Linguistic imperialism: Rhetoric versus reality
Colonization is among the many crimes of which the Jewish nation is accused. Indeed “settler colonialism” has taken on the status of original sin and Israel is cast as the archetypal transgressor.
Settler colonial theory was birthed in academia, particularly in Australia, Canada and America. The standard model is that of foreign settlers from an imperial centre, taking over peoples and cultures on distant shores. However, when settler colonialist advocates insist on viewing Israel through such a lens, a cognitive dissonance results. The history of Jewish connection to the land of Israel, which traverses more than three millennia, mocks the false construct of the dominant academic narrative. The fact that there has been such a longstanding Jewish presence in the land contradicts the claim that Jews are foreign colonizers.
One of the more obvious examples of the disconnect between rhetoric and reality is in the area of language loss, a matter of deep concern to Indigenous cultures worldwide. Linguistic imperialism refers to the imposition of a dominant language on a people who speak a different language. English is the prime example of a colonizing language having spread across multiple lands between the 16th and 19th centuries, when Britannia “ruled the waves”. It is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion, now use English.
If one considers the Middle East, the dominance of Arabic is an indicator as to which is the colonizing power. There are around 25 independent states and territories that have Arabic as the dominant language and it is also an official language in Israel.
As a result of the Islamic conquests of the 7th to 9th centuries, Arabic spread to North Africa, the Middle East, Central and Western Asia, and even to parts of China. Peoples across the region were made to submit to the new religion, Islam, and the language of the Islamic imperialists was imposed on native inhabitants. Many Indigenous languages were banned and some were subsequently lost. Arabisation of the Middle East continued in the twentieth century as European colonizing powers divided up the Middle East, post World War 1, creating new Arab nation states.
Although Indigenous groups such as the Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Amazighs resisted assimilation, continued to live on ancestral lands, and tried to maintain their language, culture and heritage, they were placed under the rule of Arab leaders. To this day, these Indigenous Peoples in the Middle East face discrimination and persecution, with their languages suppressed.
While many attempts have been made to divest Jews of their Indigenous status, one of the strongest evidences for their indigeneity is the survival of their ancient language. The story of the restoration of Hebrew as the language of everyday use for Israelis, is one of inspiration and hope for other Indigenous Peoples fighting to preserve, resurrect or revitalize their languages.
The history of Hebrew over the past two millennia reflects that of its people. Originally known as Hebrews, after the eponymous ancestor Eber, their Indigenous language was used in daily life until the sixth century BCE, at which time Aramaic became more commonly used. Hebrew remained the language of religion, the government and the upper class. When the Jewish people were expelled by the Romans in 135CE, from their ancestral land of Judea (the land of the tribe of Judah, from which the words Judea and Jew are derived), the land was re-named Syria Palaestina. This was an unambiguous act of cultural erasure and colonization. The majority of Jews were dispersed to Europe, Arabia and beyond. Many new languages developed, including hybrid languages, contact languages and dialects, perhaps one of the best known vernacular languages being Yiddish, a West Germanic tongue historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews, a mixture of Hebrew, German and Slavic languages.
Despite this, Hebrew was always maintained as the language of religious study and practice. Further, educated Jews exchanged messages in Hebrew and it was sometimes used between merchants for business transactions. The discovery of the Cairo Genizah (950-125) revealed a rich store of Hebrew documents, including letters, legal and business documents. Throughout the ages, there were also notable Hebrew poets, such as Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1070).
In the nineteenth century, Hebrew was not the everyday language of the Jewish people. However, a transformation occurred over a period of several decades. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, born in 1858 in Luzhki (now in Belarus) led the movement to resurrect Hebrew as an everyday language. He believed Jews needed both a country and a language in order to flourish. He moved to Jerusalem in 1881, and not only committed to speaking exclusively Hebrew, but also determined to raise his son Itamar Ben-Avi to be the first native Hebrew speaker in almost 2,000 years.
Ben Yehuda created a Hebrew dictionary and, not without growing pains and active resistance, the language eventually became standardized. The first school to establish its teaching curriculum entirely in Hebrew was in Rishon Lezion in 1889. The first Modern Hebrew dictionary was published in 1922 and through the early twentieth century Hebrew became the language of instruction of all subjects in Jerusalem schools.
Today, Hebrew is a thriving language used by millions. Its restoration as an everyday language is an inspiration for Indigenous Peoples everywhere. Indeed for New Zealand’s Māori, the Israeli example provided the model for the revitalisation of their own Te Reo Māori. Raoul Ketko who, in the mid- 1980s, was the head of policy in the Department of Social Welfare recalls the story of his Māori colleague, the late John Rangihau, who, inspired by a visit to Israel, established full immersion language schools based on the Israeli Ulpan (intensive Hebrew language school). Rangihau was impressed with the way in which ‘disparate peoples from around the world and with a bewildering array of native tongues could, in a relatively short time, be absorbed into Israeli life and culture’. The Kohanga Reo movement which began in the 1980s has raised a new generation of Indigenous Youth fluent and confident in their language and culture.
The restoration of Hebrew was a forerunner for the revitalisation of other Indigenous languages. Israel is the only nation where Hebrew is a national language. Jews returning to their ancient homeland were not, and are not, colonizers. They did not impose a foreign language on other peoples in the land, but successfully restored their native tongue to general use. Their determined effort resulted in something similar to the sacred tongue of the ancient Hebrew prophets being used on Israeli streets, in homes and supermarkets.
Once again, the charges of Israel's critics are shown to be a full-bodied inversion of reality. Modern Hebrew’s vitality is a product of decolonization, and an example of Indigenous revival and self-determination. Those who are so animated in their concern over colonization in the Middle East should look elsewhere.
Dr Sheree Trotter