The Sociolinguistic Landscape of Palestine in Transit: Jewish Language Shift from Hebrew to Aramaic in Antiquity
<p>Throughout history, various conquests of foreign lands have shaped the linguistic makeup of the world through centuries of acculturation. The rate of acculturation has varied to a great degree depending on the conquerors’ language policy. Such radical examples of language shift in Ireland, Australia, Iberia, and many other places have occurred due to processes of forced assimilation, ethnic cleansing, and widely repressive language policies enacted by the conquering power. Modern linguistic assimilation of immigrants in North America represents a similar end point, whereby speakers of minority languages acculturate over generations and adopt the dominant language, but is realized through less violently repressive means. Instead, pressure to linguistically assimilate in North America stems from socioeconomic factors such as access to economic opportunities. I will discuss the causes of language shift among immigrants in North America in the first section of this thesis.</p>
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