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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

Givat Ram Givat Ram () is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. It is the site of Kiryat HaMemshala (Hebrew language, Hebrew: קריית הממשלה, ''lit.'' Government complex), which includes many of Israel's most important national institutions, among t ...

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 (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

, 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 → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

. Since 2022, the Academy has been headed by Aharon Maman. 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, 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 (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

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" (). 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.Hebrew Academy membership (official site)
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References

External links

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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 Modern Hebrew

History

Organization

See also

References

External links