II: the case of Israel
Benjamin Harshav, Language in Time of Revolution, 153-180Harshav Hebrew
Ghilad Zuckermann, “’Abba, why was Professor Higgins trying to teach Eliza to speak like our cleaning lady?’" Mizrahim, Ashkenazim, prescriptivism and the real sounds of the Israeli language.” Australian Journal of Jewish Studies 19 (2005): 210-231abba
Philologos, "Hebrew vs. Israel" http://www.forward.com/articles/4052/
Ghilad Zuckermann, "Let my people know!" http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242212397385&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Lewis H Glinert, “Holy land, holy language: a study of an ultraorthodox Jewish ideology.” Language in Society 20,1 (1991): 59-86Glinert Shilhav
Joshua Fishman, “Language Planning for the ‘Other Jewish Languages’ in Israel.” Language Problems and Language Planning 24.3 (2000): 215-231Fishman%20Israel
Muhammad Amara, “Arab language education in the Hebrew State."New Perspectives and Issues in Educational Language Policy (2001), 155-170 Amara
Ami Elad-Bouskila, "Arabic and/or Hebrew: The Languages of Arab Writers in Israel." Israeli and Palestinian Identities in History and Literature (1999),Elad-Bouskila 133-158
11 November
Yiddish and Jewish identity in Anglo-North America
Jeff Shandler, Adventures in Yiddishland
18 November
Death and birth of Jewish languages
Tracy Harris, “Reasons for the Decline of Judeo-Spanish,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 37 (1982): 71-97Harris 1
Neil Jacobs, Yiddish: a Linguistic Introduction, “Post-Yiddish Ashkenazic Speech,” 306Jacobs
Chaim Weiser, Frumspeak, excerptChaim Weiser
David Gold, “Jewish English.” Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages, 280-298Gold
Sarah Bunin Benor, “Do American Jews Speak a "Jewish Language"?: A Model of Jewish Linguistic Distinctiveness,” Jewish Quarterly Review 99/2 (Spring 2009): 230-26999.2.benor
Deborah Tannen, “New York Jewish Conversational Style,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 133-149Tannen
Anna Verschik, “Jewish Russian and the Field of Ethnolect Study.” Language in Society 36/2 (2007): 213-232Verschik
Yona Sabar, “Burying My Mother Tongue”
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c228_a15559/Special_Sections/Text_Context.html
"Rise of Yiddish Scholar Elicits Kvetches From Traditional Yiddishists,” http://www.forward.com/articles/13102/
VII. Summary and Conclusions
25 November
December 2
Seminar led by Dr. Sol Goldberg: “On the Secularization of the Hebrew Language and on Secularization as Such”
Gershom Scholem’s letter to Rosenzweig: “Confessions on the Subject of Our Language”Scholem,%20Confessions%20on%20the%20Subject%20of%20Our%20Language
Walter Benjamin, “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man”Benjamin,%20On%20Language%20as%20Such%20and%20on%20the%20Language%20of%20Man
Selected Bibliography of English-language sources
Benedict Anderson. Imagine Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism. London, New York: Verso, 1991
Jean Baumgarten. Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature. Edited and translated by Jerold
C. Frakes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
Simeon D. Baumel. Sacred Speakers. Language and Culture among the Haredim in
Israel. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006
Joan Bratkowsky. Yiddish Linguistics. A Multilingual Bibliography. New York: Garland
Pub., 1988.
David M. Bunis. Sephardic studies: a research bibliography incorporating Judezmo
language, literature and folklore, and historical background. New York: Garland
Pub., 1981.
David M. Bunis and Andrew Sunshine. Yiddish linguistics: a classified bilingual index to
Yiddish serials and collections, 1913-1958. New York: Garland Pub., 1994.
Peter Burke, Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge, New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Yael Chaver. What Must Be Forgotten. The Survival of Yiddish in Zionist Palestine.
Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2004.
Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds., The World’s Writing Systems. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1996.
Lucy Dawidowicz. From That Place and Time. A Memoir 1938-1947. New York:
Bantam Books, 1989
Gennady Estraikh. Soviet Yiddish. Language Planning and Linguistic Development.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999
David E. Fishman, The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture. Pittsburgh: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 2005
Joshua A. Fishman, Ideology, Society & Language. The Odyssey of Nathan Birnbaum.
Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma Publishers, 1987
Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Leiden: Brill, 1985
Jerold C. Frakes, The Politics of Interpretation. Alterity & Ideology in Old Yiddish
Studies. Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.
Sander Gilman, Jewish Self-Hatred Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986
Lewis Glinert, Hebrew in Ashkenaz. A Language in Exile. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1993.
Tracy Harris. Death of a language: the history of Judeo-Spanish. Newark: University of
Delaware Press; London : Associated University Presses, 1994.
Benjamin Harshav. The Meaning of Yiddish. Berkeley: UCLA Press, 1990
Language in Time of Revolution. Berkeley: UCLA Press, 1993
Joel M. Hoffman. In the beginning: a short history of the Hebrew language. New York:
New York University Press, c2004.
Miroslav Hroch, “The Social Interpretation of Linguistic Demands in European National
Movements,” EUI Working Paper EUF No.94/1 (1994)
Neil G. Jacobs. Yiddish: a Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2005
Dovid Katz. Words on Fire. The Unfinished Story of Yiddish. New York: Basic Books,
2004
John Myhill, Language in Jewish Society. Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon,
Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters, Ltd., 2004
Shmuel Niger. Bilingualism in the History of Jewish Literature. Translated by Joshua A.
Fogel. Landham, MD: University Press of America, 1990
Eugenia Prokop-Janiec, Polish-Jewish Literature in the Interwar Years. Translated by
Abe Shenitzer. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003
Angelo Saenz-Badillos, A History of the Hebrew Language. Translated by John Elwolde.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993
Naomi Seidman, Faithful Renderings. Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of
Translation. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2006
Jeffrey Shandler. Adventures in Yiddishland. Postvernacular Language & Culture.
Berkeley: UCLA Press, 2006
Bernard Spolsky. The Languages of Jerusalem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993
Ilan Stavans. Resurrecting Hebrew. New York : Nextbook: Schocken, 2008.
Sarah A. Stein, Making Jews Modern. The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and
Ottoman Empires. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004
Barry Trachtenberg. The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917. Syracuse:
Syracuse University Press, 2008
Max Weinreich. History of the Yiddish Language. ed. Paul Glasser, trans. Shlomo Noble.
New Haven and London: Yale University Press and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2008
YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Gershon Hundert, ed. New Haven: Yale
University Press and YIVO, 2008
Zion Zohar, ed. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry; from the Golden Age of Spain to Modern
Times. New York: New York University Press, 2005
NOTE: For extensive references see
and individual articles in
Martin Goodman, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
Consult also RAMBI on the website of the Jewish National & University Library (www.jnul.huji.ac.il)