Yiddish Language Maintenance and Religion

• In Event: Yiddish Language and Yiddish Linguists

Abstract

This paper is a conceptual examination of contrasting Jewish speech communities that involve the uses of Yiddish either as a primary language or as a secondary one. Yiddish as a heritage language has been maintained by many contemporary Hasidim in Israel, America and Europe. The language is sustained by Satmar, Viznitz and other sects for religious and traditional reasons. Indeed, in many of these communities Yiddish is growing in use as a first language for children. By contrast, very few non-Hasidic children grow up with Yiddish as a first language. This phenomenon is tied to self-segregating communities. Within the non-Orthodox Jewish world, perpetuation of Yiddish has been influenced by the work of Uriel Weinreich and Mordecai Schaechter, who developed a high status level for spoken Yiddish without the religious underpinnings. The result has been a divergence in both the form and meaning of Yiddish within Judaism. As linguist Joshua Fishman described it, Yiddish has a quasi-sacred function as a result of its proximity to sanctity. For the past seventy years, with the original homeland for Yiddish gone, a number of secular and religious groups have employed Yiddish as an additional language. For Hasidim Yiddish is still the primary language but functions in conjunction with other languages, notably Hebrew-Aramaic for sacred functions and co-territorial languages like English or modern Hebrew. Joshua Fishman's question about who speaks what language to whom and when serves as an effective tool to understand the contours of communities and the behavior of language with respect to religion. This paper will draw from sources in Hasidic and secular groups in the United States. Europe and Israel to explore the relationship between language survival and religion. In folkloristic terms, who are the heroes for each group and how do they reinforce language practices? What are the ideals to which linguistic behavior is tied?

Author

• Miriam Isaacs