Language differences as shibboleths in a pandemic

Authors:
Stanley Dubinsky and Mike Gavin

With nearly every country in the throes of the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s not surprising that people seek strangers to blame. We have seen the victimization of Asians in the US and the persecution of Africans in China. Often, differences that separate ‘them’ from ‘us’ are not visible. Sometimes the difference is how they speak. Identifying an “enemy” based on differences in language, dialect, or regional accents can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible (Judges, Chapter 12). When the people of Gilead repulsed the invading Ephraimites, fleeing soldiers looked just like local inhabitants. So, they were given a simple test: “Say now Shibboleth.” Soldiers who couldn’t pronounce “sh” (saying “sibboleth” instead of “shibboleth”) were killed on the spot. Likewise, in this pandemic, people use language as a marker that signals danger and contagion.

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