Arabic in Israel

In Arabic in Israel, Muhammad Amara analyses the status of Arabic following the creation of the State of Israel and documents its impact on the individual and collective identity of Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens. The interplay of language and identity in conflict situations is also examined. This work represents the culmination of many years of research on Arabic linguistic repertoire and educational policy regarding the language of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It draws all of these factors together while linking them to local, regional and global developments. Its perspective is interdisciplinary and, as such, examines the topic from a number of angles including linguistic, social, cultural and political.

Muhammad Amara is the head of Graduate Studies at Beit Berl College, Israel,a lecturer at Al-Qasemi College, and president of the Israeli Society for the Study of Language and Society.

List of tables, figure, pictures and mapsPreface Acknowledgements Chapter 1 Language, identity and conflict 1.1 Introduction 1.1 Identity and identities 1.1.1 Conflicting identities: Palestinian-Jewish relationships inside Israel 1.2 Language and social identity 1.2.1 The Arabic language and social identity 1.2.2 Language and identity in Israel 1.3 The vitality of Arabic in Israel 1.4 Language and conflict 1.4.1 The role of language in the Arab-Israeli conflict 1.5 Conclusion Chapter 2 Internal and external challenges of the Arabic language 2. Introduction 2.1 Internal challenges 2.1.1 Diglossia: old and new challenges 2.1.2 Modernization and the Arabic language 2.2 External challenges 2.2.1 Colonialism, globalization and the Arabic language 2.3 Policy towards Arabic in the Arab world: .encountering challenges 2.4 Conclusion Chapter 3 Internal and regional contexts and the Arabic language in Israel 3. Introduction 3.1 Internal contexts 3.2 Regional contexts 3.3 Conclusion Chapter 4 The status of the Arabic language in Israel 4.1 The linguistic situation in Israel 4.2 The status of Arabic in Israel 4.3 Conclusion Chapter 5 Features of the Arabic language in Israel 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Arabic in Israel 5.2.1 Is there a unique variety of Arabic in Israel? 5.2.2 Influences from other Arabic varieties 5.3 Conclusion Chapter 6 Arabic in the shadow of Hebraization 6.1 Hebrew is the dominant language in Israel 6.1.1 Building the new Jewish Israeli identity 6.1.2 Putting Hebrew on the national agenda 6.1.3 Teaching Hebrew 6.1.4 Hebraization consequences 6.2 Ideologized Hebrew and its teaching to Palestinian pupils in Israel 6.2.1 Attitudes towards teaching Hebrew to Palestinian Arabs 6.2.2 The Policy of teaching Hebrew: goals and curricula 6.2.3 A new curriculum 6.2.4 Textbooks and contents 6.2.5 Consequences of Hebraization for teaching 6.3 The penetration of Hebrew into the 'heart of Arabic': borrowing 6.3.1 Introduction 6.3.2 Culture contact and its linguistic reflections 6.3.3 The importance of the study of Hebrew 6.3.4 The knowledge and use of Hebrew 6.3.5 Borrowing lexical items from Hebrew: integration and diffusion 6.3.6 Borrowing and its linguistic characteristics 6.3.7 The consequences of Hebraization on borrowing Chapter 7 English in the Palestinian linguistic repertoire in Israel 7.1 Introduction 7.2 English teaching in the Palestinian schools in Israel 7.2.1 The current English curriculum 7.2.2 Textbooks 7.2.3 Achievements 7.3 Borrowing from English 7.4 Globalization and English 7.5 Writing with Latin and Hebrew letters 7.6 Conclusion Chapter 8 Hebraization of Arabic place names 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Hebraizing names: the translation of ideological orientation and political thinking 8.3 Conclusion Chapter 9 The current linguistic landscape in the Palestinian Arab localities in Israel 9.1 Linguistic landscape: a brief background 9.1.1 Studies on linguistic landscape in Israel 9.2 The Palestinian Arab linguistic landscape in Israel 9.2.1 Hebrew and Hebraization 9.2.2 Palestinian Arab uniqueness 9.2.3 Conclusion 9.3 The linguistic landscape from a different perspective: Umm-el-Fahm as a case study 9.3.1 Umm-el-Fahm: background 9.3.2 The linguistic landscape in the city 9.3.3 Conclusion Chapter 10 The Arabic language in the Palestinian Arab education system 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The effect of the Arabic curricula on the Palestinian Arab identity 10.3 The hurdles blocking the achievement of high competence in Standard Arabic 10.4 What is the role of the Arabic language in the Palestinian Arab education system? 10.5 Conclusion Chapter 11 Teaching Arabic in Jewish schools: language of the neighbour or the enemy? 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Teaching the Arabic language 11.3 Jewish attitudes towards the Arabic language 11.4 Goals of teaching Arabic 11.5 Bilingual schools: the Hand-in-Hand schools 11.6 Conclusion Chapter 12 Language ideology and attitudes: Arabic language academies and future vision documents 12.1 Language ideology and attitudes towards Arabic 12.1.1 The Communist party and the Democratic Front 12.1.2 Balad 12.1.3 The Islamic Movement 12.1.4 Civil organizations 12.2 Survey 12.3 Conclusion 12.4 Arabic language academies in the Israeli context: between the research role and nationalist aspirations 12.4.1Arabic language academies 12.4.2 Arabic language academies in Israel 12.4.3 Conclusion 12.5 The role of Arabic according to future vision documents 12.5.1 Introduction 12.5.2 Arabic in the future vision documents 12.5.3 Conclusion Chapter 13 Epilogue: facing the challenges 13.1 Challenges of the Arabic language 13.2 Facing the challenges 13.2.1 Arabic as a strategic choice for building an Arab knowledge society 13.2.2 Meeting the challenges: building a framework 13.3 Practical proposals 13.4 Conclusion Index