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Jewish Multiglossia: Hebrew, Arabic, and Castilian in Medieval Spain. By Elaine R. Miller. Newark: Juan de la Cuesta, 2000. 160 pages.
Utilizing an amalgam of historical and sociolinguistic analysis, Miller examines Spanish Jews' use of Hebrew, Arabic, and Castilian in the Middle Ages in their different domains and functions. Her purpose is to fill a void left by historians who "effectively describe the Jews' sociocultural environment, but stop short of superimposing language use upon this historical and cultural background" (11) and linguists, who "often study the language of a given document without placing it in that same historical/social/cultural context" (11). In her endeavor, she seeks to move beyond oversimplifications such as "Spanish Jews used Arabic in the xii century." Rather, Miller examines exactly which register of Arabic was used in a given social situation: a learned form reserved for writing (II], a spoken vernacular (L), and a middle form known as (M). In addition, Jews used Hebrew as their (H) language and vernacular Arabic as their (L) language. From the xiii century onward, Castilian gradually replaced vernacular Arabic as the (L) language. In essence,...