I am taking Intro to Linguistics and I thought it would be appropriate to research the history and influences of Hebrew. Hebrew is a Afro-Asiatic, Central-Northwest Semitic, Canaanite language. It is the only Canaanite language still spoken. Hebrew and Aramaic coexisted within Israel in ancient times.
Hebrew is said to have died out as a spoken language in the 6th century, the end of the Roman Period. Hebrew began to be revived in the mid 19th century in Germany, but its revival was not fully set in motion until Jewish activist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda began trying to bring spoken Hebrew back. It is surprising that the revival of the language is owed primarily to one man! In the Second Aliyah, Hebrew started replacing various Jewish dialects such as Spanyolit, Yiddish and Judeo-Arabic.
Hebrew vowels in IPA:
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