It appears Avik isn’t asking an academic question about Yiddish. He is attacking Yiddish – in the footsteps of Mendlsohn, Graetz et al. They hated Yiddish because it represented to them several hundred years of Ashkenazi Judaism. The Holocaust theory mentioned by an earlier (otherwise very erudite) commentator is a modern, but no less hateful. adaptation of the same theme.
Wherever Jews lived, two phenomena arose. 1) they gradually adopted the local language 2) their Hebrew adapted to the phonetics of the local language. Thus Spanish Jews used to pronounce ‘ע’ as ‘ng’, so also in parts of Germany, and in the Suwalk province of Poland-Lithuania. Echoes of it are preserved today in Litvish dialects, eg ‘danga’=’dayga’ (worry).
Several dozen Jewish languages developed from the admixture of local non-Jewish languages with Hebrew/Aramaic. Some of these language have retained a strong similarity to the ‘host’ language, whilst others have become separate valid languages in their own right. No known language is ‘pure’; all contain admixtures. These are not ‘jargons’ as the haters would have it, but are today recognised as valid, separate, languages. The 18-19th century haters were ignorant of linguistics, and fueled by hatred, wrote whatever they wanted with impunity.
People tend to hold up the Yemeni dialect of Hebrew as the correct dialect. Depending on which part of Yemen, several instances of linguistic change have occurred, the most famous one being the ‘ey’ sound parallel to Litvish.
While we’re on the subject of ‘butchering’ Hebrew, let’s pause to reflect a moment on the almost-universal pronunciation of Hebrew by English speakers. If that isn’t a case of wholesale slaughter, I don’t know what is. From Rosh Yeshivos to laymen, their pronunciation is generally appalling – and they are actually trying to pray and study in that language, not pronouncing loan words adopted into (eg) Yiddish.
Please Avik, make my day and upload a video of yourself reading or davenening. I’d enjoy it, even in the nine days. For those who don’t want such mirth, it’ll serve as a sombre reminder of the churban.
Menu