What's a stigmatized variant doing in the word list? Authenticity in reading styles and Hebrew pharyngeals

Abstract

The pharyngeal segments in Hebrew, [ʕ] and [ħ], are historically conservative and considered prescriptively correct, but are also socially stigmatized as a feature associated with Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) descent. I present data from sociolinguistic interviews in two Israel field sites and demonstrate a robust pattern in both communities: speakers who produce pharyngeals in the interview use more [ʕ] in reading a word list than in free‐form conversation, but show no such effect for [ħ]. The results are difficult to reconcile with a single axis of standardness or formality and highlight the need for a more multidimensional approach to interpreting reading styles. Taking into account both the community's language ideologies that link reading styles to their ethnic identity and the fact that [ʕ] has been shown to be more useful as a stylistic resource for performing Mizrahi personae, I argue for an interpretation that considers word list reading as a site for performing a Mizrahi ethnic identity.