The Languages of Jerusalem (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 224 Reviews novella "A Poet's Continuing Silence" is included in this discussion. While the narrative's use of language contributes to the discussion of the dialogic, the child-like character is older than those previously discussed and is presented through another character's words. This work also blurs the distinction the author herself makes between the works of childhood and the Bildungsroman. While the choice of texts could be questioned, the discussions dovetail nicely, forming interrelations within and between the triads of texts. The first group of texts, for example, shows the child's growing ability to use language while the second contends with the unspeakability and incomprehensibility of the Holocaust. Other intertextual connections are left for the reader to explore, such as the religious connotations of the Hebrew and Yiddish word nusalJ in Sholem Aleichem's and Appelfeld's novels (see pp. 45, 151). Sokoloff's sensitivity to the texts' language extends to her own in this well-written study. Although at times the density of her prose offers less felicitous wording ("In sum, the narrator relates to the child not primarily with dissonance...," p. 116), these are clearly exceptions. The density of her prose is paralleled by the meticulousness of her scholarship. The notes speak to other directions which the book could have developed, offering a thoroughness without diffusing the focus. It is in the notes that Sokoloff acknowledges that the principal texts discussed limit imaging the child to male Ashkenazi prepubescents. Because of the book's complexity and detail, it may benefit from multiple readings. It is well worth the effort. The book not only deepens our understanding of the individual texts under discussion, it offers a fresh critical approach and significantly furthers our discussion of Jewish literature within the context of comparative literature. Nancy E. Berg Washington University St. Louis. MO 63130 THE LANGUAGES OF JERUSALEM. By Bernard Spolsky and Robert L. Cooper. Oxford Studies in Language Contact. pp. xiv + 166. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Cloth. $59.00. This book seeks to give a detailed analysis of the forces governing the knowledge and use of the languages spoken in the Old City of Jerusalem. Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 225 Reviews The chapters discuss the sociolinguistic situation in the late 19th century and the 1980s, Jewish multilingualism, the revitalization of Hebrew, the language of signs, language choice in the market place, language planning and learning, and the spread of Hebrew among Arabs. The book has little to offer beyond common sense intuition and anecdotal information, cloaked occasionally in statistics. I find here no theory, no innovative results, few convincing explanations or precise formulations, and little regard for the scholarly literature. Here are random examples of the level: French is discussed under both "Latin" and "French" (pp. 45-46); Eliezer Ben Yehuda, a major figure in the "revival" of Hebrew, is called a Russian Jew (p. 58), though he hails from Belorussian speech territory; the Hebrew word for "200" is said to have a unique pronunciation in Jerusalem, but no forms are given (p. 70); and not all references appear in the bibliography (p. 74). Judeo-Spanish is labeled by no less than 6 glollonyms-most non-native and some lifted out of uninformed 19th-century Yiddish literature (native dzidyo, dzudyo, and hakit(a are absent); likewise, Yiddish is called "Polish-Hebrew," "Judaeo-German jargon," and "Judaeo-Polish"-with no indication that these obsolete epithets denote Yiddish! Many Hebrew and Arabic terms are not glossed at all, despite the authors' promise; the sparse index offers spellings that deviate from those in the text, for example, "Hasidim" vs. "khassidim" (index); in addition to kh, /x/ is also transcribed as ch (in chachamim) and h (in halukkah). Spolsky and Cooper have invented "Hebrew" lashon kodesh ("Hebrew or Judeo-Aramaic") for the correct Yiddish losn koydes or the real Hebrew leson hakodes ("Classical Hebrew," p. 33) and speak of unspoken liturgical languages, such as Aramaic (they mean Syriac) and Coptic, as if they were spoken. The authors have invented one new language, "Sudanese," and two new ethnic groups, the "Israeli Palestinians" (p. 9) and "Morisco Jews" (pp. 35 and 39), who lived in Palestine...