Is Modern Hebrew Standard Average European? The view from European

Abstract Unlike previous work emphasizing European influences on Modern Hebrew as compared to the Biblical language advocated by the Hebrew revival movement, this article sets out to examine typological features of Modern Hebrew in its own right. Starting from literature on Standard Average European, I argue that Modern Hebrew differs from the European type in most features defined independently of literature on Hebrew. Notwithstanding many European influences, especially in phonology and semantics, and considerable differences to Biblical Hebrew, I will show that key structural similarities with European languages are remarkably few, and in most cases not due to the revival process.