Revivalistics facts for kids

The book Revivalistics, published in 2020.

Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond is a book about how languages can be brought back to life. It was written by linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann and published in 2020 by Oxford University Press. The book introduces a new field called revivalistics. This field looks at how spoken languages are brought back, made stronger, and kept alive.

What the Book is About

The book has two main parts. They match the book's title: "From the Genesis of Israeli" (Part One) and "to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond" (Part Two). These parts follow the author's journey from the story of Hebrew to language revival in Australia. The book shares lessons from the Hebrew language revival and applies them to other languages that are in danger today. It gives new ideas about how languages are created and revived.

Part One: The Story of Israeli

The first part of the book looks closely at the most famous language revival: the bringing back of Hebrew. This happened between the 1880s and 1930s. The book suggests that the language spoken by modern Israelis is not exactly the same as ancient Hebrew. Instead, it's a new language that mixes old Hebrew with other languages spoken by the people who revived it.

This part has five chapters:

• Chapter One says that the language that came from the Hebrew revival should be called Israeli. This is the name Zuckermann uses for what is usually called Modern Hebrew. He explains that Israeli is a mix of Hebrew and Yiddish, plus other languages spoken by the revivalists. It's like a mosaic made of different pieces.
• Chapter Two shows that when a language is revived, its grammar will naturally mix with the first languages of the people bringing it back. Zuckermann says that successful "revival languages" don't follow the simple "family tree" idea of how languages grow. Instead, they follow a "Congruence Principle," meaning features that appear in many contributing languages are more likely to stick around.
• Chapter Three focuses on how language helps build a nation. It gives examples of how words can change their meaning over time, sometimes on purpose, to fit new ideas.
• Chapter Four suggests that groups like language academies are helpful for a language being revived. But they are only needed until the language is fully alive and well.
• Chapter Five is called "Shift Happens: Tarbutomics, Israeli Culturomics." It explores culturomics as a way to study language and culture. Culturomics uses computers to analyze texts and understand human behavior and cultural trends. Zuckermann's term tarbutomics comes from the Hebrew word for "culture."

Part Two: Language Revival in Australia and Beyond

The second part of the book uses the lessons from the Hebrew revival for language movements in Australia and around the world. It explains why language revival is important, giving reasons based on ethics, beauty, and usefulness. It also describes how to revive languages, offering practical methods.

Professor Joseph Lo Bianco (2020) notes that the book "expands from the often celebrated case of the revival of the Hebrew... to discuss what can be learned and applied... for other endangered languages."

Māori Professor Hēmi Whaanga (2020) says the book offers "many insightful lessons" for Māori language communities. He highlights ideas like "Native Tongue Title" and compensation for "linguicide" (language killing), and how language revival connects to well-being. He emphasizes that "language is at the core of our existence."

This part has four chapters:

• Chapter Six introduces "revivalistics" as a helpful global field that combines many subjects. It talks about the history of linguicide (language killing) during colonization in Australia. It also presents a tool called the Language Revival Diamond (LARD). This diamond has four key parts: (1) language owners, (2) linguistics, (3) education, and (4) the public.
• Chapter Seven explains that technology can both harm and help languages. It describes how the Barngarla Dictionary App was created. It shows how past wrongs can be corrected:
  • A book written in 1844 to help a German missionary teach Christianity to Aboriginal people is now used by a Jewish person to help the Barngarla Aboriginal people reconnect with their own heritage.
  • Technology, once used for colonization (like ships and weapons) and the Stolen Generations (like cars taking Aboriginal children from their families), is now used (as a mobile app) to help the Barngarla people regain their culture and identity.
• Chapter Eight suggests that people whose language was killed should be paid back for their loss. Zuckermann calls this "Native Tongue Title," similar to Native Title for land.
• Chapter Nine shows a strong connection between language revival and better well-being and mental health.

Key Ideas in the Book

The book introduces several important ideas about language revival:

Revivalistics (Different from Documentary Linguistics)

Zuckermann's term, revivalistics, is a field that combines many subjects. It looks at language reclamation, revitalization, and reinvigoration from all angles. This includes law, mental health, psychology, linguistics, history, technology, and more.

The book clearly separates "revivalistics" from documentary linguistics. Documentary linguistics records endangered languages before they disappear. The book argues that documentary linguistics focuses on the language itself, while revivalistics focuses on the speakers of the language.

