Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.202 November 28, 1994 1) Aspiration (Arn Abramson) 2) Talesl (Shelson Benjamin) 3) YIVO conference (Yankl Salant) 4) A special E-Mail sign for Yiddish (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 94 20:32:31 EST From: abramson@uconnvm.uconn.edu Subject: Aspiration Having just read Mikhl Herzog's remarks on distinctive aspiration in Yiddish, I realize that Khayem Bochner misunderstood what I had to say about aspiration, and this is reflected in my reply this evening to his request that I do some instrumental work. Perhaps my reply earlier this evening makes it clear that I never had aspiration as a separate distinctive property in mind on my remarks here. Rather, I was referring to the aspiration that is one of the salient properties of "voiceless" stops in Yiddish. That is, I was thinking of common Yiddish dialects with just two distinctive categories of stop consonants: voiced /bdg/ and voiceless /ptk/. My impression is that the voiceless category is clearly marked by voiceless aspiration in most, if not all, prevocalic contexts. Unreleased final /ptk, of course, have no aspitation. That is, words like /gut/ 'good' and /kop/ 'head' at the end of an utterance might have unreleased final stops, thus without aspiration, or released ones with some aspiration. I have no feeling for the relative frequency of occurrence of the two types of ending. Arn Abramson 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 23:53:18 EST From: sbenj@mit.edu Subject: Talesl Bert Steinberg inquired about the song, Talesl. I have seen it called Dos Talesl when published by Henry Lefkowitch and Der Talles when published in the sheet music from Der Yud in Zabiski's Tseitn. In any case, the music was by Perlmutter and Wohl and the words were by (who else?) Shmulewitz (aka Solomon Small). We used to love to sing this in our family. Several recordings are available (and Bob Freedman can list them for you without doubt should you be interested). Here are the words: Der talisl is dokh a tayere zakh, Dos gehert nor tsu dem Yidn; Yeder id hot in im hofenung a sakh, Yeder id iz mit im tsu fridn. Akh! Tayere talisl hertzlekher treyst, Fil tfilos herstu zikh ayn, Fun aleh bitereh hertser du veyst, Du filst gut dem Yidene's payn. Du bist dokh imer mit dem Yidele Fun zayn bris on hot er dikh, Oykh ven men grobt mit dem rideleh, Vikelstu im ayn mit zikh. Chorus: Bagleytern in gloybikayt Du bist dokh mayn eybikayt. Der talisl iz nor dos eyntsigeh klayd Far dem Yidn in zayn prayd un layd, Fun zayn geburshtog biz in keyver Geyt es mit im mit. Vert iberal geyogt, Zayn lebn iz geplokt, Ales vos er farmogt Nemt men tsu fun Yid, Ales, ales, nor dem tales, Dos nemt men nit, Neyn, Neyn, Neyn. Ven s'iz mir gevorn nor draytsen yor Ongeton mir a talis, Vi veynig ikh hob dan farshtanen gor, Var es mir tayere fun ales. Ikh hob dan in der droshe tsugezogt, Haltn mayn talesl reyn. Leyder bin ikh fun dem goles geplogt, Imer in trern geveyn, Ongezapt is er mit mayn trer, Triknt zikh keyn mol nit oys. Im iz oykh mayne tsuris shver, Mayn payn vi zayn payn iz groys. Chorus Men hot mir mit mazel tsu der khupeh gefirt Der gliklekhste tog in mayn lebn, In sheyne kleyder hot men mir oysgetsirt Nokh oykh a talesl muz men mir gebn. A naye gefil baherst dem yungen man. Er tut on dem tales mit prayd, Den zogt der talesl ikh bin dayn, Ikh blayb shoyn dayn eybikeh klayd. Du kenst zayn raykh, fardinen milyonen gelt, Un ikh vel dir nisht farshemen, Du kenst oys faran di gantse velt, Nor mikh zolstu aykh mit nemen... Chorus I believe that Der Talisl was the only hit in this little operetta. I haven't heard Shmaya and Khaya or Di Frau is a Held, the two other songs listed on the cover. Sheldon Benjamin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 01:01:31 -0500 From: yankl191@aol.com Subject: YIVO Conference ot iz epes vos vet aykh zikher interesirn. zuntik dem 4tn detsember vet forkumen di konferents tsu batseykhenen dem ondenk funem 100-yorikn geboyrn-tog fun maks vaynraykh. di konferents, "der izovn fun d"r maks vaynraykh (1894-1969): visnshaftler, lerer un pyonir fun der moderner yidish-forshung," vet zikh onheybn 10 fri un doyern biz 5 nokh mitog inem park-tsentral hotel, 870 7te evenyu (tsv' 55ste un 56ste