Ghil'ad Zuckermann | |
---|---|
![]() Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann (in 2011) | |
Born | |
Alma mater | University of Oxford St Hugh's College, Oxford University of Cambridge Churchill College, Cambridge Tel Aviv University United World College of the Adriatic |
Known for | Suggesting that Israeli Hebrew is based at the same time on Hebrew, Yiddish and other languages, Classifying words that are borrowed from another language in a hidden way, Phono-semantic matching, Language revival and wellbeing |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Linguistics, Language revival |
Institutions | University of Cambridge Churchill College, Cambridge Shanghai Jiao Tong University Weizmann Institute of Science University of Texas at Austin University of Queensland National University of Singapore Middlebury College Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center The University of Adelaide |
Ghil'ad Zuckermann (Hebrew: גלעד צוקרמן, 1 June 1971) is a linguist who examines the relationship between language and identity. He looks at different languages and finds out how one culture influences another culture. He analyses the role of language in politics and nationhood, and the dynamics between language, religion and society. He discovers the origins of words. He figures out how new words enter a language. He investigates words that come from several sources at the same time.
He is "a leading world expert in language revival".[1] He reclaims languages that are no longer spoken.[2][3] He believes that reviving languages is good, beautiful and helpful.[4] He suggests that we should compensate people whose mother tongue was "killed".[5] He also believes that we should make indigenous tongues the official languages of their region, and that we should have official signs in several languages at the same time.[5]
He knows a lot about the revival of the Hebrew language. He was interviewed about it by Stephen Fry.[6]
He gives lectures at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He also teaches students from all over the world in an online course that he created on Language Revival: Securing the Future of Endangered Languages.[7] In this course he had more than 20,000 learners from 190 different countries.[8]
He was born in Tel Aviv on 1 June 1971. He studied at the University of Oxford (St Hugh's College), University of Cambridge (Churchill College), Tel Aviv University and United World College of the Adriatic.[9]