Educational Policy towards the Circassian Minority in Israel.pdf

Ethnic Minority Languages and Educatioo (1990: Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands) Ethnic Minority Languages and Edocation I K. Jaspaen, Sj. Kroon (eds.). 12 Asher Stem (Shafrir) MILEL, Israel Centre for Multilingualism, Jerusalem, Israel Educational Policy towards the Circassian Minority in Israel Circassian, or Cherkess, is a general name for a group of peoples who fonnerly inhabited the northwestern Caucasus and part of the east coast of the Black Sea. They are divided into two major groups: the Adygh, which is also the name they themselves use, and the Kabardian (Dirr, 1913-1937: 834). In the 1860s and the 1870s, when the Russians began their conquest of the Caucasus, a large percentage of the population perished and most of the survivors were forced to migrate to Ottoman Turkey to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean (Stendel, 1973). Today there are about 90000 Circassians distributed in pockets throughout Turkey. There are approximately 61000 Circassians in Syria, 29000 in Jordan and 8000 in Iraq (Weekes, 1978: 176). Today, 38 Caucasian languages are in use and the Circassian belongs to the Northwestern group of the family. This is the most compact branch in the classification of Caucasian languages and includes five languages in three subgroups: (1) Ubyx, (2) Abxaz, Abaza, (3) Adygh, Kabardian - the Circassian itself (Ruhlen, 1987: 324). 1. The Circassians in Israel In the 1870s, some of the Circassians settled in villages in Palestine. Today there are 2500 Circassians in Israel. 1800 live in Kfar Kama, a village on the Tabor Mountain road on the way to Tiberias. They are descendants of the Shapsug tribe. Almost 600 more, members of the Abzax tribe, live in . Reihaniya - a village located in an agricultural area lying along the i76 Stern Lebanese border. About 20 families from both villages have found work in the Jewish towns of Eilat, Lod, Hadera and Safed. As a whole the Circassians are well integrated into Israeli society. Families are small, most of them fmish high school and many go to universities and colleges. Since 1958, at the community's request all Circassian men do compulsory army service. Although Circassians are Sunni Moslems, they live according to their own oral law, passed down from father to son over the centuries. They demonstrate the integrative aspect of ethnic diversity by featuring a co-existence of ethnic identity with a deep commitment to Israel. The decade from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s is often designated as revealing a widespread 'revival of ethnicity' (Fishman, 1984: 21). In this decade a renaissance of the Circassian cultural consciousness began among the young Ciracassian generation in Israel, due in part to the combined efforts and encouragement of the Circassian leadership and the Israel Ministry of Education. This ethnic revival is manifest in efforts to secure books and articles about the Circassian people, an interest in contemporary Circassian music, and the attempts to recreate the national costume. The heightened sense of distinctiveness among Circassians, in addition to their common history and culture, is marked by strenuous efforts to maintain linguistic distinctiveness, similar, for example, to the Northern Ireland situation (Milroy, 1987: 103). 2. Circassian language in the educational system When the British assumed control over Palestine under Mandate from the League of Nations at the close of World War I, they set up a national system of education which resembled the Ottoman system: Hebrew was the sole medium of instruction in Jewish schools and Arabic the sole medium in other schools: Arab, Druze and Circassian. This system of education was adapted by the new State of Israel in 1948. In the Circassian schools Adygh, the Circassian vernacular mother tongue, was relegated to the home. It was not until the 1960s when a Kfar Kama teacher picked up Circassian language broadcasts from the USSR, that the Circassians in Israel learned that in Russia, after the 1917 revolution, the Cyrillic alphabet was adapted to Adygh (Borsten, 1976). This process was fulfilled in the 1920s after seven different projects on scripts (Yakovlev, 1928: 25). A debate commenced at once; its chief topic was the position of the Circassian language in the schools. Representatives of the two villages approached the Ministry of Education and asked that Circassian be introduced into the school system. The first request was denied - the only country in the world to teach Adygh was Russia and textbooks were heavily laden with Soviet propaganda. The language debate received a strong impetus in 1971 and this time it was Educational Policy towards the Circassian Minority in Israel 177 decided that Circassian be introduced as a compulsory subject from the sixth grade of primary school until the eighth (last) grade. A Reihanyia teacher agreed to write a primer, which turned out to be an almost original text, with little reliance on the Russian modeL The final. version was prepared in collaboration with a Kiar Kama teacher and published in 1982 under the title' Alpha-bet' (Chatukay & Gush, 1982), Meanwhile the Ministry of Education arranged for Ian Catford, a professor of Caucasian languages at the University of Michigan, to stay for two months to instruct educators and intellectuals in Circassian grammar, writing and reading (Jerusalem Post, 1973). 