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To what extent did Ashkenazi Jews integrate and acculturate into the local society, culture, and politics of late Ottoman Palestine? This question has been almost entirely ignored by the voluminous scholarship on the migration of Jews from central and eastern Europe to Palestine. This article challenges the widely held assumption that such integration was nonexistent and impossible. Building on recent work on Ashkenazi adoption of Arab clothes, Arabic language, and urban encounters and cohabitation, I argue that Ashkenazi integration in Ottoman Palestine was a very real process, which took on significant dimensions. I focus on civic participation and local politics, military service in the Ottoman army, and deep economic interdependence. Integration was uneven and did not follow a single pathway; rather, there were diverse avenues of integration through Jewish Sephardi society, the Arab elite, Ottoman institutions, and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the twentieth century, the great majority of Jews living under Islamic rule used Arabic as their first language, but since the establishment of the State of Israel, Arabic has been gradually disappearing as a language mastered by Jews. The present article focuses on the Iraqi-Jewish author Naïm Kattan, whose literary and intellectual experience has been a testimony to the demise of Arab-Jewish culture and identity. Unlike most of his Iraqi-Jewish colleagues, Kattan did not immigrate to Israel but preferred to go to study in Paris before eventually settling down in Montreal. He shifted to writing in French and won international recognition while going from being a secular Jew with a solid, fixed Arab-Iraqi identity in Baghdad to slowly becoming a Canadian citizen with a fluid Quebecois-French-Arab-Iraqi-Jewish identity in Montreal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I summarize the state of Arabic (as a medium and a message) in Israeli state media and compare attitudes towards the Arabic language with content from the popular bilingual (Arabic-Hebrew) sitcom written and created by a Palestinian-Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua. I argue that Kashua's work in his show, Arab Labor , reiterates poor attitudes towards Arabic and foreshadows the ethnolinguistic erasure of Israel's Nation-State Law of 2018. Using humor and satire within its content, context and dialogue, the show draws attention to growing disparities and impossibilities in Palestinian life throughout Israel and emerges as an intertextual resource for commentary and recreating conditions of Palestinian existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to use the bibliometric analysis method to examine the scientific articles published between 2000-2022 in the field of Arabic Language Teaching (ALT) and to visualize the obtained data with visual mapping technique. The dataset consists of 861 educational research articles indexed in the "Web of Science" database and containing the terms Arabic teaching or Arabic learning or Arabic education. Content analysis and bibliometric analysis were used in the analysis of the data. In the research, the distribution of publications by language, years, countries, journals, organizations, publications and keywords were accessed. In addition, the data obtained were presented by creating visual maps with common word analysis. The results showed that the most used keywords "Arabic", "higher education", "Arabic language" and "bilingualism". Most of the web of science indexed studies in the field of Arabic Language Teaching (ALT) are from the USA and Israel. The journals that publish the most papers in the field of Arabic Language Teaching (ALT) are "Reading and Writing" and "Foreign Language Annals". This study provides a guide for new studies, to identify the trends in the field of Arabic teaching and to compare the existing research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of Arabic Language Academies compared to the Hebrew Language Academy in the Israeli context. This is a unique context to examine, since we talk about a single academy constructed for the Jewish majority, and multiple academies for the Arab Palestinian minority within the state of Israel. Language academies are established in order to express national identity, constitute a main component in its culture and serve as a factor contributing to modernisation. The study reveals that the work of the Arabic academies is mainly instrumental, focusing on research and the structural aspects of the language, rather than primarily national, as is the case with more established academies. That means the Arabic Academies are professional bodies that deal with the Arabic language. While this is, of course, an important role, it should not be the principal function of the language academies. In contrast, the HLA deals with the structural aspects of the language, corpus planning, and also status planning, as the defender of