[lg policy] An obituary of Joshua Fishman

Thu Mar 5 21:35:40 UTC 2015

All:  I didn't see this obituary of Joshua Fishman come around via
Linguist-List so I'm forwarding it now:

Message 2: Obituary: Joshua A. Fishman (18 July 1926 - 1 March 2015) *Date:*
02-Mar-2015
*From:* Ghil'ad Zuckermann <ghilad.zuckermannadelaide.edu.au>
*Subject:* Obituary: Joshua A. Fishman (18 July 1926 - 1 March 2015)

Joshua A. Fishman (18 July 1926 - 1 March 2015)

Seven Jews have changed the world. Moses said: "Everything is in the head!"
Jesus said: "Everything is in the heart!" Marx said: "Everything is in the
stomach!" Freud said: "Everything is in the groin!" Fishman said:
"Everything is in the tongue!" Zuckerberg said: "Everything is in the
finger!" Einstein said: "Everything is relative!"

Success is relative. But Joshua A. Fishman Z''L, hypocoristically a.k.a.
Shikl, has set an absolute standard. Only in the dictionary does “Success”
come before “Work”. And Fishman’s more than 80 books and 1000 articles
demonstrate his Herculean commitment to scholarship since his first
publications in the original Yiddish journal "Yugntruf" in 1945, which he
co-founded with contact linguist Uriel Weinreich.

If William Labov (L'above and beyond) is the founder of
micro-sociolinguistics (cf. variationist sociolinguistics), Fishman is the
founder of macro-sociolinguistics (cf. sociology of language), which
consists inter alia of the analysis of language education, language
planning, bilingualism, multilingualism, minority languages and language
revival. Fishman is a sociologist who could be considered a "hyphenated
linguist", perspicaciously investigating fascinating and multifaceted
issues such as language and religion (theo-linguistics), language and
nationalism, language and identity, and language and ethnicity.

As Weinreich et al. insightfully note, "linguistic and social factors are
closely interrelated in the development of language change. Explanations
which are confined to one or the other aspect, no matter how well
constructed, will fail to account for the rich body of regularities that
can be observed in empirical studies of language behavior" (1968: 188).

The founder and general editor of the leading, pioneering refereed
publication "International Journal of the Sociology of Language," Fishman
created an intellectual platform that has greatly facilitated the
introduction and dissemination of novel models and revolutionary theories
that have led to numerous academic debates, syntheses and
cross-fertilizations. He has often acted as an epistemological bridge
between, and antidote for, parallel discourses.

One ought to assess the breadth and depth of Fishman's work through a
combined Jewish-sociolinguistic lens. Like Uriel Weinreich, Fishman's
research embodies the integration of Jewish scholarship with general
linguistics. Fishman (1981, 1985) himself explores the sociology of Jewish
languages from a general sociolinguistic point of view. But I would also
advocate a bilateral impact: Jewish linguistics, the exploration of Jewish
languages such as Yiddish, has shaped general sociolinguistics. Throughout
history Jews have been multilingual immigrants, resulting in Jewish
languages embodying intricate and intriguing mechanisms of language contact
and identity. These languages were thus fertile ground for the
establishment and evolution of the sociology of language in general.

Given the importance in Judaism not only of mentshlikhkayt (cf. humaneness)
but also of education and "on the other hand" dialectics, it is not
surprising to find the self-propelled institute Fishman trailblazing
simultaneously both in Yiddish scholarship in particular and in the
sociology of language in general.

In the field of Yiddish studies proper, Fishman's contribution has been
immense and far-reaching. He was co-editor of "For Max Weinreich on his
seventieth birthday" (1965), co-translator of the English language
publication (1979–1980) of the first two volumes of Weinreich’s seminal
"Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Shprakh" [History of the Yiddish language], and
editor of "Studies on Polish Jewry, 1919–1970: the interplay of social,
economic and political factors in the struggle of a minority for its
existence" (1974). Closer to his expertise are the impressive and important
"Never say die! A thousand years of Yiddish in Jewish life and letters"
(1981), and his outstanding sociolinguistic biography of Nathan Birnbaum:
"Ideology, society and language: the odyssey of Nathan Birnbaum" (1987).

