'כאן בארץ הקודש צריך לדבר רק עברית': החייאת הדיבור העברי בראי סרטים העוסקים בעלייה הראשונה

This paper presents the development of the cinematic representation of Hebrew speech during the first Aliya in three Israeli feature films, revealing two processes which this representation underwent from the beginning of Israeli cinema (1932) to the present (2011): (a) The weakening of the monolingual ideology which rejected foreign languages as an obstacle to the revival of Hebrew speech; (b) The weakening of the normative approach which strongly prefers the "correct" use of the language over the existing usage. The cinematic dialogues are very dissimilar in terms of their linguistic characteristics, indicating that they do not constitute first Aliya natural speech, but rather representations thereof. Representations naturally reflect choice. Choices made by filmmakers are influenced by the period in which they live, contemporaneous norms, their world views, personal tastes, and target audience. The development of the cinematic representation of Hebrew speech reflects broader social and cultural processes. The norm of representing Hebrew-exclusive speech is subject to the monolingual ideology and to "Negation of the Diaspora" and the reinvention of the Jew in general. As Hebrew had come to be the everyday spoken language in Israel, the Monolingual ideology lost much of its power, along with the linguistic norm which it dictated. The new freedom from the norms of formal, literary, "correct" language is associated with Hebrew becoming the dominant spoken language among Jews and the transition from the generation of the pioneers to the generation of the Sabras (Israeli-born). For the Sabras, speaking Hebrew is natural, and they have no need or desire to represent Hebrew speech as it presumably ought to be. The weakening of the normative approach is also associated with the shift of focus in Israeli society from the collective to the individual and from nation building to personal life.