CODE-SWITCHING & LANGUAGE ATTITUDE AMONG THE DRUZE COMMUNITY IN ISRAEL: THE CASE OF DALIYAT EL-KARIL VS. MAJDAL SH'AMS

Hiba Hamarshi

Abstract


This study focuses on language practices and language attitudes among the Druze community in Israel. It examines the practice of codeswitching (CS) and its correlations with language attitudes among two historically, socially, and politically different communities - Daliyat El-Karmil (DK) in the Carmel mountains and Majdal Sha'ms (M.Sh) in the Golan Heights. This study explores the effect of religious orientation on the communities' use of CS and attitudes toward language. A total number of one hundred and eight males from both communities, ranging in age from 18 to 35, were part of this study. The data were collected using two different research instruments: The participants were asked to watch a short-animated video and tell its story. Later, they were asked to complete a questionnaire examining their linguistic practice and attitudes towards Hebrew and Arabic. The findings of this study indicated that the community in D.K. practices CS more than the community in M.Sh, and that the secular groups codeswitch more than the religious groups in both communities. The results also showed that the secular participants from D.K. have assimilated into Israeli society. This can be attributed to their frequent language contact in Israeli colleges and universities, service in the Israeli military forces or Israeli workplaces. That's why this group has a clear advantage over the other three groups regarding their competence in Hebrew.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


sociolinguistics, linguistic diversity and attitude, linguistic code-switching, family language policy

Full Text:

PDF

References


Amara, M. & Mar’i, A. (2002). Language Education Policy: The Arab Minority in Israel. Kluwer Academic Publishers. London.

Benson, E. (2001). The Neglected Early History of Codeswitching Research in the United States. Language & Communication, 21, 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(00)00012-4

Bhatti Aisha (2018). Code-Switching: A Useful Foreign Language Teaching Tool in EFL Classrooms. English Language Teaching; Vol. 11, No. 6. Canadian Center of Science and Education. DOI: 10.5539/elt.v11n6p93

Benavot, A. & Resh, N. (2003). Educational governance, school autonomy, and curriculum implementation: A comparative study of Arab and Jewish schools in Israel. Journal of Curriculum Studies. Vol. 35, No.2. pp. 171-196. DOI: 10.1080/0022027022000022856

Central Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Population in Israel: by Religion: The Druze Population in Israel. http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=201611119

Firro, K. (2001). Reshaping Druze particularism in Israel. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 30 No.3. pp 40-53. DOI: 10.1525/jps.2001.30.3.40

Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Halabi, R. (2014). Invention of a nation: The Druze in Israel. Journal of Asian and African Studies. Vol.49(3). 267-281. SAGE

Isleem, M. (2016). Arabic- Hebrew codeswitching: the case of the Druze community in Israel. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. Vol. 26, No.2, pp. 228-244. DOI: 10.1111/ijal.12091

Kennedy-Scott. R. (1984). The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance. Journal of Palestine Studies. Vol. 13, No.2, pp. 48-64. University of California Press.

Mort. Jo. Ann (2012). Daydream Believers: A Saturday in Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights. Dissent Magazine. New York. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online articles/daydream-believers-a-saturday-in-majdal-shams-on-the-golan-heights

Muysken, P. (2000). Bilingual Speech. A Typology of Code-Mixing. Cambridge: CUP.

Nedashkivska, A. (2018). Identity in Interaction: Language Practices and Attitudes of the Newest Ukrainian Diaspora in Canada. East/West Journal of Ukrainian Studies (EWJUS). Vol. 5, No.2. DOI: 10.21226/ewjus421

Raufman, R. (2011). Defending the House, Relating to the Neighbors: The Druze Versions of ATU 123 The Wolf and the Kids. The Folklore Society, Folklore 122, pp.250-263

Schmid, C. (2001). The politics of language: conflict, identity and cultural pluralism in comparative perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shohamy, E. & Donitsa-Schmidt, S. (1998). Jews vs. Arabs: Language attitudes and stereotypes. The Tami Steinmetz Centre for Peace Research. Tel Aviv University.

Spolsky, B. & Shohamy, E. (1999). The Languages of Israel: Policy, Ideology and Practice. Multilingual Matters. Clevedon.

Tsui, A. B. M. (2006). Language policy and the construction of identity: The case of Hong Kong. In A. M. B. Tsui. & J. W. Tollefson (Eds.), Language policy, culture and identity in Asian contexts. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Yitzhaki, D. (2010). The Discourse of Arabic language policies in Israel: insights from focus groups. Lang Policy. 9: 335-356. DOI: 10.1007/s10993-010-9182-3.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v8i1.525

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Hiba Hamarshi

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2017-2023. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies (ISSN 2559 - 7914 / ISSN-L 2559 - 7914). All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.