the Hebrew language, and making the revitalisation of the language possible, combining both professional and national aspects from its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Israel's Security Agency (Shabak) launched a new psychological warfare arena with an Arabic language Facebook page addressed to Palestinians, alongside more precisely targeted pages monitored by regional field officers (the so-called "Captains"). The messaging is nearly identical to the kind of propaganda the Zionist media has aimed at Palestinians for over a century: Israel is here to stay, Israel desires co-existence, but those who defy its authority suffer the consequences. The difference is that this time the messages are targeted, personal, illustrated with documentary footage of youths detained, homes demolished, calls for collaborators and informers, and preachy holiday greetings. These Facebook pages have acquired a huge following, but their comments show that the Palestinians are not buying the message. Some signal an interest in the dangled benefits, some respond with a slew of curses, while others use the platform to send political counter-messages. Social media has so far not succeeded in winning over the hearts and minds of Palestinians, though it may discourage them from joining the struggle against the occupation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 4 of the Nation State Law (NSL), entitled 'Languages', stipulates that Hebrew is the language of the state (Article 4(a)); the Arabic language has a special status in the state and regulating the use of Arabic in or by state institutions will be set in law (Article 4(b)); and this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before the law came into effect (Article 4(c), the 'validity of laws' clause). The question is whether, how, and to what extent these provisions hinder the present legal status of the Arabic language in Israel. The legal status of Arabic had never been determined decisively before enactment of the NSL. The High Court of Israel has always been divided on this matter, particularly between judges who perceived Arabic as an official language and judges who deemed it solely as having been granted its acknowledged 'special legal status'. Furthermore, the judges who perceived Arabic as an official language of the state were also in dispute among themselves as to the meaning, the scope and the consequences of such recognition. Considering these circumstances, my view is that the NSL perpetuates the legal status of Arabic as prescribed in the laws and case law that already existed, and that the validity of laws clause, coupled with the special status granted to Arabic in a basic law, suggests that the door is still open for the Court to further endorse the legal status of Arabic in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Bahith Al-Aalami is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Larq Journal for Philosophy, Linguistics & Social Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Arabs are a large minority group in the Israeli society. With the increasing use of medical cannabis throughout Israel due to changing governmental policies, the interactions of the Arab society with medical cannabis becomes of scientific and medical relevance. Recreational cannabis use is considered haram (forbidden) in Islam. However, most religious scholars agree that medical cannabis usage might be justified as zarurat (emergency and life-saving, therefore allowed) use. Obstacles to medical cannabis use within the Arabic population may relate to language barrier and/or cultural barriers. There are few Arabic-speaking web-based medical-cannabis support groups, and little official information about it is available in the Arabic language. In order for the full benefits of medical cannabis to reach the entire Israeli population, a government-sponsored web-based educational program is necessary in Hebrew and Arabic, both of which are among the nation's official languages, thereby contributing to the equalization of health resource accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study attempted to investigate the contribution of an intervention program to fostering Arabic academic vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skills among seventh grade Arabic native speaking pupils. For this purpose, 247 pupils from four schools in northern Israel have participated in the study. Arabic literacy units that targeted academic vocabulary and reading comprehension skills were administrated for a period of 5 months. To assess the efficacy of the intervention program, academic vocabulary tests (receptive and productive) as well as reading comprehension test were administrated. As indicated by the results, the interventional group showed significantly higher performance in reading comprehension and productive academic vocabulary when compared to the control group. In contrast, no significant improvement was noted in receptive academic vocabulary knowledge. Taken