language revival and stabilization (Hebrew, Ukrainian)

[Zev bar-Lev]

Sorry for not mentioning that the example was (indeed) Hebrew.

As for reviving:  Hebrew did have continuous speakers, in particular in
Israel, throughout the ages -- but just as certainly it was a secondary,
very minority language even there until its "rebirth".  It had a great
disadvantage in this respect as compared with Ukrainian.  Even today, with
Russian immigration to Israel, a huge part of the Israeli citizenry is
non-native-speaking in Hebrew.

But its disadvantage is also an advantage, in that once it took hold, it
arrived fully, and remains in an upward trend -- although threatened on the
specific ("nicvkel and dime) level by international English.

Among suggestions I would have (as also expressed in a thesis just written
on Ukrainian by one of my students) is to beef up courses in the US -- not
the traditional course, leading to grammatical expertise, but rather a
shorter and more popular course, leading to communicative confidence (NB:
confidence) in speaking, for as wide a population as possible -- ethnic
Ukrainians and their spouses and children, and others, amateurs, who just
happen to get interested.

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          zev bar-Lev (prof.)
          dept. of linguistics & oriental languages,
          san diego state university, san diego CA 92182
          e-mail ZBARLEV at mail.sdsu.edu
          tel. (619)-594-6389
          fax: (619)-594-4877
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