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Yiddish phonology

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There is significant phonological variation among the various Yiddish dialects. The description that follows is of a modern Standard Yiddish that was devised during the early 20th century and is frequently encountered in pedagogical contexts.

Consonants

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Yiddish consonants[1]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar/
Uvular
Glottal
hard soft hard soft
Nasal m n () (ŋ)
Plosive voiceless p t k (ʔ)
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless ts (tsʲ) (tʃʲ)
voiced dz (dzʲ) (dʒʲ)
Fricative voiceless f s () ʃ χ h
voiced v z () (ʒ) (ɣ)
Rhotic r
Approximant central j
lateral l (ʎ)
  • /m, p, b/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v/ are labiodental.[1]
  • The /l ʎ/ contrast has collapsed in some speakers.[1]
  • The palatalized coronals /nʲ, tsʲ, dzʲ, tʃʲ, dʒʲ, sʲ, zʲ/ appear only in Slavic loanwords.[1] The phonemic status of these palatalised consonants, as well as any other affricates, is unclear.
  • /k, ɡ/ and [ŋ] are velar, whereas /j, ʎ/ are palatal.[1]
    • [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ after /k, ɡ/, and it can only be syllabic [ŋ̍].[1]
    • [ɣ] is an allophone of /χ/ before /b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʒ/.[2]
  • The phonetic realization of /χ/ and /nʲ/ is unclear:
    • In the case of /χ/, Kleine (2003) puts it in the "velar" column, but consistently uses a symbol denoting a voiceless uvular fricative ⟨χ⟩ to transcribe it. It is thus safe to assume that /χ/ is phonetically uvular [χ].
    • In the case of /nʲ/, Kleine (2003) puts it in the "palatalized" column. This can mean that it is either palatalized alveolar [nʲ] or alveolo-palatal [ɲ̟]. /ʎ/ may actually also be alveolo-palatal [ʎ̟], rather than just palatal.
  • The rhotic /r/ can be either alveolar or uvular, either a trill [r ~ ʀ] or, more commonly, a flap/tap [ɾ ~ ʀ̆].[1]
  • The glottal stop [ʔ] appears only as an intervocalic separator.[1]

As in the Slavic languages with which Yiddish was long in contact (Russian, Belarusian, Polish, and Ukrainian), but unlike German, voiceless stops have little to no aspiration; unlike many such languages, voiced stops are not devoiced in final position.[1] Moreover, Yiddish has regressive voicing assimilation, so that, for example, זאָגט /zɔɡt/ ('says') is pronounced [zɔkt] and הקדמה /hakˈdɔmɜ/ ('foreword') is pronounced [haɡˈdɔmɜ].

Vowels

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The vowel phonemes of Standard Yiddish are:

Yiddish monophthongs[3]
Front Central Back
Close ɪ ʊ
Open-mid ɛ ɜ ɔ
Open a
  • /ɪ, ʊ/ are typically near-close [ɪ, ʊ] respectively, but the height of /ɪ/ may vary freely between a higher and lower allophone.[3]
  • /ɜ/ appears only in unstressed syllables.[3]
Diphthongs[3]
Front nucleus Central nucleus Back nucleus
ɛɪ ɔɪ
  • The last two diphthongs may be realized as [aɛ] and [ɔɜ], respectively.[3]

In addition, the sonorants /l/ and /n/ can function as syllable nuclei:

  • אײזל /ˈɛɪzl̩/ 'donkey'
  • אָװנט /ˈɔvn̩t/ 'evening'

[m] and [ŋ] appear as syllable nuclei as well, but only as allophones of /n/, after bilabial consonants and dorsal consonants, respectively.

The syllabic sonorants are always unstressed.

Dialectal variation

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Stressed vowels in the Yiddish dialects may be understood by considering their common origins in the Proto-Yiddish sound system. Yiddish linguistic scholarship uses a system developed by Max Weinreich in 1960 to indicate the descendent diaphonemes of the Proto-Yiddish stressed vowels.[4]

Each Proto-Yiddish vowel is given a unique two-digit identifier, and its reflexes use it as a subscript, for example Southeastern o11 is the vowel /o/, descended from Proto-Yiddish */a/.[4] The first digit indicates Proto-Yiddish quality (1-=*[a], 2-=*[e], 3-=*[i], 4-=*[o], 5-=*[u]), and the second refers to quantity or diphthongization (−1=short, −2=long, −3=short but lengthened early in the history of Yiddish, −4=diphthong, −5=special length occurring only in Proto-Yiddish vowel 25).[4]

Vowels 23, 33, 43 and 53 have the same reflexes as 22, 32, 42 and 52 in all Yiddish dialects, but they developed distinct values in Middle High German; Katz (1987) argues that they should be collapsed with the −2 series, leaving only 13 in the −3 series.[5]

Genetic sources of Yiddish dialect vowels[6]
Netherlandic
Front Back
Close i31 32 u52
Close-mid 25 o51 12
Open-mid ɛ21 ɛj22/34 ɔ41 ɔu42/54
Open a11/13 24/44
Polish
Front Back
Close i31/51 32/52 u12/13
Close-mid eː~ej25 oː~ou54
Open-mid ɛ21 ɔ41 ɔj42/44
Open a11 34 aj22/24
Lithuanian
Front Back
Close i31/32 u51/52
Close-mid ej22/24/42/44
Open-mid ɛ21/25 ɔ12/13/41 ɔj54
Open a11 aj34

Comparison with German

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In vocabulary of Germanic origin, the differences between Standard German and Yiddish pronunciation are mainly in the vowels and diphthongs. All varieties of Yiddish lack the German front rounded vowels /œ, øː/ and /ʏ, yː/, having merged them with /ɛ, e:/ and /ɪ, i:/, respectively.

