Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 22 June 12, 1991 1) Regional differences; dutsm/irtsn (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jun 91 00:24 EDT From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.BITNET Subject: Clarifications Noyekh, Now that the other Noyekh Miller has surfaced, perhaps you should clarify any of the confusion that may result. After all, you and I met only because I thought I was writing to him. [The real Noyekh referred to is our esteemed Dovid-Noyekh of Ohio State University. Early on, before Mendele came to be, Mikhl wrote to NM thinking he was D-NM. Readers will recall the famous letter from the young Peretz in which he confused Rabinovitch (Sholem Aleykhem) with Abramovitch (Mendele Moykher Sforim).] [This portion of Mikhl's letter is a tshuve from NM's shayle about oylemove and oylemobe (he couldn't remember how it was said since both sound ok to him.] First, back to the word "oylemOve" as your mother said it (stress on the O; cf. Heb olAm habA): i) She dropped her "aiches"; ii) O in her (S. Ukrainian) speech was derived from two sources: universal Yiddish O [as in ober, zokn, gold, hot (but NOT hobn)] and O corresponding to general Yiddish A [hont, vont, vold, kolt voser, tote-mome]; this we designate "tote-mome loshn". But note: in her dialect it would be "tote-mome lushn", the U corresponding to Standard and Northeastern O. OK? iii) "v" in place of expected "b": not unusual. The b/v alternation has several aspects in Yiddish: a) general Eastern Yiddish intervocalic "b", has shifted to "v" in Western Yiddish. Thus "shaves, reve, nevekh". In Western Yiddish, "v" simply doesn't occur in this (intervocalic) position; b)Even in Eastern Yiddish, where both "b" and "v" can occur in the same position, there are regional b/v variants; thus, "gribn/grivn, gribenes/grivenes, oybn/oyvn 'above', heyvn/heybam 'wetnurse'; c) Also in the East, there are sporadic variants in which b/v are substituted foir one another: "borbes 'barefoot', shtibl 'boots'" and "arves 'beans', ariver 'over'. (Try to remember whether your mother ever dropped her "v" altogether in such words as "tsvishn, tsvogn 'to was and comb the hair', keyver-ovex, malekh-hamoves" (thus, "tsishn, tsugn, keyverUes, malekhamUes".) *************** Now, back to dutsn and irtsn [cf. Vol1.21]: Would I do anything to hurt your feelings? No way! I've gotten to know you a bit, AND to like you. Why would I want to say anything to hurt your feelings? I even hope to meet you face to face some day. Lomir nor lebn un zayn gezunt. Are you game to organize a(n annual) Mendele conference (let's call it a tsuzamenfor; it's less pretentious), perhaps a picnic? Maybe we can get a grant for it? It's clear that, thanks to you, we're all enjoying this. It's true that it diverts me from my work (and from my peonies) but I expect to exact retribution. Pretty soon, I'm going to tell all of you out there what I'm actually doing. Der iker: I'm going to free associate; to respond to the issues you raise as they arise and, as I've heard Bashevis say, "Ask me a question and, if I don't know the answer, I'll make up a different question and answer it." I hope it's not too confusing: 1. I didn't think I was writing about Canadian/US differences. What did I say to suggest that? My point was that, as a child and as a youth (Vi kumt aza yungerman tsu redn aza sheynem yidish?), I spoke Yiddish only to adults. I addressed them ONLY as "ir" (except for grandparents, parents & their siblings) and everyone addressed me as "du". Normal, no? Same as you describe, I think, or am I missing something? 2. The first time I heard "zey" used as a term of respect was in Israel. Many of my informants (whom I interviewed for the Yiddish dialect Atlas) addressed me (der profesor fun Amerike) that way. It looks like it's analagous to German "Sie" which serves both as the formal 2nd person & the third plural; but, the difference between them is interesting: Yiddish "zey" has only those two functions, while German "Sie" has a third: it also serves as third person feminine singular (for which, cf. Italian). 3. As for the other indirect reference, "vus zugt der ruv?", I've had friends (in Toronto) who never addressed their own parents directly: "Vus vil der tate?", "Tsi vil di mameshi zix zetsn?" 