Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.193 January 8, 1997 1) Kheshbn/khezhbm (Hugh Denman) 2) Yiddish dictionaries (Abe Brumberg) 3) Naye verter durkh dikhtung (Leybl Botvinik) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:57:51 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: Kheshbn/khezhbm Disputes about correct transcription are completely otiose unless one makes a clear distinction between a _transliteration_, on the one hand, which aims to represent in one alphabet (as reversibly as possible) the actual spelling in another alphabet and a _phonetic/phonemic transcription_, on the other, which attempts, with varying degrees of detail (as required), to render the sound of a word. And here a further distinction is called for between a "narrow" transcription, on the one hand, which records every allophonic nuance (useful for the outsider, but tediously overloaded for someone already acquainted with the language or dialect in question) and a "broad" or "phonemic" transcription, on the other, which restricts itself to giving the bare phonemic outline (which has the virtue of comparative simplicity, but may be inadequate for the outsider). Thus a "transliteration" might need to make it clear to the unitiated reader that the word in question begins with a khes and not a khof and that first vowel is not (normally) written, but is supplied. It would also need to record the presence of the vowel letter in the second syllable which is silent in the Yiddish (merged) pronunciation (= something like h(e)shbon, with dot under the initial h and otherwise depending on the precise conventions adopted). In a broad transcription it will suffice to write [kheshbn], since native speakers automatically retrogressively assimilate [with a few specific exceptions] in consonantal nexi involving plosives, fricatives and affricates and accommodate nasals to the quality of an adjacent consonant whether dental, labial or palatal and these rules are known to adult learners formally trained in Yiddish. If, on the other hand, one is writing for readers who neither know nor subconsciously apply such rules, then a narrower, more allophonic transcription will be necessary, e.g. [khezhbm]. In fact, Uriel Weinreich is not 100% consistent on this issue (and probably doen't need to be) in his (superb) dictionary. The bottom line is simply that it is a question of horses for courses, not right and wrong. However, for purposes like our own the broad transcription is normally the most appropriate, particularly since it is possible to smuggle into it elements of transliteration which can convey (when relevant) spelling variants in the original [e.g. oyf/af/uf]. Hugh Denman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 08 Jan 97 07:20:25 EST From: 102142.2545@compuserve.com Subject: Yiddish dictionaries I have not read the original attack on Uriel's Weinreich's dictionary, nor what was aparently a very spirited comments by--im biz iber hundert un tsvantsik--Mikhl Herzog, but perhaps I can put in a few words on this subject as somebody who has done a fair share of work in Yiddish, and as a close friend of Uriel Weinrech to boot. Uriel was --though some may consider this irrelevant or nit eydl-- something of a "square," not exactly a prude, but someone who was careful to keep sexual terms, however ribald or explicit, distinctly apart from shund, or jeujune toilet humor. It is altogether likely, therefore, that he bristled at the idea including 'shvants,' tokhes, vekhedoyme in his dictionary. The idea was: s'past nit. Second, Uriel (like his father) was very concerned about preserving di khshives fun yidish. Again, including coarse expressions, however often they are used in daily language, was not exactly his idea of endowing his dictionary--the first scholarly dictionary of the Yiddish language--with the proper khshives... Finally--and this must be understood whether you lke it or not--Uriel was a normativist (hope that's the right term, mikhl-lebn?): some words are _right_, kosher, inviolable, however they may be shunned in daily intercourse or even modern lierature, and others are wrong, treyf, not to be used under any circumstances, however much they _are_. The worst offenders, of course, were daytchmerizmen--he once wrote a very amusing article on this subject for _Yugntruf_. He clearly suffered when somebody used an englishizm--even though there seemed to be no other word with kosher Yiddish-Hebrew or even old Slavic roots. (I recall one of his admirers, Leybl Kahan, once coining the term "kukuridze sphrinkelekh", for corn flakes. s'hot nebekh nit oysgehaltn dem geshikhlkhn egzamin, but we had a lot of fun with it...) Uriel's near-obsession also extended to the _pronunciation_ of certain terms. I must confess I can't remember what they were, but I do remember they drove me up the wall. I think they were words inherited by Uriel (via his father, of course) from kurlendishn yidish and may--again, my memory isn't too clear on it--related to diphthongs particularly. For all that, Uriel's dictionary is a masterpiece probably never to be excelled. abe brumberg 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:17:27 +0200 (IST) From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: Naye verter durkh dikhtung in numer 6.173 fun mendele fregn zikh nokh Norma un Bernard Rubin, vegn verter geshafene fun dikhters (poetn). es iz take azoy. verter vern geshafn in ale shprakhn tsulib farsheydene sibes. di vos tuen es oyf a gresern mos, d.h. ofter zaynen shraybers, dikhters, zhurnalistn. farshteyt zikh, az oykh andere. ven mir zoln nemen a bayshpil fun der englisher literatur, kenen mir avade onvayzn oyf sheykspirs verk, vu men gefint 'naye' (far yener tkufe) verter. in undser literatur, vet ir dos oft gefinen bay dikhters: tsulibn gram, tsulibn ritem, un avade tsulib der bilderishkeyt. ikh veys, lemoshl, az der dikhter un bal-loshn m.m. shafir (o"h) hot arayngeflekht naye verter in zayne shafungen. azoy oykh andere. zhurnalistn tuen dos oykh, spetsyel baym oyfklern nayesn un inovatsyes oder zukhndik ekvivalentn far verter un oysdrukn vos hobn biz aher nit ekzistirt oyf yidish, ober vos zaynen arayn in andere velt-shprakhn. mit a yor tsurik, hot yitskhok luden, redaktor funem "lebns fragn" in yisroyl, gehaltn zeyer a balernendiker rede, take oyf der teme, far an oylem yidish lerers fun di klasn fun yidish in yisroyl, in dem bar-ilan tsenter far yidish oyfn nomen fun rina kosta. ikh hof, az di arbet vet nokh amol dershaynen. leybl botvinik netanya ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.193