The representation of spoken Hebrew in Eretz-Israeli fiction films from the 1930s

Abstract

This article examines whether the dialogue in the first two full-length Hebrew narrative films reflects spoken Hebrew of the time. The first part examines phenomena that, according to written testimonies in grammar books and prescriptivist writings, were typical of spoken Hebrew during the British Mandate period. It shows that these phenomena were not represented in the films from the 1930s, whereas in later films there is a significant rise in their frequency. The second part examines phenomena that are not typical of spoken speech today but are represented in the dialogue of the films from the 1930s. In later films they become very rare or vanish altogether. An analysis of the findings shows that the film-makers did not regard it as the function of cinematic dialogue to authentically reflect spoken speech, but rather adopted the normative approach to Hebrew, which strongly preferred high-register Hebrew over authentic usage.