Fishman has lived up to Sapir’s verdict: ''Language is a guide to 'social
reality'. Though language is not ordinarily thought of as of essential
interest to the students of social science, it powerfully conditions all
our thinking about social problems and processes. Human beings do not live
in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as
ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular
language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is
quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially
without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means
of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of
the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously
built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever
sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social
reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds,
not merely the same world with different labels attached.'' (Sapir 1921:
162)

Fishman’s plethora of direct contributions to specific areas of
sociolinguistics and Jewish languages are impressive (see Schweid Fishman
2012). Their impact, however, on other scholars, on our sense of the
possibilities for further research, and on the generation of yet-unanswered
new questions, is exponentially greater. To take one example, Fishman’s
work on reversing language shift and on language revival and maintenance
(e.g. 1991, 2001), is the basis for the emerging new trans-disciplinary
field of enquiry of what I call 'revivalistics' (see also ''Revival
Linguistics'', Zuckermann and Walsh 2011). Complementing documentary
linguistics, 'revivalistics' analyses comparatively the universal
mechanisms and constraints involved in language reclamation,
revitalization, renewal and empowerment world-wide. 'Revivalistics' is in
its infancy simply because the reclamation of sleeping beauty tongues is a
relatively young activity. I am currently involved with the resurrection of
several hibernating Aboriginal languages in the 'Lucky Country' down under,
Australia. Israeli, the beautiful hybrid that emerged in the Promised Land,
and which has so far been relatively the most successful reclamation, is
only 120 years old.

Shikl will always be remembered for his gargantuan labour and perspicacious
insights. He is survived by the indefatigable and extraordinarily-dedicated
Gella Schweid Fishman, to whom I wish biz hundert un tsvantsik!, Yiddish
for ''[may you live] until 120 years!'' Serendipitously but appropriately,
Tolkien's Quenya name for ''fish'' is lingwe.

REFERENCES
Fishman, Joshua A. 1981. The sociology of Jewish languages from the
perspective of the general sociology of language: a preliminary
formulation. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30. 5–18.
Fishman, Joshua A. 1985. The sociology of Jewish languages from a general
sociolinguistic point of view. In Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), Readings in the
sociology of Jewish languages, 3–21. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Fishman, Joshua A. 1991. Reversing language shift: theoretical and
empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon (UK):
Multilingual Matters.
Fishman, Joshua A. (ed.). 2001. Can threatened languages be saved?
Reversing language shift, revisited: a 21st century perspective. Clevedon
(UK): Multilingual Matters.
Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language. An introduction to the study of speech. New
York: Harcourt & Brace.
Schweid Fishman, Gella 2012. Joshua A. Fishman bibliography (1949–2011),
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 213.
Weinreich, Uriel, William Labov & Marvin Herzog. 1968. Empirical
foundations for a theory of language change. In W. P. Lehmann & Yakov
Malkiel (eds), 97–195. Directions for historical linguistics. Austin:
University of Texas Press.
Zuckermann, Ghil’ad & Michael Walsh. 2011. Stop, revive, survive!: Lessons
from the Hebrew revival applicable to the reclamation, maintenance and
empowerment of Aboriginal languages and cultures. Australian Journal of
Linguistics 31(1). 111–127.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Written by Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann, D.Phil. (Oxon.), Chair of
Linguistics and Endangered Languages, School of Humanities,
The University of Adelaide,
Adelaide SA 5005, Australia
ghilad.zuckermannadelaide.edu.au
http://www.zuckermann.org/
http://adelaide.academia.edu/zuckermann/
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/ghilad.zuckermann
http://www.facebook.com/ProfessorZuckermann

-- 
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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