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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 649

Part of Session 120: Sociolinguists on Facebook on the Indigenous Languages in the City (Other abstracts in this session)

Adaptation of "mixed cities" in Israel to a new bilingual standard: a critical analysis

Authors: Horesh, Uri
Submitted by: Horesh, Uri (University of Essex, Israel)

When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, several Palestinian cities were forcefully transformed into what is now known as "mixed cities." The Arabic-speaking population in these towns, once the majority, has been reduced to a minority not only in the country as a whole, but also in these more local domains. 

This study examines the transition of an indigenous population and its use of language, both its native Arabic and its newly acquired Hebrew and - recursively - the latter's effects on the former in such linguistic domains as phonology, morpho-syntax and the lexicon. Perhaps more importantly, though, we will discuss some of the social and educational aspects of having had to negotiate such a shift of dominance from one language to another in such a short period of time and under such tense circumstances.

Much of the data for this study comes from fieldwork conducted in the coastal town of Jaffa in 2004 and is supplemented by evidence from other sources from surrounding urban areas undergoing similar transitions.