Publications

Publication details [#60564]

Isleem, Martin. 2015. Druze linguistic landscape in Israel: indexicality of new ethnolinguistic identity boundaries. The International Journal of Multilingualism 12 (1) : 13–30.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
Routledge

Annotation

As the Druze in Israel are scattered across the Galilee and Mount Carmel region and pass through diverse levels of language contact and economic connections with their Palestinian- and Jewish-Israeli neighbours, one cannot await evenness in the Druze linguistic markets or in processes of social, cultural and linguistic identification. This paper demonstrates that Hebrew has become a paramount element of the Druze linguistic repertoire and social identity in the Mount Carmel region as it has become the preferred communicative device as denoted by the linguistic landscape. 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.