The aim of this chapter is to point to the complexities of the English language in Israel from a critical perspective, its global language status, and the manners in which it affects and interacts with a variety of local issues. The main focus is on how the presence of a global language, like English, affects a given sociolinguistic reality,…

This dissertation examines a project to unify sign languages across twenty-two Arab countries. Proponents of the project, mainly pan-Arab governmental bodies with the support of members of the staff at the Al Jazeera satellite network, have framed the project as a human rights effort to advance the welfare of deaf Arab people. They have urged its…

This study examined linguistic patterns in the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, a group that has rarely been studied from a sociolinguistic perspective. Participants were 92 girls, 10-12 years old, who attend a school where Yiddish is the language of instruction and Hebrew, Israel's official language, is studied only in religious…

Article also appeared in "International Journal of the Sociology of Language," n1; research supported by the Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Ford Foundation, and The Language Behavior Secion, Hebrew University. (DD)

This study of the role and use of English in Israel was conducted in 1973. Sources used were census figures, personal interviews, surveys, and personal observations. It is concluded that exposure to English is increasing and that Israelis do not seem opposed to this, as Hebrew retains its prominence. (Author/RM)

Surveys the legal status of English in Israel before and since the country became independent, attitudes toward the language, its use in schools and by the media, the influence of English on Hebrew, the kinds of English used, and related topics. Since 1948, English has played an increasingly greater role. (Author/PJM)

This edited volume contains 15 chapters. Part one, "Language Teaching, Language Learning, and Literacy," has three chapters: "The Monolingual Teaching and Bilingual Learning of English" (Henry G. Widdowson); "Literacy: The Extension of Languages Through Other Means" (Ellen Bialystok); "Bilingual Processing…

On the basis of detailed analyses of 10 threatened language-in-society constellations and three formerly endangered but now secure constellations, this book develops a closely argued theory of worldwide efforts on behalf of reversing language shift (RLS). It also applies this same line of reasoning to the problems of maintaining the…