Pub Date : 2023-10-25DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10037
Rebecca Margolis
Abstract The ever-increasing usage of Yiddish on American sitcoms and other comedic genres encompasses Jewish as well as non-Jewish characters. In this study I offer a metalinguistic analysis of how main or recurring fictional characters who are identified as non-Jewish employ Yiddish loanwords, intonation, and syntax (Yiddishisms) in American comedy television. I argue that Yiddishisms spoken by non-Jewish characters introduce three new tropes: the Yiddish Mask, the Yiddish Tourist, and the Yiddish Connector. In all three tropes, humor derives from the incongruence between the non-Jewish speaker and archetypes or stereotypes associated with speakers of Yiddish; however, the use of Yiddish within the Jewish linguistic repertoire also suggests a range of other semiotic meanings.
{"title":"“Oy with the Poodles Already!”: Yiddishisms and Non-Jewish Characters on American Sitcoms","authors":"Rebecca Margolis","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10037","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The ever-increasing usage of Yiddish on American sitcoms and other comedic genres encompasses Jewish as well as non-Jewish characters. In this study I offer a metalinguistic analysis of how main or recurring fictional characters who are identified as non-Jewish employ Yiddish loanwords, intonation, and syntax (Yiddishisms) in American comedy television. I argue that Yiddishisms spoken by non-Jewish characters introduce three new tropes: the Yiddish Mask, the Yiddish Tourist, and the Yiddish Connector. In all three tropes, humor derives from the incongruence between the non-Jewish speaker and archetypes or stereotypes associated with speakers of Yiddish; however, the use of Yiddish within the Jewish linguistic repertoire also suggests a range of other semiotic meanings.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":"20 10","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135166205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-22DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10035
Erica Baricci
Sometimes, in the Commedia dell’arte, Jewish characters who speak Judeo-Italian appear on the stage, revealing a strong intention on the part of non-Jewish authors to mimic the language spoken by contemporary Jews. Therefore, the study of these external sources is very useful to enrich our knowledge of the Judeo-Italian of the early modern period. In this article I will present the scena all’ebraica of the comedy Novantanove Disgrazie di Pulcinella (Rome 1769) by Gregorio Mancinelli. The text, published here in its entirety for the first time, will be preceded by an introduction and accompanied by an English translation and an analysis of the language and contents.
有时,在《艺术百科全书》中,会说犹太-意大利语的犹太人物出现在舞台上,这表明非犹太作家有模仿当代犹太人语言的强烈意图。因此,研究这些外部来源对丰富我们对近代早期犹太裔意大利人的认识是非常有益的。在这篇文章中,我将介绍Gregorio Mancinelli的喜剧《Novantanove Disgrazie di Pulcinella》(1769年罗马)中的所有场景。该文本首次在这里全文发表,之前将进行介绍,并附有英文翻译以及对语言和内容的分析。
{"title":"Judeo-Roman on Stage: The Scena all’ebraica in the Novantanove Disgrazie di Pulcinella (Rome 1769) by Gregorio Mancinelli","authors":"Erica Baricci","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10035","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Sometimes, in the Commedia dell’arte, Jewish characters who speak Judeo-Italian appear on the stage, revealing a strong intention on the part of non-Jewish authors to mimic the language spoken by contemporary Jews. Therefore, the study of these external sources is very useful to enrich our knowledge of the Judeo-Italian of the early modern period. In this article I will present the scena all’ebraica of the comedy Novantanove Disgrazie di Pulcinella (Rome 1769) by Gregorio Mancinelli. The text, published here in its entirety for the first time, will be preceded by an introduction and accompanied by an English translation and an analysis of the language and contents.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48698973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-08DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10034
Isaac L. Bleaman, Jacob J. Webber, Samuel K. Lo
Abstract Although few linguistic corpora are available in Yiddish, there are numerous sources of so-called “found data” that can be adapted for language research, pedagogy, and resource development. We describe the steps taken to create the first speech synthesis (text-to-speech) program in Yiddish. A state-of-the-art TTS model, FastSpeech 2, was trained on a hand-corrected data set consisting of literary texts paired with audio narrations by native speakers of the Polish and Lithuanian dialects. A quantitative evaluation by listeners found that the system produced speech that was both intelligible and natural-sounding. To demonstrate the system’s applications for language pedagogy, we offer a qualitative evaluation of Yiddish phonological features that are present or absent in a sample of synthesized recordings. We hope that the success of speech synthesis in Yiddish will inspire future projects to enable technological support for other minority languages in which transcribed recordings are available.
