RT Article
T1 Imperialism, Identity, and Language Choice in Persian Yehud: Towards Understanding the Socio-political Implications in the Achaemenid Empire
JF Advances in ancient Biblical  and Near Eastern research
VO 1
IS 2
SP 145
OP 192
A1 Silverman, Jason M. 1980-
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1797145673
AB Scholars have long connected the Achaemenid Empire and its use of Imperial Aramaic—spanning the empire’s space and duration—with processes of social identity formation. Yet the details and mechanisms of this supposed link for the elites within the empire remains hazily theorized at best. Taking the famous complaint about language loss in Nehemiah as a starting point, this paper explores the various social and status implications involved in the local use of scripts and languages. Using sociolinguistic literature around ‘code-mixing’ and ‘code-switching,’ Communication Accommodation Theory, and diglossia, this paper tries to map some early ways the social implications of languages choices within Persian period marginal regions could be understood, with a specific focus on Yehud. These tools indicate a wider array of variables are relevant than have sometimes been entertained and suggest that language choice in Yehud related more to inter-elite rivalries than reaction to the Persians.
K1 Identity
K1 Imperialism
K1 Nehemiah
K1 Persian Empire
K1 Sociology of language
K1 Yehud
DO 10.35068/aabner.v1i2.838