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Joshua Fishman

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Joshua A. Fishman
שיקל פֿישמאַן
Fishman giving a speech about the Gaelic language at theUniversity of Aberdeen
Born(1926-07-18)July 18, 1926
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 1, 2015(2015-03-01)(aged 88)
The Bronx,New York, U.S.
Education
OccupationLinguist
ChildrenDavid Fishman,Avi Fishman

Joshua Fishman(Yiddish:שיקל פֿישמאַן — Shikl Fishman; July 18, 1926 – March 1, 2015) was an Americanlinguistwho specialized in thesociology of language,language planning,bilingual education,andlanguageandethnicity.

Early life and education[edit]

Joshua A. Fishman (Yiddish nameShikl) was born and raised inPhiladelphia.[1]His sister was the poetRukhl Fishman.[2]He attended public schools while also studyingYiddishat elementary and secondary levels. As he grew up, his father would ask his children at the dinner table, "What did you do for Yiddish today?"[1]He studied Yiddish inWorkmen's CircleSchools,[3]which emphasized mastery of theYiddish languagealong with a focus on literature, history, and social issues. He graduated fromOlneyHigh School.[2]He attended theUniversity of Pennsylvaniaon a Mayor's Scholarship, 1944-1948,[4][5]earning a B.S. and an M.S.,[6]inhistoryandpsychology,respectively.[7]He went on to get a PhD in social psychology fromColumbia Universityin 1953.[8]

He is the father ofDavid Fishmanand Avi Fishman.[9]

Career[edit]

After graduating, he studied Yiddish withMax Weinreichduring the summer of 1948. During that time, he received a prize from theYIVO(Institute for Yiddish Research) for a monograph on bilingualism.[1]In 1951-52 he held a position as a research assistant for the Jewish Education Committee of New York.[6]In December 1951, he married Gella Schweid,[6]with whom he shared a lifelong commitment to Yiddish.[10]In 1953, he completed his Ph.D. insocial psychologyatColumbia University[1]with a dissertation entitledNegative Stereotypes Concerning Americans among American-born Children Receiving Various Types of Minority-group Education.

Shikl was approached by his hometownPhilliesasking him to join the radio booth and announce one batter's plate appearance in Yiddish in a part of the Phillies Jewish week. Shikl turned down the offer for fear it would "make a mockery of Yiddish."[citation needed]

From 1955 to 1958, he taught the sociology of language at theCity College of New Yorkwhile he was also directing research at theCollege Entrance Examination Board.[1]In 1958, he was appointed an associate professor of human relations and psychology at Penn.[1]He subsequently accepted a post as professor of psychology and sociology atYeshiva Universityin New York, where he would also serve as dean of theFerkauf Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanitiesas well as academic vice president. In 1966, he was madeDistinguished University Research Professorof Social Sciences.[1]

In 1988, he becameprofessor emeritusand became affiliated with a number of other institutions: Visiting Professor and Visiting Scholar, School of Education, Applied Linguistics and Department of Linguistics,Stanford University;Adjunct Professor of Multilingual and Multicultural Education, School of Education,New York University;Visiting Professor of Linguistics,City University of New York,Graduate Center. He has held visiting appointments and fellowships at over a dozen institutions around the world, including theCenter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(Stanford, CA) and theInstitute for Advanced Study(Princeton, NJ).[1]

Impact[edit]

Fishman wrote over 1000 articles and monographs onmultilingualism,bilingual educationand minority education, the sociology and history of theYiddish language,language planning,reversing language shift,language revival,'language andnationalism', 'language and religion', and 'language andethnicity'. Fishman is the founder and editor of the Contributions to the Sociology of Language book series byMouton de Gruyter.

Fishman devised the influential Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS), used for determining whether languages are endangered, in his bookReversing Language Shift.[11]The Enhanced GIDS was based on this and is used byEthnologue.

According toGhil'ad Zuckermann,"The founder and general editor of the leading refereed publicationInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language,Fishman created an intellectual platform that has greatly facilitated the introduction and dissemination of novel models and revolutionary theories that have led to numerous academic debates, syntheses and cross-fertilizations. He has often acted as an epistemological bridge between, and antidote for, parallel discourses. "[12]: 149–152 

And "One ought to assess the breadth and depth of Fishman’s work through a combined Jewish-sociolinguistic lens."[12]: 149–152  Zuckermann has argued that "Fishman’s research embodies the integration of Jewish scholarship with general linguistics. [...] Jewish linguistics, the exploration of Jewish languages such as Yiddish, has shaped general sociolinguistics. Throughout history Jews have been multilingual immigrants, resulting in Jewish languages embodying intricate and intriguing mechanisms of language contact and identity. These languages were thus fertile ground for the establishment and evolution of the sociology of language in general. Given the importance in Judaism not only of mentshlikhkayt (cf. humaneness) but also of education and 'on the other hand' dialectics, it is not surprising to find the self-propelled institute Fishman trailblazing simultaneously both in Yiddish scholarship in particular and in the sociology of language in general."[12]: 149–152 