Diphthongs have also undergone divergent developments in German and Yiddish. Where Standard German has merged the Middle High German diphthong ei and long vowel î to /aɪ/, Yiddish has maintained the distinction between them; and likewise, the Standard German /ɔʏ/ corresponds to both the MHG diphthong öu and the long vowel iu, which in Yiddish have merged with their unrounded counterparts ei and î, respectively. Lastly, the Standard German /aʊ/ corresponds to both the MHG diphthong ou and the long vowel û, but in Yiddish, they have not merged. Although Standard Yiddish does not distinguish between those two diphthongs and renders both as /ɔɪ/, the distinction becomes apparent when the two diphthongs undergo Germanic umlaut, such as in forming plurals:

Singular Plural
MHG Standard German Standard Yiddish Standard German Standard Yiddish
boum Baum /baʊ̯m/ בױם /bɔɪm/ Bäume /ˈbɔʏ̯mə/ בײמער‎ /bɛɪmɜr/
bûch Bauch /baʊ̯x/ בױך /bɔɪχ/ Bäuche /ˈbɔʏ̯çə/ בײַכער‎ /baɪχɜr/

The vowel length distinctions of German do not exist in the Northeastern (Lithuanian) varieties of Yiddish, which form the phonetic basis for Standard Yiddish. In those varieties, the vowel qualities in most long/short vowel pairs diverged and so the phonemic distinction has remained.

Yiddish has some coincidental resemblances to Dutch in vowel phonology, which extend even to orthography, such as Dutch ij versus Yiddish tsvey judn, both pronounced /ɛɪ/; and Dutch ui (pronounced /œy/) versus Yiddish vov yud (/ɔj/). For example, the Yiddish "to be" is זיין, which orthographically matches Dutch zijn more than German sein, or Yiddish הויז, "house", versus Dutch huis (plural huizen). Along with the pronunciation of Dutch g as /ɣ/, Yiddish is said to sound closer to Dutch than to German because of that even though its structure is closer to High German.[citation needed]

There are consonantal differences between German and Yiddish. Yiddish deaffricates the Middle High German voiceless labiodental affricate /pf/ to /f/ initially (as in פֿונט funt, but this pronunciation is also quasi-standard throughout northern and central Germany); /pf/ surfaces as an unshifted /p/ medially or finally (as in עפּל /ɛpl/ and קאָפּ /kɔp/). Additionally, final voiced stops appear in Standard Yiddish but not Northern Standard German.

M. Weinreich's
diaphoneme
Pronunciation Examples
Middle High German Standard German Western Yiddish Northeastern ("Litvish") Central ("Poylish") South-Eastern ("Ukrainish") MHG Standard German Standard Yiddish
A1 a in closed syllable short a /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ machen, glat machen, glatt /ˈmaxən, ɡlat/ מאַכן, גלאַט /maχn, ɡlat/
A2 â long a // /oː/ /ɔ/ /uː/ /u/ sâme Samen /ˈzaːmən/ זױמען /ˈzɔɪ̯mn̩/
A3 a in open syllable /aː/ vater, sagen Vater, sagen /ˈfaːtɐ, zaːɡən/ פֿאָטער, זאָגן /ˈfɔtɜr, zɔɡn/
E1 e, ä, æ, all in closed syllable short ä and short e /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/ becker, mensch Bäcker, Mensch /ˈbɛkɐ, mɛnʃ/ בעקער, מענטש /ˈbɛkɜr, mɛntʃ/
ö in closed syllable short ö /œ/ töhter Töchter /ˈtœçtɐ/ טעכטער /ˈtɛχtɜr/
E5 ä and æ in open syllable long ä /ɛː/ /eː/ /eː~eɪ/ /eɪ~ɪ/ kæse Käse /ˈkɛːzə/ קעז /kɛz/
E2/3 e in open syllable, and ê long e // /ɛɪ/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ esel Esel /eːzl̩/ אײזל /ɛɪzl/
ö in open syllable, and œ long ö /øː/ schœne schön /ʃøːn/ שײן /ʃɛɪn/
I1 i in closed syllable short i /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ niht nicht /nɪçt/ נישט /nɪʃt/
ü in closed syllable short ü /ʏ/ brück, vünf Brücke, fünf /ˈbʁʏkə, fʏnf/ בריק, פֿינף /brɪk, fɪnf/
I2/3 i in open syllable, and ie long i // /iː/ /iː/ /iː/ liebe Liebe /ˈliːbə/ ליבע /ˈlɪbɜ/
ü in open syllable, and üe long ü // grüene grün /ɡʁyːn/ גרין /ɡrɪn/
O1 o in closed syllable short o /ɔ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ/ kopf, scholn Kopf, sollen /kɔpf, ˈzɔlən/ קאָפּ, זאָלן /kɔp, zɔln/
O2/3 o in open syllable, and ô long o // /ɔu/ /eɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /ɔɪ/ hôch, schône hoch, schon /hoːx, ʃoːn/ הױך, שױן /hɔɪχ, ʃɔɪn/
U1 u in closed syllable short u /ʊ/ /ʊ/ /ʊ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ hunt Hund /hʊnt/ הונט /hʊnt/
U2/3 u in open syllable, and uo long u // /uː/ /iː/ /iː/ buoch Buch /buːx/ בוך /bʊχ/
E4 ei ei /aɪ/ /aː/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ vleisch Fleisch /flaɪ̯ʃ/ פֿלײש /flɛɪʃ/
I4 î /aɪ/ /aɪ/ /aː/ /a/ mîn mein /maɪ̯n/ מײַן /maɪn/
O4 ou au /aʊ/ /aː/ /eɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /ɔɪ/ ouh, koufen auch, kaufen /aʊ̯x, ˈkaʊ̯fən/ אױך, קױפֿן /ɔɪχ, kɔɪfn/
U4 û /ɔu/ /ɔɪ/ /oː~ou/ /ou~u/ hûs Haus /haʊ̯s/ הױז /hɔɪz/
(E4) öu äu and eu /ɔʏ/ /aː/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ vröude Freude /ˈfʁɔʏ̯də/ פֿרײד /frɛɪd/
(I4) iu /aɪ/ /aɪ/ /aː/ /a/ diutsch Deutsch /dɔʏ̯t͡ʃ/ דײַטש /daɪtʃ/