{"title":"Speech Synthesis in the “Mother Tongue”: Designing, Training, and Evaluating a Text-to-Speech System for Yiddish","authors":"Isaac L. Bleaman, Jacob J. Webber, Samuel K. Lo","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10034","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Although few linguistic corpora are available in Yiddish, there are numerous sources of so-called “found data” that can be adapted for language research, pedagogy, and resource development. We describe the steps taken to create the first speech synthesis (text-to-speech) program in Yiddish. A state-of-the-art TTS model, FastSpeech 2, was trained on a hand-corrected data set consisting of literary texts paired with audio narrations by native speakers of the Polish and Lithuanian dialects. A quantitative evaluation by listeners found that the system produced speech that was both intelligible and natural-sounding. To demonstrate the system’s applications for language pedagogy, we offer a qualitative evaluation of Yiddish phonological features that are present or absent in a sample of synthesized recordings. We hope that the success of speech synthesis in Yiddish will inspire future projects to enable technological support for other minority languages in which transcribed recordings are available.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135324844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-29DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10030
Carlos Yebra López
Abstract The aim of this essay is to problematize the ontology of Judeo-Spanish qua language. First, I argue that its traditional conceptualization as an autonomous, self-contained language is predicated on a (flawed) classical ontological framework that relies on so-called ‘named languages theory.’ Second, I contend that a more enlightened understanding of Judeo-Spanish as a linguistic phenomenon necessitates a paradigm shift toward a hauntological framework consistent with theoretical models such as translanguaging and revivalistics. I conclude that Judeo-Spanish is best understood as an ensemble of the only partially overlapping idiolects of people who share a common Sephardi cultural/ethnic identity and who manage to communicate with reasonable success. Third, I discuss the momentous implications of this shift in three domains: linguistics, minority rights, and education.
{"title":"Specters of Judeo-Spanish: The Case for Judeo-Spanish as a Partial Overlap of Idiolects Shared by People of Sephardi Culture","authors":"Carlos Yebra López","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this essay is to problematize the ontology of Judeo-Spanish qua language. First, I argue that its traditional conceptualization as an autonomous, self-contained language is predicated on a (flawed) classical ontological framework that relies on so-called ‘named languages theory.’ Second, I contend that a more enlightened understanding of Judeo-Spanish as a linguistic phenomenon necessitates a paradigm shift toward a hauntological framework consistent with theoretical models such as translanguaging and revivalistics. I conclude that Judeo-Spanish is best understood as an ensemble of the only partially overlapping idiolects of people who share a common Sephardi cultural/ethnic identity and who manage to communicate with reasonable success. Third, I discuss the momentous implications of this shift in three domains: linguistics, minority rights, and education.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135792166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-19DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10033
D. Shapira, A. Vinogradov
In this short article we publish, with translations, a macaronic Hebrew cum Middle Greek religious poem, accompanied by a refrain in Ottoman Turkish, all written in Hebrew characters and fully vocalized. The text comes from a Karaite prayerbook printed in Venice in 1528 on behalf of the Constantinople Karaite community. This poem and its origins played a role in different manipulations of Karaite identities and history during the 19th and 20th centuries.
{"title":"A Macaronic Hebrew-Greek-Turkish Poem from the First Printed Karaite Prayerbook, Venice 1528","authors":"D. Shapira, A. Vinogradov","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10033","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this short article we publish, with translations, a macaronic Hebrew cum Middle Greek religious poem, accompanied by a refrain in Ottoman Turkish, all written in Hebrew characters and fully vocalized. The text comes from a Karaite prayerbook printed in Venice in 1528 on behalf of the Constantinople Karaite community. This poem and its origins played a role in different manipulations of Karaite identities and history during the 19th and 20th centuries.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48122547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-15DOI: 10.1163/22134638-bja10029
Anna Verschik, Karl Pajusalu
Abstract Multilingualism is a characteristic feature of Yiddish speakers in the Baltic region, and contact-induced language change is natural in this case. To date, some Baltic German impact on the local varieties of Yiddish has been discussed in the literature. This article focuses on the phonic impact of Estonian on Estonian Yiddish. The study is based on acoustic analysis of Estonian Yiddish sound recordings. The North Baltic area forms a separate region in the Baltic Sprachbund; Yiddish spoken in Samogitia and Courland as well as Estonian Yiddish exhibit several features typical of this language area. It is demonstrated that there is an overlap of basic prosodic categories with co-territorial languages, such as centralized stress and a quantity opposition. A distinctive feature common to Estonian and Estonian Yiddish is the limited reduction of vowels and a tendency to maintain stable durational ratios of the primary stressed syllable and following unstressed syllables.
{"title":"Phonic Convergence in Estonian Yiddish","authors":"Anna Verschik, Karl Pajusalu","doi":"10.1163/22134638-bja10029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10029","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Multilingualism is a characteristic feature of Yiddish speakers in the Baltic region, and contact-induced language change is natural in this case. To date, some Baltic German impact on the local varieties of Yiddish has been discussed in the literature. This article focuses on the phonic impact of Estonian on Estonian Yiddish. The study is based on acoustic analysis of Estonian Yiddish sound recordings. The North Baltic area forms a separate region in the Baltic Sprachbund; Yiddish spoken in Samogitia and Courland as well as Estonian Yiddish exhibit several features typical of this language area. It is demonstrated that there is an overlap of basic prosodic categories with co-territorial languages, such as centralized stress and a quantity opposition. A distinctive feature common to Estonian and Estonian Yiddish is the limited reduction of vowels and a tendency to maintain stable durational ratios of the primary stressed syllable and following unstressed syllables.","PeriodicalId":40699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jewish Languages","volume":"226 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135698665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}