Code-Switching and -Mixing in Russian-Hebrew Bilinguals

Abstract

Since the year 1989, over 900,000 persons were repatriated to Israel, more than 84% of them from the countries of the former USSR. Practically all of them know Russian, and for most it constitutes a mother tongue. The motivation for the preservation of Russian as a language of conversation at home and sometimes in the working place, and as a language of culture in the Russian community in Israel is still very strong and has even been enhanced during the last decades. Its use is implemented, on the one hand, by the access to Russian sources (TV, libraries, book shops, guest performances of Russian actors) and by relatively convenient communication with native speakers in the metropolis and, on the other hand, by a tendency towards cultural autonomy in Israel. Many examples collected by us demonstrate a contrary situation to the well-known conservatism usually ascribed to languages spoken in foreign-speaking environments. Thus, the traditional notion of a Sprachinsel is challenged. Several peculiarities of RI have led to the development of a specific variety of Russian as a minority language in Israel (Moskovich 1978; Orel 1994). The degree of interference varies depending on linguistic proficiency of speaker and interlocutor, subject of conversation, and register of speech.