together, the study results point to the contribution of comprehensive and direct academic vocabulary instructional approaches to promoting academic vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of academic texts. Moreover, it stresses the need for policy change and curricular adjustments in Arabic language instruction, acknowledging the importance of fostering academic language skills in the road to academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the intriguing decision of the Israeli government in the aftermath of the 1967 War to embark on a national television project that would be dominated by broadcasts in Arabic. Since actual broadcasts quickly ended up switching to Hebrew, this initial rationale has received little academic attention. Based on primary research, the article suggests that the original decision was driven by the desire of the State to address four identity challenges that it faced at the time: the challenge of delegitimation and hostile propaganda by the Arab world, the challenge of dealing with the Palestinian population in the newly occupied territories, the challenge of dealing with Israel's Arab citizens, and the challenge of dealing with the Jewish immigrants from the Arab world. I argue that the promise of addressing these multiple challenges made the TV project very attractive, even if for a short time, thus leading to its initiation. The discussion is anchored in the literature from the field of International Relations that explores the concepts of soft power and ontological security and consequently the potential role of popular culture in shaping and managing identity challenges [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing attitudes of the Jewish population in Palestine, later The State of Israel, toward the Arabic language was affected by the historical and social changes that occurred in the Middle East and the changing relations between Jews and Arabs. From the beginning of the revival of the Jewish community in Palestine in the nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century, one can perceive quite a sharp decline in the Jewish public’s attitude toward Arabic. From being an essential instrument for accommodation in the region and later an important source for the revival of Hebrew, up to a being a channel of hope for dialogue between Jews and Arabs, it eventually became amongst the Jewish Israeli public a language to be taught mainly for governmental needs. Still, appeals by Israeli intellectuals reverberated, calling for the teaching of Arabic for a better understanding of the Arab neighbours and the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Anbar University for Languages & Literature / Magallat Gami'at Al-Anbar Li-Lugat Wa-al-Adabl is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the era of globalization, educational systems are forced to react and globalize through schools’ content and context. Among other 21st-century capabilities such as information technology use, team work, and entrepreneurship, multilingual competence has been placed among the objectives of education systems in many developed and developing countries (e.g., UK, Singapore, China, and Israel). We analyzed the pattern of students’ choice for advanced studies in English, Arabic, and French languages in Israeli schools over the last 20 years (1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010). Throughout the study period, advanced studies in English and French correlated highly with the mother’s education (hence are associated with a certain social perceived status), while Arabic studies became increasingly correlated with the mother’s education over the years. In addition, we performed semistructured, in-depth interviews with 20 parents of children studying either French or Arabic in junior high schools. All interviewed parents were selected from schools at which pupils can choose between French and Arabic, and parents were asked about the motivation for choosing either French or Arabic. We found that parents mostly see foreign languages as part of cultural and cosmopolitan capital that their children need to acquire in order to benefit from it later in their career. While French was found to be perceived in terms of pragmatic and instrumental cosmopolitan capital, Arabic was perceived as a pragmatic but also as an ideological asset. In addition, interviewed parents used certain stereotypes, usually to describe the unchosen language to rationalize their choice. We discuss our findings in the context of Israeli society and the conflict-ridden situation that its education system is functioning within. