The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of

Givat Ram Givat Ram ( he, גִּבְעַת רָם) is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. It is the site of Kiryat HaMemshala (Hebrew: קריית הממשלה, ''lit.'' Government complex), which includes many of Israel's most important national instituti ...

campus." Its stated aims are to assemble and research the Hebrew language in all its layers throughout the ages; to investigate the origin and development of the Hebrew tongue; and to direct the course of development of Hebrew, in all areas, including

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

, and

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

. Since 2022, the Academy has been headed by Moshe Bar-Asher. It is composed of 42 members, in addition to having members who serve as academic advisors, as well as honorary members. Every person is entitled to query the Academy on language matters and to receive a formal reply.

History

The Academy replaced the Hebrew Language Committee (''Vaʻad ha-lashon ha-ʻIvrit'') established in 1890 by

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda ( he, אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֵּן־יְהוּדָה}; ; born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–⁠Jewish linguist, grammarian, and journalist, renowned as the lexicographer of ...

, who was its first president. As Hebrew became the spoken language in Palestine and was adopted by the

educational system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

, the Hebrew Language Committee published bulletins and dictionaries. It coined thousands of words that are in everyday use today. Its successor, the Academy of the Hebrew Language, has continued this mission of creating new

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

words to keep up modern usage. Although the academy's business is creating new words from Hebrew roots and structures to replace loanwords derived from other languages, its own name is a loanword, "akademya." It addresses this irony on its English website. The Academy's mission, as defined in its constitution, is "to direct the development of Hebrew in light of its nature" (לכוון את דרכי התפתחותה של הלשון העברית לפי טבעה). The Academy sets standards for modern Hebrew grammar, orthography, transliteration, and punctuation based on the historical development of the language. It also writes a Hebrew Historical Dictionary.

Organization

The plenum consists of 42 members. In addition, the Academy employs 8 academic advisors, among them respected scholars of language, linguistics, Judaic studies, and Bible. It also has 9 honorary members. The Academy's decisions are binding on all governmental agencies, including the

Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC; he, תאגיד השידור הישראלי, translit=Ta'agid HaShidur HaYisra'eli, lit=Israeli Broadcasting Corporation; ar, هيئة البث الإسرائيلي, translit=Hayyat al-Bathi al- ...

.Hebrew Academy membership (official site)
/ref>

References

External links

Academy of the Hebrew Language
– official website (English)
Rothberg International School The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Of The Hebrew Language, The Civic and political organizations of Israel Hebrew language Language regulators 1953 establishments in Israel Organizations established in 1953

History

Organization

See also

References

External links