gasn), nyu-york. bay di tsvey konferents-sesyes veln redn dina abramovitsh, d"r mikhl hertsog, prof' binyomin harshav, bine vaynraykh, khane mlotek, d"r arn-leyb nadler, prof' edvard stankevitsh, prof' dovid fishman, prof' shikl fishman, prof' brayndl kirshenblat-gimblet, prof' dovid roskes un d"r mordkhe shekhter. vegn rezervatsyes un vayterdike protim, zayt azoy gut un telefonirt - yidisher visnshaftlekher institut: (212) 246-6080. di konferents iz ofn far alemen. arayngang fray. ====================================================== ANNOUNCEMENT: YIVO Conference THE LEGACY OF DR. MAX WEINREICH (1894-1969): Scholar, Teacher and Pioneer of Modern Yiddish Studies A YIVO Conference to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of His Birth Sunday, December 4, 1994, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM Park Central Hotel, 870 Seventh Ave. (Bet. 55th & 56th Sts.) Featuring Addresses by: Dina Abramowicz, Prof. David Fishman, Prof. Joshua Fishman, Prof. Benjamin Harshav, Dr. Mikhl Herzog, Prof. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Chana Mlotek, Dr. Allan L. Nadler, Prof. David Roskies, Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, Prof. Edward Stankiewicz, Bina Weinreich For telephone reservations or further information, please call the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research at (212) 246-6080. The conference is offered to the public free of charge. yankl salant 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 01:22:44 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: A special E-Mail sign for Yiddish Since E-Mail is a form of faceless communications, as distinct from verbal communications, certain symbols are used to show actions, emotions, or ideas, especially meaningful facial expressions. This is accomplished by non-conventional graphic signs, such as .................................... :) or -:) for smile, .................................... (g) for laughter, .................................... ;) or -;) for wink, .................................... : * for kiss .................................... { } for hug; As well as by a shorthand consisting of initials, such as: ................................... Imho -- in my humble opinion, ................................... lol -- laughing out loud, ................................... gmta -- great minds think alike. I wish to inroduce herewith an E-Mail sign specifically designed for Yiddish, namely ..................................... "mishteyns -:) gezogt," initially fully spelled in combination with the sign for smile, and after a sufficient time for adequate familiarization possibly just by the initials plus the smile sign, thus: [ m :) g ]. Now, the unique and characteristic Yiddish expression "mishteyns gezogt" is hardly translatable. Harkavy's tri-lingual doctionary [Yiddish, English, Hebrew] (1928, reprinted 1988) defines it as 1. alas! 2. unfortunately! and gives three samples of usage: "What is man, alas! Unfortunately, what can I do? Poor I! Poor me!" Uriel Weinreich's bilingual Dictionary [Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish] (1968, reprinted 1990) also translates it as "alas" with the explanation in parentheses "said to dispel an illusion of glory." The usage example is about a "man of whom some think so highly." Both dictionaries, imho, do not meet the mark of the manifold meanings of "mishteyns gezogt," lacking the various and multiple nuances it is capable of conveying in the tone of voice, special kind of knowing smile, or slight but telling head turn. Dictionaries are, of course, delimited to tight, concise definitions and to a few usage samples, and it is likely that "mishteyns gezogt" does not readily lend itself to this type of mold. "Mishteyns gezogt" frequently and variously conveys: 1) An act of advisedly and good-naturedly mocking oneself; 2) Demoting oneself knowingly a rung or two, or more; 3) A suggestion not to take the statement so seriously; 4) An indication that the speaker is aware of the degree of exaggeration involved in what he is saying. In sum -- "mishteyns gezogt." Zellig Bach ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.202 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. 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