Zuckermann says that a language revivalist is more than just a linguist. They are also a teacher, a helper, a financial manager, and even a psychologist. They need to have a kind heart, be strong, and have a lot of patience.

The book also suggests new ways to write grammars and dictionaries. It says they should be easy for everyday people to understand, not just for linguists. This means avoiding complex, fancy words and using simple spelling.

Reclamation, Revitalization, and Reinvigoration

The book identifies three types of language revival:

• Reclamation is bringing back a "sleeping beauty"—a language that is no longer spoken. Examples include Hebrew, the Barngarla Aboriginal language, and Kaurna.
• Revitalization is bringing back a language that is very close to dying out, but still has a few speakers. Examples include Adnyamathanha and Walmajarri.
• Reinvigoration is strengthening an endangered language that still has many children speaking it. Examples include Welsh, Irish, and Catalan.

Revival Language (Revlang)

The book suggests calling a language that successfully comes back a Revival Language (revlang). These languages share many features. They should be seen as part of a "revival language" family, rather than just a traditional language family.

A revlang is a language that stopped being used as a first language but is now being brought back. This is usually done by the descendants of the original speakers.

The book also points out similarities between revlangs and conlangs (constructed languages). Conlangs are languages made up by people, like Klingon (an artistic language) or Esperanto (an international helper language).

Similarly, revlangs can be divided into reclangs (reclaimed languages that completely stopped being spoken) and reinlangs (reinvigorated and revitalized languages that are endangered but still spoken).

Founder Principle and Congruence Principle

The book says that a successful "revival language" has two key principles: the Founder Principle and the Congruence Principle.

Founder Principle

This principle means that a new revival language is shaped by the languages spoken by the first group of people who start reviving it. For Israeli, Yiddish was a main influence. This is because it was the first language of most of the early revivalists in Israel when the language was just starting to form.

Zuckermann explains that the Founder Principle works because the basic grammar of Israeli was set before many later immigrants arrived. So, people coming to Israel in the 1950s had to learn a language that was already well-formed.

Congruence Principle

This principle states that if a language feature (like a grammar rule or a word) appears in many of the languages that contribute to the new revival language, it's more likely to stay in that new language.

Zuckermann says this happens naturally, whether the revivalists want it or not. He has used this principle to study words and now applies it to grammar and the overall "genetics" of a language.

Linguicide and Native Tongue Title

Zuckermann created the term "Native Tongue Title" based on Native Title for land. Native Tongue Title is about giving compensation (payment or help) for "linguicide" (the killing of a language). It's a way to make up for the loss of Indigenous languages.

He argues that while some Australian states have paid compensation to victims of the Stolen Generations (when Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families), victims of linguicide are often forgotten. The book suggests that government grants for Aboriginal languages should be joined by compensation schemes.

However, Timothy Haines points out that Zuckermann's work in bringing back the Barngarla language helped the Barngarla people get their native title recognized. A judge even noted that the Barngarla's efforts to revive their language showed their strong connection to their land and culture.

Sleeping Beauty and Dreaming Beauty

The book uses the idea of a "sleeping beauty" to describe a language that is no longer spoken natively, like Hebrew and Barngarla. Zuckermann says "sleeping beauty" is a positive and poetic way to talk about these languages. It avoids negative words like "dead" or "extinct," which many Indigenous people don't like.

The book also suggests "dreaming beauty" specifically for Australian Aboriginal "sleeping beauties." This term connects to the Aboriginal concept known as The Dreaming.

Reasons for Language Revival

The book gives three main reasons why language revival is important:

• Ethical reasons: It's the right thing to do to fix past wrongs. Languages that were killed simply deserve to be brought back.
• Aesthetic reasons: A world with many different languages is more beautiful.
• Utilitarian reasons: It's useful and beneficial because it helps make society happier, for example, by improving well-being and mental health.

Langue, Land, and Lens

The book describes the importance of the "trinity" of langue-land-lens for any group of people wanting to form a modern nation:

• Langue: This means language, a national tongue.
• Land: This means territory, like Israel for Zionism.
• Lens: This means a cultural way of seeing the world, or heritage.

Tarbutomics

Tarbutomics is the Israeli version of culturomics. Culturomics is a field that uses computers to study human behavior, language, and cultural trends by analyzing texts. Zuckermann's term is based on the Israeli word for "culture," making it a direct translation of culturomics.