This book is the first major work treating the early history of Hebrew from a sociolinguistic perspective. It chronicles the relationship between language and society and emphasizes the distinction between Hebrew as a writing system and as a vernacular. It begins by tracing precursors known from the writing systems in Canaan during the second millennium BCE and concludes with the Jewish revolts of the first two centuries CE that resulted in the dispersion of the Jewish people and the end of Hebrew as a living language in the land. The book reveals the important role that Egyptian scribal pract ... More

This book is the first major work treating the early history of Hebrew from a sociolinguistic perspective. It chronicles the relationship between language and society and emphasizes the distinction between Hebrew as a writing system and as a vernacular. It begins by tracing precursors known from the writing systems in Canaan during the second millennium BCE and concludes with the Jewish revolts of the first two centuries CE that resulted in the dispersion of the Jewish people and the end of Hebrew as a living language in the land. The book reveals the important role that Egyptian scribal practice played for the initial emergence of Hebrew. It describes the appearance of a distinctively Judean scribal practice in the late eighth century as a nationalistic response to Assyrian imperialism and highlights the spread of writing and literacy outside of the closed circles of scribal elites during the late monarchy. The book exposes the gradual decline of Hebrew scribal practice during the Babylonian exile that resulted in the end of Standard Biblical Hebrew. The book notes the radical decline in Hebrew literary production during the Persian period and describes the emergence of Late Biblical Hebrew shaped by vernacular Hebrew, Aramaic scribal training, and old Hebrew literary texts. Hellenism created even more focus on language ideology as illustrated in Qumran Hebrew and the role of Hebrew in creating group identity in the Second Temple Period. The book concludes with a description of early Rabbinic Hebrew as an ideological textualization of oral tradition.