Special honors[edit]

In 1991, Fishman was honored by twoFestschriften,publications to celebrate his 65th birthday, each filled with articles by colleagues that followed his interests. One was a three volume collection of articles concerned with his interests, edited by Garcia, Dow, and Marshall,[13]the other a single volume edited by Cooper and Spolsky.[14]

In 1999, Fishman received theItzik Manger Prizefor contributions to Yiddish letters.[15]

In 2004, he was awarded theLinguapax Prize.[1]He was also named "an honorary member of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language."[16]

On September 10, 2006, Fishman was honored by a one-day symposium at theUniversity of Pennsylvania,commemorating his 80th birthday. He died inthe Bronx,New York, on March 1, 2015, at the age of 88.[17]

Archives[edit]

In 1994 the Stanford University Libraries established the 'Joshua A. Fishman and Gella Schweid Fishman Family Archives'[1]within their Special Collections Section. The archive contains drafts of subsequently published books and articles, course outlines, lectures given, professional correspondence, family correspondence, photographs, audio-tapes, video-tapes, and other materials pertaining to Fishman's work.

Bibliography[edit]

  • 1964.Language Maintenance and Language Shift as a field of inquiry. A definition of the field and suggestions for its further development.Linguistics Vol 2, Issue 9.
  • 1965.Yiddish in America: socio-linguistic description and analysis.Bloomington:Indiana University Press;The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton
  • 1966.Language loyalty in the United States; the maintenance and perpetuation of non-English mother tongues by American ethnic and religious groups.The Hague: Mouton
  • 1966.Hungarian language maintenance in the United States.Bloomington:Indiana University Press
  • 1968.Language problems of developing nations.New York: Wiley
  • 1968.Readings in the sociology of language.The Hague, Paris: Mouton
  • 1970.Sociolinguistics: a brief introduction.Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House
  • 1971.Bilingualism in the barrio.Bloomington:Indiana University Press
  • 1971-2.Advances in the sociology of language.The Hague: Mouton
  • 1972.Language in Sociocultural Change. Essays by Joshua A. Fishman.Ed. Anwar S. Dil. Stanford:Stanford University Press
  • 1972.The sociology of language; an interdisciplinary social science approach to language in society.Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House
  • 1973 (c 1972).Language and nationalism; two integrative essays.Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House
  • 1974.Advances in language planning.The Hague: Mouton
  • 1976.Bilingual education: an international sociological perspective.Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House
  • 1977.Advances in the creation and revision of writing systems.The Hague: Mouton
  • 1978.Advances in the study of societal multilingualism.The Hague: Mouton
  • 1981.Never Say Die: A Thousand Years of Yiddish in Jewish Life and Letters.The Hague: Mouton.ISBN90-279-7978-2(in Yiddish and English)
  • 1982.The acquisition of biliteracy: a comparative ethnography of minority ethnolinguistic schools in New York City.New York, N.Y.: Yeshiva University,Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
  • 1982.Bilingual education for Hispanic students in the United States.New York:Teachers College Press
  • 1983.Progress in language planning: international perspectives.Berlin & New York: Mouton.
  • 1985.The rise and fall of the ethnic revival: perspectives on language and ethnicity.Berlin & New York: Mouton
  • 1987.Ideology, Society and Language: The Odyssey of Nathan Birnbaum.Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers
  • 1991.Bilingual education.Amsterdam & Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
  • 1991.Reversing language Shift: Theory and Practice of Assistance to Threatened Languages.Clevedon, Multilingual Matters. (ISBN185359122X)
  • 1991.Language and Ethnicity.Amsterdam & Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co
  • 1996.Post-Imperial English: The Status of English in Former British and American Colonies and Spheres of Influence.(ed.) Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin
  • 1997.In Praise of the Beloved Language; The Content of Positive Ethnolinguistic Consciousness.Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter
  • 1997.The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York(with Ofelia Garcia). Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter
  • 1999.Handbook of Language and Ethnicity(ed.). New York,Oxford University Press.Revised ed. 2009. (ISBN0195374924)
  • 2000.Can Threatened Languages Be Saved?Clevedon, Multilingual Matters
  • 2006.Do Not Leave Your Language Alone: The Hidden Status Agendas Within Corpus Planning in Language Policy.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.(ISBN0805850244) (ISBN978-0-8058-5024-6)

Sources[edit]