3. The question of change of language One of the most crucial language planning decisions that can be made is to determine which language will serve as the medium of instruction in school (Fasold, 1984: 292). Even more critical is the transition from one language of instruction to a second. Since the 1960s the younger Circassian generation has demanded that the language of instruction in their schools be changed from Arabic to Hebrew (Dar, 1964). They realized that like the Greenlandic language (Kleivan, 1979: 129) progress requires Hebrew as a catalyst in all areas. Both Circassian villages in Israel have primary schools (eight grades) and the children go on to high schools in other villages, often in Hebrew high schools. Their environment is also a Hebrew-speaking environment - in the army and outside the Circassian community Hebrew has become the medium of social interaction among all the Circassians. In the 1970s there was a significant policy change which extended to both villages the option of choosing the language of study. This move was an attempt to improve the educational system and to relieve the pressure of parents to adopt the Hebrew language. The teaching in Arabic as the medium of instruction has been considered one of the major causes of the decline of the quality of education. The parents' committee and the local village council in both villages set up a commission to study the problem and come up with recommendations. A complete reorganization of the school structure was discussed. First and foremost it was recommended that instruction in Hebrew should be made more effective for all pupils. In 1976 an official committee composed of representatives of the Ministry of Education, Circassian teachers, parents and local authorities in Kiar Kama recommended that Hebrew should be the sole language of instruction in the school, with Arabic the second language and Circassian a compulsory subject. Although many parents, mainly the older generation, disagreed with these recommendations, the decision was adopted in 1977. The same year the transition from the Arabic language of instruction to Hebrew began. 178 Stern The arguments for choosing Hebrew were: 1. Hebrew is the main official language in Israel (for legal matters,government business, commerce, army service). 2. Instruction in Hebrew will improve the educational situation and will increase the Circassian child's ability to meet the demands of Hebrew high schools, since most Circassian children go on to Hebrew high school. 3. Kfar Kama village is situated in the middle of a triangle of Jewish settlements and there are no Arab villages in the area. Therefore the village has appropriate contact with Hebrew-speaking persons mostly. 4. Many of the teachers are Jewish. For some subjects there is a shortage of Circassian teachers who have a command of Arabic. In Reihanyia the same option of choosing the language of instruction was brought up for discussion in local council and parents' committee. The members of the local council mentioned that the parents were strongly against the arrangement in Kfar Kama. A committee was appointed in the Ministry of Education to find a solution that would be acceptable to all parties. It submitted its report in May 1984 and recommended that Arabic should remain the principal language of instruction but that from seventh grade some subjects (mathematics and biology) should be taught in Hebrew. As in Kfar Kama, Circassian will be a compulsory subject. The factors that militate against choosing Hebrew can be noted as: 1. About 15 per cent of the villagers are Arab settlers. They are in favour of exclusive use of Arabic as a medium of instruction, as in all Arab educational systems in Israel. 2. Arabic is the language of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and it has served as the chief instrument of Islam for all Moslems, including the Circassians. 3. All the teachers are Circassians with a good command of Arabic in their subjects. Although a few people criticized these conclusions, their criticism had little effect. 