Multilingual Israel?: Old Ideologies and New Realities (Multilingual Matters, 182)

Engages directly with the delicate intersections between homogenizing state policies and the extraordinary linguistic diversity on the ground.

This book provides the most comprehensive overview to date of multilingualism in Israel, spanning Hebrew-only ideologies, immigrant and heritage languages, and grassroots community initiatives. The first section ('Ideologies') examines the persistence of monolingual Hebrew language ideologies and state efforts to regulate Yiddish, Arabic and other languages, and how such efforts have been contested in domains such as cinema, theatre, the printed press and digital media.

The second section ('Realities') explores the resilience of community languages, from Amharic and Russian to Chinese, Ladino and local sign languages, and demonstrates how community resilience and linguistic practices often prove stronger than official ideologies or state policy.

By situating multilingual practices within current political tensions, migration debates and language ideologies, the book offers essential insights for scholars, students and those interested in sociolinguistics, language policy and the complexities of Israeli society.

Iair G. Or is a Lecturer at Kibbutzim College of Education and Tel Aviv University, Israel. His research interests include the instruction and language planning of Hebrew and Arabic in Israel, as well as on minority language communities.

Elana Shohamy is Emeritus Professor in Tel Aviv University School of Education and The Lowy International School, Israel. She is the author of many books, most recently Developing Multilingual Education Policies (co-authored with Michal Tannenbaum, Routledge, 2023).

Bernard Spolsky (1932-2022) was a Professor of English at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His authored works include The Languages of Israel: Policy, Ideology and Practice (1999, with Elana Shohamy, Multilingual Matters) and Rethinking Language Policy (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).