Linguistic Landscapes in Tel Aviv Restricted; Files Only
Lawrence Rachel (Spring 2024)
Abstract
Israel, a culturally and linguistically diverse society, features three predominant languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The linguistic landscape (LL), defined as the visible and audible languages used in public, offers one compelling window into Israel’s multilingualism, as the landscape serves as a mirror reflecting various facets of the social reality and the broader socio-political landscape within the state. Since Ben-Rafael et al.’s (2006) seminal study into the use of Hebrew, Arabic, and English in the public space in Israel, many economic, security, educational, and social policies have been enacted, collectively shaping Israel’s contemporary landscape. This project aims to revisit Ben-Rafael’s (2006) findings to determine if Hebrew continues to hold a dominant position across all LL sites under investigation or whether the presence of a significant Arabic-speaking minority challenges the overall predominance of Hebrew on signs. Additionally, this project will explore the influence of non-local languages, such as English, in these LL sites. Following Malinowski’s (2015) triadic approach to LL analysis, two of the six locations examined in Ben-Rafael et al. (2006), Tel Aviv (an Israeli-Jewish location) and Ajami (a Palestinian-Israeli locality), will be analyzed for their conceived space (how the spaces are designed and enforced by policies and urban design practices), perceived space (how the spaces are viewed, heard, and detectable by the senses), and lived space (how the spaces are experienced subjectively by those who inhabit the spaces). The evolving socio-political climate within Israel has brought about notable transformations in its landscape, highlighting the necessity to conduct this study, which will establish, when combined with the results in Ben-Rafael et al. (2006), a longitudinal perspective on the linguistic environment in the country.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2: Background ........................................................................................................ 4
1. Israel as a Place .............................................................................................................. 4
2. Why Tel Aviv? ................................................................................................................ 5
3. Hebrew Revival and Hebrew in Israel ............................................................................... 6
4. Arabic in Israel ............................................................................................................. 13
5. English in Israel ............................................................................................................ 18
6. Linguistic Landscapes .................................................................................................... 22
6.1 What are Linguistic Landscapes? ................................................................................. 22
6.2 Signage ..................................................................................................................... 24
6.3 Approaches to Data Collection .................................................................................... 26
7. Linguistic Landscape Research in Israel ............................................................................ 27
8. Virtual Linguistic Landscape (VLL) .................................................................................. 32
9. Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 34
Chapter 3: Methodology ..................................................................................................... 35
1. Conceived Space ............................................................................................................ 38
2. Perceived Space ............................................................................................................. 38
3. Lived Space ................................................................................................................... 40
Chapter 4: Results .............................................................................................................. 45
1. Conceived Space ............................................................................................................ 45
2. Perceived Space ............................................................................................................. 48
2.1 RQ1 ............................................................................................................................ 49
2.2 RQ2 ............................................................................................................................ 53
2.3 RQ3 ............................................................................................................................ 56
3. Lived Space ................................................................................................................... 59
3.1 Survey ....................................................................................................................... 59
3.2 Interview ................................................................................................................... 62
Chapter 5: Discussion ......................................................................................................... 72
1. General Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 72
1.1 RQ1 ........................................................................................................................... 72
1.2 RQ2 ........................................................................................................................... 73
1.3 RQ3 ........................................................................................................................... 75
2. Expanding upon Ben-Rafael et al. (2006) .......................................................................... 77
3. Virtual Linguistic Landscape (VLL) ................................................................................... 79
4. Future Directions ............................................................................................................ 80
Works Cited ........................................................................................................................ 83
Appendix A: Tables ............................................................................................................. 90
Appendix B: Survey Questions ............................................................................................. 91
Appendix C: Interview Questions ......................................................................................... 94
Appendix D: Figures ............................................................................................................ 95
Appendix E: Google Street View Data ................................................................................... 98
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File download under embargo until 24 November 2024 | 2024-04-09 13:06:35 -0400 | File download under embargo until 24 November 2024 |
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