4. Social contexts in which language is learned Home. Before a Circassian child begins to attend school he learns the vernacular Circassion spoken by his elders. When the child goes to kindergarten, his education will be conducted in the familiar vernacular which he has already used at home. At this stage of language acquisition, the pupil in Kfar Kama will achieve a first knowledge of Hebrew and in Reihaniy, of Arabic. Primary school. In Kfar Kama when the child enrolls in the primary school he has to learn in a special linguistic system. There are two languages of instruction from the first grade. Throughout the years in primary school the Educational Policy towards the Circassian Minority in Israel 179 principal language of socialization is Hebrew. Arabic is introduced as a separate subject starting from the first grade and as the special language of instruction for Islam. In the fifth grade English is introduced as a subject and in the sixth grade, Circassian writing, reading and grammar. In Reihaniya in the fIrst grade of primary school Arabic replaces the vernacular as the language of instruction. The pupils are, however, not unfamiliar with Arabic since they have had it as a subject since the fIrst year of kindergarten. In the second grade Hebrew is introduced as a subject. In the fifth grade English is introduced as a subject and in the sixth grade the Circassian writing, reading and grammar. In the same grade Hebrew replaces Arabic as the language for teaching mathematics. Not only the Circassians in Reihaniya send their children to the school in the village. All the Arab children attend the same school and they learn Circassian from the sixth grade. They master this language almost like Circassian children. Thus, in both villages, the children have to take up two foreign languages, i.e. Arabic and Hebrew from the beginning of their education. Secondary school. For Kiar Kama pupils the high school setting of language learning is an extension of the primary school. For Reihaniya pupils the high school very often means a change in the language of instruction from Arabic to Hebrew, because most of them go on to Hebrew high schools. Yet, for both villages there are noticeable differences. Although Hebrew continues to be the principal instrument of effective socialization and intellectual development, it is also becoming the major contact language in all types of social interaction. Meanwhile, Circassian is no longer a course in the school curriculum. Yet, to the pupils it has remained an auxiliary medium of communication. In informal situations, among Circassian friends, it often becomes a code which is restricted to the 'in-group'. 5. Multilingual situation in education In order to consider the varieties of languages in Circassian society and some of the variations in their acquisition and in order to show the complexity of the multilingual situation in the context of education we have taken Brann's 'Sliding Scale for Multilingual Language Learning' (Brann, 1979: 380) as a model. The 22 cases of his scale were spelled out in order to show the complexity of the multilingual situation in Nigerian society. Two of the cases can be appliedto the models in Circassian villages. Summing up the description of the variety of the languages used in the different settings, at the end of primary school a child in both villages has mastered three languages, Circassian, Arabic and Hebrew, and is leaming a fourth, English. There is a slight distinction between the two villages in the period of time in which each language is learned and there is an obvious difference in the depth they have been studied. Stern 180 Table 1: Language use in different settings in Kfar Kama and Reihaniya (L1=Language 1 etc.; C=Circassian; H=Hebrew; A=Arabic). KfarKama Reihaniya case 3 case 5 case 3 Home (mother tongue) Ll C LI C Ll C Community LIC LIC LIC Primary school L2H L2A L2A Secondary school L2H L3H L2A Table 2: Language learning in schools in Kfar Kama and Reihaniya (A=Arabic; C=Circassian; E=English; H=Hebrew; i=instruction; s=subject; v=vernacular). Kindergarten Primary School LI (mother tongue) L2 L3 L4 L5 KfarKama Cv/Hv Hi Ai Cs Es Reihaniya Cv/Av Ai Hs Cs Es Thus a Circassian pupil in Kfar Kama has to learn 2i (H+A) + 2s (C+E) languages and a Circassian pupil in Reihaniya has to learn Ii (A) + 3s (H+C+E) languages. The effect on pupils' cognitive processes, as well as on their ultimate language skills in each language, is being studied. 6. Language choice among Circassians In order to be able to describe the code choice and the variety of the languages used, we spent a period of observation in both villages. Another part of this study was carried out in the primary school in Reihaniya. Data were gathered from 20 pupils in seventh and eighth grades by means of a questionnaire. Taking these questionnaire answers as a starting point, our data confIrm the impression of that there are no signs of shift to Arabic or Hebrew in domains reserved for vernacular Circassian. I will discuss some general results of the preliminary analysis of a small part of the data. 181 Educational Policy towards the Circassian Minority in Israel Table 3: Data derived from the questionnaire given to students in Reihaniya School (7th/8th Grades). Circassian Hebrew Arabic A. Language Proficiency 1. speaking 100% 2. reading and writing 100% B. Language use 1. at home 100% 2. with teachers in class 100% 3. with teachers 100% outside of class 4. with other students 100% 5. with adults 100% C. Language Preference 1. for reading books 5% 2. for watching TV 10% 3. best known language 95% 100% 100% 100% 100% 65% 35% 5% 10% 50% 30% 5% 45% 60% As Milroy (1987: 184) has