Paper short abstract:

A Linguistic Landscape analysis of Arabic in Israel points to a language in distress in spite of its official status. Language attitude seems stronger than official status in providing a public space for Arabic speakers. The limits of Arabic seem to signify the limits of Arab presence in Israel.

Paper long abstract:

The Arabic language in Israel enjoys an official status. However, a Linguistic Landscape analysis of signage points at a language in distress. Much of the research has focused on the loss of land and the limits of physical mobility for Palestinians, but not on the language in public spaces in Israel. While Arabic appears second to Hebrew on most road signs, generally followed by English, one notes the following: Arabic script is mostly a transliteration of the Hebrew place name name and not the Arabic name. Arabic is generally written carelessly with spelling and/or grammar mistakes, and many signs in Jerusalem appear with the Arabic crossed over with dark paint, creating a powerful visual effect on the viewer. Despite the municipal regulation of signage in a city like Jerusalem, subtle acts of resistance are able to escape the regulators' eyes, such as in the Saladin, the main street in East Jerusalem.

These observations are based on fieldwork in Israel in the summers of 2013-2015. The study concludes that while Linguistic Landscape analysis is a powerful visual indicator of the symbolic value of a language in a community, it should be anchored in the historic, social, political, and economic contexts. The presence of Arabic in public spaces seems to demarcate the allowable space for Arabic in the state of Israel. Note that in Jerusalem both peoples live in "unwilling proximity" (Butler 2012), with state limitations for the movement of the Arabs, but not the Jews."