4. A step further: My aunt (the only woman I knew who was actually named Yente, zol zi mir hobn a likhtikn gan-eydn, never addressed her husband directly (at least in company). When I came calling, she'd announce me to him (if he was upstairs or at the back of the house) by calling out (bellowing?) "her nor, di: ('Listen, you'), Mexl i du: ('Mikhl is here')". Note "Mekhl" not "Mikhl". You may know the process from words like "lekht" 'candle(s)' (not "likht"). Taken a phoinological step further, the process yields "Makhl"; the feminine equivalents are "Mikhlye, Mekhlye, Makhlye" whence the (matronymic family name Machlis. 5. Deriving from this form of address, the Yiddish euphemism for 'wife' is "tsi herstu?/tsi herste?" Thus "mayn tsi herste" 'my do-you-hear?' or 'my are-you-listening? Grist for the feminist mill. 6. I don't know the Portuguese-Romanian hypothesis (even in its discredited version). Please enlighten. You're right, though. Canadian Jews were less assimilated--one or two generations behind. The knowledge of Yiddish (and) was enviable, having much to do with the nature of the society, particularly in Montreal and in Western Canada. (There was a rumor circulating some years ago that the Provincial Cabinet in Manitoba conducted its meeting in Yiddish.) Still, much as my peers knew Yiddish, we spoke only English to one another--noone to say "du" to. 7. I heard the extensive, improper use of "du" in University classrooms in New York; often the result of a young teacher's ambivalence, a mistaken "I'm your friend" approach. 8. As for how much one learned in the Yiddish (or Hebrew) schools: You know that each of the ideological rikhtungen had its own Yiddish school system. The two largest were the folkshuln of the Farband/Poalei-Zion and the Arbeter-Ring shuln. In the Farband shuln we learned Hebrew, too, meshteyns gezogt (there's one to probe later). As the Yiddish schools declined, the quip about the difference between them was: "In di Arbeter-ring shuln lernen zikh di kinder nisht oys keyn Yidish; in di Farband shuln lernen zey zikh nisht oys nisht keyn Yidish un nisht keyn Hebreyish". 9. Interesting that you should consider "a zeyger akht" to be flowery speech. It seems to be a regional form (although we haven't drawn the map yet). It's what often happens when regional synonyms enter the Standard language or meet in centers of immigration. They often assume different stylistic connotations. 10. I think you're right about the relative importance of the language of one's peers. 11. Influence of Yiddish (and, directly or through Yiddish of other European languages) on Medieval and Modern Hebrew. All evidence is that it's been considerable. It would be against the "laws of nature" it otherwise (despite any ideologically motivated efforts to deny or obscure the fact). Hebrew was maintained for centuries by people whose vernacular was Yiddish. I heard the late Professor Goitein assert at a COnference on Jewish Languages that "one can no more study the history and structure of Modern Hebrew without a knowledge of Yiddish, than one can study Medieval Hebrew without a knowledge of Arabic." 12. An aside: Are there any Hebreists on the network? i) Venture a guess as to why the Hebrew word "mezigA" was used to gloss 'gift' in a medieval manuscript; ii) How dou you say "(to look out) through the window" in Hebrew?. 13. In Israel, older (Yiddish) speakers, speaking Hebrew, did use the word "atem" in a singular (respectful) context. Conversely, sabras, speaking Yiddish, like English speakers, often use "du" inappropriately. 13. gamAtem in Yiddish is used without respect to number or gender. The general rule about Hebrew-origin words in Yiddish is that the grammatical constraints that goven their use in Hebrew (number, gender, person, case) are overridden; thus, "mayn okhi", even "dayn okhi"; "der roshe-teyves".Do you remember how an older generation used "alevasholem"? I, at least, never heard a distinction between masculine and feminine: "di bobe alevasholem"! 14. Finally, back to the influence of Yiddish (& other European) languages on Hebrew. Can anyone in Israel find out if Paul Wexler (University of Tel Aviv, Linguistics) is on E-Mail. Wexler is a fundamentally a Slavist but, in recent years, he has published some important (and daring) views on the history of Yiddish and other Jewish languages. He classifies Yiddish as a Slavic, not a Germanic language--the 15th Slavic language. It then follows, for him, that Modern Hebrew (Ivrit), essentially a relexification of Yiddish, is the 16th Slavic language. See why it would be interesting to get him into the network? A gute nakht. Mikhl. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.22