emphasized, following Fishman's proposal, some variables or domains such as setting, participant and topic may be expected to delimit the code choice. Setting and participant. Like the Filipino bilingual, the Circassian multilingual moves back and forth in a variety of social settings requiring a different choice of languages (Asuncion-Lande & Pascasio, 1979: 222). We found that the degree of the use of Circassian, Hebrew or Arabic varied significantly with the domain. In the home Circassian is used exclusively. Within the school the language component varies: in the curriculum there is more Hebrew in Kfar Kama and more Arabic in Reihaniya; interpupil communication is conducted almost exclusively in Circassian. Therefore, in the school, the type of speech situation indicates a significant effect on language preferences. In the classroom the usual language is Hebrew or Arabic. In recreation and at social gatherings the language used is always Circassian. But this is the effect of the interlocutor on language choice rather than the effect of the specific act itself. When the structure of the audience changed to out-of-group Circassians, it is still the interlocutor alone who affects the choice of the language. When Circassians leave their villages, they have always been faced with Hebrew or Arabic as the only code of communication. In contrast to Parasher's (1980) and Laosa's (1975) studies, in the Circassian case there is no difference in language used in three 'low domains' (paras her 1980: 153); family, friendship and neighbourhood. There is no difference between the use of Circassian in the family context and in the recreation at school. The important difference is between the two school contexts: classroom and recreation. 182 Stern Topic. As to the role of the topic, further investigations are necessary to follow up the influence of various topics. Code switching and code mixing. Circassians are very tolerant of code switching and code mixing. One explanation for this tolerance is that codeswitching and code mixing serve to facilitate communication. Although one may grope for appropriate words or expressions to discuss an experience or an idea in one language, mixed patterns from the different linguistic systems seem to flow more easily. When a Circassian multilingual lacks a more precise term in vernacular, he can draw on Arabic or Hebrew to fill the gap; never vice versa. If he needs an official administrative or political term, only Hebrew will be brought in to express the term. There is a strong tradition of this type of code-mixing in the Arabic bilingual community in Israel. Language maintenance of Circassian. In language maintenance, the community collectively decides to continue using the language or languages it has traditionally used (Fasold, 1984: 213). In contrast to the languages of larger, higher status groups (Arabic and Hebrew) the Circassian community in Israel is a small, lower-status linguistic group. Although almost all the population is multilingual or bilingual, there is no intergenerational switching and the community has remained bilingual for decades. There is not even an early sign of shift; each language remains in the domains in which it used to be reserved. The Circassian case provides support for the basic hypotheses that a minority language community is in the best position to resist language shift when it can maintain a diglossic functional differentiation between its own language and that of the majority (Verdoodt, 1972: 375). The socio-economic conditions of Circassians living in relatively isolated villages and farming are in favour of them maintaining their language (Fasold, 1984: 241). The multilingual educational system in Hebrew and Arabic and their Moslem religion conducted in Arabic seem to be major factors promoting shift. In spite of those conditions, bilingualism among Circassians in Israel is a clear case of stable bilingualism. 7. Conclusions It is clear that the entire community of the Circassian population in Israel speaks the vernacular mother tongue. It is just as clear that the Circassian language symbolizes Circassian ethnicity and constitutes the 'core value' (Smolicz, 1984: 26) of their culture. The Circassian language can be regarded as the 'cultural marker' of the Circassian's minority existence and as a model of the cultural pluralism in the ethnically heterogeneous society of Israel. In this context, Fishman hails the Circassian 'struggle for the right to teach Circassian in the schools of Circassians' as the beginning of 'the 184 Stern Verdoodt, A. (1972) The differential impact of immigrant French speakers on indigenous German speakers; a case study in the light of two theories. In I.A. Fishman (Ed.) Advances in the Sociology of Language. VoL 2. The Hague: Mouton, 377·385. Weekes, Richard V. (1978) Muslim Peoples. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Yakovlev, N. (1928) Le developpement d' une langue ecrite nationale chez les peuples orientaux de l' Union Sovietique et la naissance de leurs alphabets nationaux. Paris: Paul Geuthner.