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Druze community in Israel is a distinct religious community currently undergoing important ethnolinguistic shifts. The government's implementation of an official policy has led to the deconstruction and reshaping of the Druze political and national identity to one that differs substantially from that of the Palestinian minority in Israel. In this study, I argue that the visibility, vitality and appreciation of Hebrew in the Druze linguistic landscape are indicative of new ethnolinguistic boundaries of the Druze identity in Israel. The fact that the Druze in Israel are dispersed throughout the Galilee and Mount Carmel area and experience varying levels of language contact as well as divergent economic relations with their Palestinian–Israeli and Jewish–Israeli neighbours, suggests that one cannot expect uniformity in the Druze linguistic markets or the processes of social, cultural and linguistic identification. This study will show that Hebrew has become a dominant component of the linguistic repertoire and social identity of the Druze in the Mount Carmel area since it has become the first choice of communication as the linguistic landscape indicates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores the acoustic properties of the vowel systems of two dialects of colloquial Arabic spoken in Israel. One dialect is spoken in the Galilee region in the north of Israel, and the other is spoken in the Triangle (Muthallath) region, in central Israel. These vowel systems have five short and five long vowels /i, i:, e, e:, a, a:, o, o:, u, u:/. Twenty men and twenty women from each region were included, uttering 30 vowels each. All speakers were adult Muslim native speakers of these two dialects. The studied vowels were uttered in non-pharyngeal and nonlaryngeal environments in the context of CVC words, embedded in a carrier sentence. The acoustic parameters studied were the two first formants, F0, and duration. Results revealed that long vowels were approximately twice as long as short vowels and differed also in their formant values. The two dialects diverged mainly in the short vowels rather than in the long ones. An overlap was found between the two short vowel pairs /i/-/e/ and /u/-/o/. This study demonstrates the existence of dialectal differences in the colloquial Arabic vowel systems, underlining the need for further research into the numerous additional dialects found in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tries to investigate the code-switching behavior of Arabic native speakers who live in Israel. Another objective of this study is to reveal the participants' attitude towards this behavior and the reasons and factors that lead to code-switching. The research tools are audio-tape recording and an interview with the participants. 12 respondents participated in this study; their age ranges between 25 and 60. The findings show that the participants' attitude towards code-switching behavior is neutral. Another finding is that the guides' majors influence their code-switching behavior. The most important finding is that the most frequent reasons for switching from Arabic to Hebrew are: 'Technical or scientific term' that are usually used in Hebrew, 'intensive exposure to Hebrew native speakers' communities'. The factors of carelessness, frequency and easiness also play a major role; while the reasons 'prestige' and 'drawing attention' do not play any important role. Finally, the researcher recommends that a further research on code-switching behavior of Hebrew native speakers should be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multilingual societies, not only the names in urban toponymic inscriptions display identity politics and reproduce nationalist discourses but also the languages used. This is clearly the case with multilingual street signs, where specific preferences underlie the choice and placement of languages and scripts, signifying the processes and relationships of political and social power. Applying a historical perspective, this paper explores the politics underlying language preference and script display policies on street signs in British Mandate Palestine between 1922 and 1948 and in Israel after 1948. The paper examines how display and placement of Arabic, English, and Hebrew on street signs has been susceptible to shifting policies drafted and executed by various branches of local and national government. It further analyzes disputes arising from specific policies. The historical perspective sheds light on how political and legal contexts have influenced the promulgation of policies, whereas the semiotic approach directs attention to how the display of languages on street signs encodes political messages and ideological meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Arabic grammar classes in Israeli Universities and the performance of Arab undergraduate students in Arabic grammar. It states that Arab university students are more proficient in Arabic than their Jewish peers, because Arabic is their mother tongue while Jews studied Arabic as a third language. It discusses the difference between Jewish and Arab pedagogical approaches in Arab grammar instruction. It also discusses the Westernized Arabic grammar in top-tier universities and Haifa University's exception, which uses Arab grammar of Arabic.

