Language change, prescriptive language, and spontaneous speech in Modern Hebrew
-
Einat Gonen
Abstract
Unlike most living languages, the use of Hebrew as a spoken language is characterized by historical discontinuity. In this article, I discuss certain features of spoken usage among the first generations of speakers of Modern Hebrew (henceforth: MH), using a unique corpus – ten hours of unstructured interviews recorded in 1956–1966 with speakers born between 1885–1925. Using these recordings, I suggest a distinction between two types of language change:
-
Dynamic organic language change evident from the comparison between two stages of a spoken language.
-
Disparity between the planned prescriptive language and the spoken language used from the first few decades of MH (henceforth: Early Modern Hebrew – EMH) through the present.
This analysis sheds light on linguistic processes reflected in present-day Hebrew, as it allows us to distinguish between the two types of changes. My proposal is that dynamic language changes occurred in MH only when there is a language change among different generations of MH speakers. This type of changes is similar to the common linguistic changes of any other normal living language. By contrast, the second type of a change is the linguistic differences between MH and prescriptive language (which is based on Classical Hebrew) that do not reflect a process of normal language change, but a partial adoption (along with partial rejection) of the prescriptive language already by the first generations of speakers.
Abstract
Unlike most living languages, the use of Hebrew as a spoken language is characterized by historical discontinuity. In this article, I discuss certain features of spoken usage among the first generations of speakers of Modern Hebrew (henceforth: MH), using a unique corpus – ten hours of unstructured interviews recorded in 1956–1966 with speakers born between 1885–1925. Using these recordings, I suggest a distinction between two types of language change:
-
Dynamic organic language change evident from the comparison between two stages of a spoken language.
-
Disparity between the planned prescriptive language and the spoken language used from the first few decades of MH (henceforth: Early Modern Hebrew – EMH) through the present.
This analysis sheds light on linguistic processes reflected in present-day Hebrew, as it allows us to distinguish between the two types of changes. My proposal is that dynamic language changes occurred in MH only when there is a language change among different generations of MH speakers. This type of changes is similar to the common linguistic changes of any other normal living language. By contrast, the second type of a change is the linguistic differences between MH and prescriptive language (which is based on Classical Hebrew) that do not reflect a process of normal language change, but a partial adoption (along with partial rejection) of the prescriptive language already by the first generations of speakers.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgement and Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- The limits of multiple-source contact influence 33
- Existential possessive modality in the emergence of Modern Hebrew 55
- The derivation of a concessive from an aspectual adverb by reanalysis in Modern Hebrew 95
- Why did the future form of the verb displace the imperative form in the informal register of Modern Hebrew? 117
- The change in Hebrew from a V-framed to an S-framed Language 143
- From written to spoken usage 179
- Language change, prescriptive language, and spontaneous speech in Modern Hebrew 201
- The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax 221
- Can there be language continuity in language contact? 257
- Our creolized tongues 287
- Why do children lead contact-induced language change in some contexts but not others? 321
- Variation and conventionalization in language emergence 337
- “Mame Loshen” 365
- Index 387
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgement and Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- The limits of multiple-source contact influence 33
- Existential possessive modality in the emergence of Modern Hebrew 55
- The derivation of a concessive from an aspectual adverb by reanalysis in Modern Hebrew 95
- Why did the future form of the verb displace the imperative form in the informal register of Modern Hebrew? 117
- The change in Hebrew from a V-framed to an S-framed Language 143
- From written to spoken usage 179
- Language change, prescriptive language, and spontaneous speech in Modern Hebrew 201
- The biblical sources of Modern Hebrew syntax 221
- Can there be language continuity in language contact? 257
- Our creolized tongues 287
- Why do children lead contact-induced language change in some contexts but not others? 321
- Variation and conventionalization in language emergence 337
- “Mame Loshen” 365
- Index 387