  • Baker, Colin;Jones, Sylvia P. (eds.) (1998).Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education.Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. "Joshua A. Fishman", p. 189.ISBN978-1-85359-362-8.
  • Chassie, Karen et al. (eds.) (2006).Who’s Who in the East.New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. "Fishman, Joshua Aaron"[page needed]
  • Cooper, Robert L.; Spolsky, Bernard (eds.) (1991).The Influence of Language on Culture and Thought: Essays in Honor of Joshua A. Fishman’s Sixty-Fifth Birthday.Berlin: Mouton. Editors' introduction, pp. 1–5.
  • Fishman, Joshua A. (2006). Joshua A. Fishman. Retrieved on August 24, 2006 fromhttp:// joshuaafishman
  • Fishman, Gella Schweid; Njau, Charity (2012). "Joshua A. Fishman bibliography (1949-2011)".International Journal of the Sociology of Language213: 153–248.
  • García, Ofelia;Dow, James R.;Marshall, David F. (eds.) (1991).Essays in honor of Joshua A. Fishman:Volume 1: Focus on Bilingual Education; Volume 2: Focus on Language and Ethnicity; Volume 3: Focus on Language Planning. 3 Volumes (set). Amsterdam:John Benjamins.In vol. 1: Ofelia García, "A Gathering of Voices, a 'Legion of Scholarly Decency' and Bilingual Education: Fishman's Biographemes as Introduction", pp. 3–19; in vol. 2: Editor's introduction, pp. 1–7; in vol. 3: David F. Marshall, "Introduction: To Honor a Man and His Calling", pp. 1–6, and Karen L. Adams and Daniel T. Brink, "Joshua A. Fishman on Language Planning: 'Brotherhood' Does Not Mean Uniformity", pp. 7–27.
  • García, Ofelia; Peltz, Rakhmiel; Schiffman, Harold F.; with Gella Schweid Fishman (July 10, 2006).Language Loyalty, Continuity and Change: Joshua A. Fishman's Contributions to International Sociolinguistics.Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.ISBN978-1-85359-902-6.
  • Spolsky, Bernard (1999). "Fishman, Joshua A. (1926– )". In Spolsky (ed.),Concise Encyclopedia of Educational Linguistics.Amsterdam:Elsevier.p. 758-759.ISBN978-0-08043-163-5.

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghijHult, Francis (March 2, 2015)."Obituary: Joshua A. Fishman".The Linguist List.Indiana University, Department of Linguistics.RetrievedMarch 9,2015.
  2. ^abKutzik, Jordan (March 4, 2015). "Joshua Fishman, Yiddishist and Linguistics Pioneer, Dies at 88".The Forward.Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  3. ^"In Memoriam: Dr. Joshua (Shikl) Fishman (July 18, 1926-March 1, 2015)".March 3, 2015.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
  4. ^Hornberger, Nancy H. (2017). "Joshua A. Fishman: a scholar of unfathomable influence".International Journal of the Sociology of Language,vol. 243, pp. 17-28; here p. 20.doi:10.1515/ijsl-2016-0043.Retrieved via University of Pennsylvania Scholarly Commons, 29 February 2020.
  5. ^Parasher, Shree Vallabh (2005). "Fishman, Joshua A.", in: Philipp Strazny (Ed.),Encyclopedia of Linguistics(New York: Taylor & Francis), pp. 347-348; here, p. 348.
  6. ^abc"Joshua A(aron) Fishman."Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors.Farmington Hills: Gale, 2001. Retrieved viaGale In Context: Biographydatabase, 29 February 2020.
  7. ^"Joshua A. Fishman" (biographical profile), in Colin Baker and Sylvia Prys Jones (Eds.),Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education(Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 1998), p. 189.
  8. ^"In Memoriam: Joshua A. Fishman".Center for Applied Linguistics.RetrievedApril 28,2019.
  9. ^"Joshua Fishman (1926-2015)".yivo.org.YIVO.RetrievedOctober 26,2018.
  10. ^Schaechter-Viswanath, Gitl (May 18, 2017). "Yiddish Teacher and Archivist Gella Schweid Fishman Has Died".The Forward.Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  11. ^Fishman, Joshua. 1991.Reversing Language Shift.Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.
  12. ^abcZuckermann, Ghil'ad(2012). "Introduction to the Joshua A. Fishman comprehensive bibliography",International Journal of the Sociology of Language(Int’l. J. Soc. Lang.) 213
  13. ^Hornberger (2017),p. 25.
  14. ^Pritchard, Rosalind M. O. (April 1994).ReviewofThe Influence of Language on Culture and Thought.ELT Journal,vol. 48, issue 2, pp. 179-181; here p. 179.doi:10.1093/elt/48.2.179.Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  15. ^Garcia, Ofelia; Peltz, Rakhmiel; Schiffman, Harold F. (2006).Language Loyalty, Continuity and Change: Joshua A. Fishman's Contributions to International Sociolinguistics.Multilingual Matters. p. 78.ISBN9781853599026.
  16. ^Basque Academy recognition
  17. ^Garcia, Ofelia (March 2, 2015)."Joshua Fishman (1926-2015)".Language Log.

External links[edit]

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