Copyright of Language Problems & Language Planning is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper reports the findings of a survey study which examined attitudes towards a range of language policies for the Arabic language in Israel. Arabic is an official language in Israel as a result of a Mandatory Order (1922) which dictates comprehensive Hebrew-Arabic bilingual conduct by state authorities. In practice, Arabic’s public position in Israel is marginal, and Hebrew is the dominant language in Israeli public spheres. Arabic speakers, a national indigenous minority, and Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, form the two largest language-minority groups in Israel. The study explored attitudes concerning (1) the use of Arabic in three public domains (government services, public television, and teaching of Arabic in Jewish schools), (2) a Hebrew-Arabic bilingual model, and (3) a multilingual model addressing language minorities in Israel in general. Respondents were 466 university and college students, Jews and Arabs, divided into five subgroups along linguistic, ethnic and religious lines. The main findings indicated (1) a clear hierarchy of language policy domains among all five subgroups, with ‘government services’ being the most favored domain; (2) a tendency among Jewish respondents to favor a multilingual policy over a Hebrew-Arabic bilingual one; and (3) a language minority element (non-native Hebrew speakers), overshadowed by the ethnic-religious (Jewish-Arab) element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Closing educational gaps between sub-populations in Israel, particularly between students in Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools, persists to be one of the priorities of Israel's education system. In the field of information and communication technology (ICT), this goal refers to infrastructure as well as practice, i.e. teaching and learning. A secondary analysis of Second Information Technology in Education Study 2006 study findings portrays a multifaceted state of affairs on some issues, e.g. vision and goals, attitudes on ICT importance in general and as a lever for paradigmatic change in particular. This is contrary to expectations due to the inequality in allocation (mainly of infrastructure) between the two sectors. Arabic-speaking mathematics teachers indicate greater ICT usage in their target class, while among science teachers, Hebrew-speaking teachers report greater usage and influence on their pedagogy, indicating innovative usage Conclusions suggest that further effort is needed to close the gaps between Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking schools as well as collaboration and exchange of ideas, information and educational experience between staff members from both sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the subversion of Arabic language instruction in Jewish schools in Israel. An analysis of Israeli pedagogical policies and an overview of Arabic instruction as a field of practice with implications for social policy are discussed. The self-defeating nature of subverting Arabic instruction is also discussed.

This paper reports on findings of a study examining attitudes and perspectives toward the public use of Arabic in Israel as reflected by minority and majority group members. Analysis of data from 32 Israeli students-Jewish and Arabs-who participated in a series of focus group sessions yielded two main theoretical constructs that characterize the current discourse about Arabic in Israel: (1) Indigenousness-the linguistic rights and privileges that may be derived from a group's indigenous status, that is, from the fact that it existed as a unique group prior to the establishment of the state and (2) Functionality-the tension between language policy goals directed toward concrete and immediate benefits, such as having access to services and information, and between symbolic policy goals directed toward the symbolic and collective identity interests of the linguistic group. These two constructs were found to be powerful for revealing a complex, underlying mechanism that legitimizes and delegitimizes policies in the current Israeli language policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many decades now, applied linguistics studies have investigated the impact of second language acquisition on various aspects of the development of school children. Few studies, however, have focused on the simultaneous acquisition of two additional/second languages in the classroom. The present paper explores the impact of a spoken Arabic language programme in a Jewish elementary school in Israel on the children's socio-affective (attitudinal) development. The participants of the study comprised fourth-grade students studying two second languages, English and Arabic (the focal group), and comparable children in a regular programme, who study only one second language, English, in school (the control group). Participants answered attitude questionnaires; in addition, interviews with the Arabic teachers were carried out. Results indicated that participating in a spoken Arabic programme in elementary school indeed had a positive impact on Jewish children's attitudes towards the Arabic language, culture and population. It is hoped that information from this study will be useful in designing and implementing innovative language programmes throughout the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the patterns of and conditions for a special kind of gender switch found in an urbanized Arabic dialect spoken in Israel—the use of masculine instead of feminine forms in women's speech in the dialects spoken in the towns of Tire and Nazareth. We find that gender switch appears mainly when a speaker of the Tire dialect speaks about herself. Differences in the lexical distribution of this phenomenon and in women's attitudes to it are also evident. Besides features dependent on geographical dialect rules, the described situation seems to reflect differences in recent patterns of urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few works so far (Landau 1987;Koplewitz 1992;Spolsky 1994;Spolsky and Shohamy 1999a,1999b)have dealt extensively with Arabic in Israel. However,in all these studies it was not clear enough how the changed political situation brought about the downplaying of the role of Arabic in the public spheres in Israel and also within the Arab community itself.This paper argues that the place of Arabic in the Jewish state is a reflection of the unique sociopolitical situation of the Arab minority in Israel and the Israeli --Arab conflict.To shed light on the unique case of Arabic in Israel,language ideologies are investigated,relating them to language practices and language-education policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study, which focuses on secular and religious attributions of success and failure among Jewish students. The attitudes of Jewish elementary school children toward learning Arabic and the relation of those attitudes to acquisition of the language are investigated. It also examines the motives of Jewish children who were learning Arabic, "the language of conflict. The participants were 107 sixth-grade students, aged 12 to 13 years, at an elementary school in Haifa, Israel. All had been born in Israel and had studied Arabic as a third language for 2 hour a week since the fourth grade. The participants displayed negative attitudes toward learning Arabic, with1 exception: They had positive attitudes toward the classroom situation. The classroom situation was also the best predictor of Arabic learning. Even though the Jewish-Arab social context is politically charged, their teachers and their classroom environments than influenced the children more by sociopolitical variables such as instrumental and integrative attitudes and security purposes.