Comparison with Hebrew

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The pronunciation of vowels in Yiddish words of Hebrew origin is similar to Ashkenazi Hebrew but not identical. The most prominent difference is kamatz gadol in closed syllables being pronounced same as patah in Yiddish but the same as any other kamatz in Ashkenazi Hebrew. Also, Hebrew features no reduction of unstressed vowels and so the given name Jochebed יוֹכֶבֶֿד would be /jɔɪˈχɛvɛd/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew but /ˈjɔχvɜd/ in Standard Yiddish.

M. Weinreich's
diaphoneme
Tiberian vocalization Pronunciation Examples
Western Yiddish Northeastern ("Litvish") Central ("Poylish") Standard Yiddish
A1 patah and kamatz gadol in closed syllable /a/ /a/ /a/ אַלְמָן, כְּתָבֿ /ˈalmɜn, ksav/
A2 kamatz gadol in open syllable /oː/ /ɔ/ /uː/ פָּנִים‎ /ˈpɔnɜm/
E1 tzere and segol in closed syllable; hataf segol /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/ גֵּט, חֶבְֿרָה, אֱמֶת‎ /gɛt, ˈχɛvrɜ, ˈɛmɜs/
E5 segol in open syllable /eː/ /eː~eɪ/ גֶּפֶֿן /ˈgɛfɜn/
E2/3 tzere in open syllable /ɛɪ/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/ סֵדֶר‎ /ˈsɛɪdɜr/
I1 hiriq in closed syllable /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ טיִף‎ /tɪf/
I2/3 hiriq in open syllable /iː/ /iː/ מְדִינָה /mɜˈdɪnɜ/
O1 holam and kamatz katan in closed syllable /ɔ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ/ חָכְמָה, עוֹף‎ /ˈχɔχmɜ, ɔf/
O2/3 holam in open syllable /ɔu/ /eɪ/ /ɔɪ/ סוֹחֵר /ˈsɔɪχɜr/
U1 kubutz and shuruk in closed syllable /ʊ/ /ʊ/ /ɪ/ מוּם /mʊm/
U2/3 kubutz and shuruk in open syllable /uː/ /iː/ שׁוּרָה /ˈʃʊrɜ/

Patah in open syllable, as well as hataf patah, are unpredictably split between A1 and A2: קַדַּחַת, נַחַת /kaˈdɔχɜs, ˈnaχɜs/; חֲלוֹם, חֲתֻנָּה /ˈχɔlɜm, ˈχasɜnɜ/.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kleine (2003), p. 262.
  2. ^ Katz (1987), p. 30.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kleine (2003), p. 263.
  4. ^ a b c Jacobs (2005:28)
  5. ^ Katz (1987:17)
  6. ^ Katz (1987:25)

Bibliography

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  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. (1979). Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5382-3.
  • Herzog, Marvin, et al. ed., YIVO, The Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry, 3 vols., Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, 1992–2000, ISBN 3-484-73013-7.
  • Jacobs, Neil G. (2005). Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77215-X.
  • Katz, Dovid (1987). Grammar of the Yiddish Language. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2162-9.
  • Kleine, Ane (2003). "Standard Yiddish". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (2): 261–265. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001385.

Further reading

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  • Jacobs, Neil G. (2005). Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77215-X.
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