Yair Sapir

The Revival of the Hebrew Language

In his talk he will tell the story of how the ancient Hebrew language was revived, first in Europe, later in Palestine and finally as the official language of the state of Israel; how the language was planned – grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation; what modern Hebrew is like compared to Ancient Hebrew and how its succesful revival inspired activists all around the world.

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Originally from Israel, Yair Sapir now lives in Copenhagen and works at Kristianstad University, Sweden, as an Associate Professor of Swedish language. He did his PhD in Scandinavian linguistics at Uppsala University. Besides linguistics and languages, he is interested in music, Sephardic culture and politics.