The choice to learn Arabic or French as a second foreign language in Israeli schools is influenced by a number of variables that relate to social contexts (families, schools, status of language in society) and individual differences (student's abilities, attitudes, and motivation). The text books for students of Arabic were found to underscore this perception by being confined entirely to Arabic as the language of Arabs and their culture and by ignoring the very rich Judeo-Arabic culture-which includes a large body of literature-that is the heritage of a large part of Israel's Jewish population. "Nationist" interests-pragmatic concerns of the state--strongly support the study of Arabic among the Jewish population in Israel. Yet, despite the societal needs for knowledge of the Arabic language-for communicating with and understanding the wider environment, as well as for serving Israel's needs in the areas of government, the military, and academia-French has competed with Arabic for the foreign language student. Arabic and French students were almost identical in their responses to items related to the classroom context, i.e., the amount of time invested in studying the language, and the degree of participation in class. The presence of a sizable group of target language speakers in the case of Arabic has resulted in a higher endorsement of integrative goals for the study of Arabic.

The article provides a description and analysis of the linguistic, educational, literary, and cultural aspects of the Arabic language situation in Israel. Arabic, the second language of Israel, and one of the State's official languages, is spoken and written by the country's 793,600 Arab inhabitants, who constitute 18.0 percent of the population. It is used in family and community life, taught in the schools, and broadcast over radio and television, and it is the vehicle of a lively literature. Arabic is the undisputed and highly prestigious national language of some 20 Arab states with a population of one hundred million. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It looks back on an uninterrupted history (though not always development) of about 1500 years. It has a rich cultural heritage in art and literature, thought and science. It has proved to be flexible and adaptable and has over the centuries absorbed words, terms, and ideas from many peoples. In this framework, the Arabs of Israel natively speak a local dialect of Arabic most close to the Lebanese. They can understand the Egyptian dialect, and they study the prestigious 'high' variety of Modern Standard Arabic, which they use for written and formal purposes. In the prevailing political and demographic situation, the use of the Arabic language by Israel's Arabs is an important element of their ethnicity--in addition to the political and religious elements of their identity--and perhaps the main link between Israel's Arabs and the Arab world.

This article explores the political issues concerning the Hebrew and Arabic languages in the state of Israel. Israeli Jews and Arabs have much in common with Jews and Arabs abroad. The bonds are those of descent, religion, ideology, and language. The same factors serve as potential causes of friction between the two communities within the state of Israel. While the language issue is hardly a major source of tension, the relationship between Hebrew and Arabic may aggravate other problems of interethnic friction: it accentuates differences and perpetuates tensions, contributing to the cultural clash between the competing nationalisms of the two communities. Hebrew was essentially a dead language, the language of the Bible and of subsequent religious and secular literature; it was revived as a spoken language only in the late 19th century. In contrast to Hebrew, colloquial Arabic, in several dialects at variance with literary Arabic, was ubiquitously used; the situation strikingly parallels the relation between Latin and the Romance languages of the Middle Ages. After independence, language relations are a part of the wider context of issues and attitudes, influencing mutual relations between Jews and Arabs in the state of Israel: demographic, legal-constitutional, political, socio-economic, and cultural-educational aspects.