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Bernard Spolsky & Elana Shohamy, The languages of Israel: Policy, ideology and practice, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1999. Pp. 299. Pb $49.95.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2002

Eliezer Ben-Rafael
Eliezer Ben-Rafael
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel, Eliezer@spirit.tau.ac.il
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Abstract

Well known for its creation and adoption of modern Hebrew as its national language, Israel is still one of the most linguistically heterogeneous societies in the world. Bernard Spolsky and Elana Shohamy delve into this complex reality and describe a coherent picture of it, drawing from an updated model of linguistic policy which they elaborate. I found no few weaknesses in the book in regard to the sociological interpretation of sociolinguistic facts, but its major interest resides in the description of Israel's linguistic diversity and evolution. It is one of the very few attempts to date to do that, and it merits attention.

Type
REVIEWS
Information
Language in Society , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 493 - 496
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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