Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 159
March 16, 1993
 
1) Housekeeping (Noyekh Miller)
2) MOW/Evening of Jewish Lesbian Entertainment (Tova Stabin)
3) Ye 'yes'(Berl Hoberman)
4) Mutual comprehensibility (Berl Hoberman)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon Mar 15 1993
From: nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu
Subject: Housekeeping

1. Some of you have already noticed that there's been a
slightly different look to things in the last few numbers
of Mendele. That's because we've changed machines.  Mendele
is no longer serviced by Trinity's Vax and uses instead a
machine with a different operating system (Unix).  There
may yet be another change in a few weeks, but at this time
the shames makes this request of you:

Please do NOT write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu
                                or
                        mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu

Instead, address all personal mail to:

                        nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu
                                
Communications to Mendele still go to:

                        mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu

2. Some of you who have tried to download back files by
means of anonymous ftp may have had trouble exiting by use
of the "bye" command.  A note from Harold Orbach points out
that "quit" works just fine.

A sheynem dank aykh.

Noyekh

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon Mar 15 16:05:14 1993
From: IN%"tova@u.washington.edu"
Subj: MOW/Evening of Jewish Lesbian  Entertainment


There will be a benefit for Bridges, a Journal for Jewish
Feminists and our Friends, at the March on Washington, for
Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.  It will
be an Evening of Jewish Lesbian Entertainment, beginning
with a Havdallah (end of the Sabbath) service and
commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetoo
Urpising, with Rabbi LInda HOltzman.  There will be music
by Alix Dobkin, Ruth Pelham, Laura Berkson, and a Klezmer
band jam.  Laurie Wolf will MC the evening. The event is on
April 24, 1993, 8:00p.m., at the New YOrk Avenue
Presbyterian Church, at 1313 New York Avenue N.W.,
Washington, D.C. (metro stop is "metro Center", near 13th
and G).  Tickets are $10, less if you can't, more if you
can, and are available in advance from Bridges, P.O. Box
18437, Seattle, WA  98118, or at the door. ASL and
Wheelchair accessible.  (if you have any questions, you can
also email me at -- tova@carson.u.washington.edu).
Thanks!!! hope to see you all there!!!!

Tova Stabin

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue Mar 16 12:19:12 1993
From: RHOBERMAN%SBCCMAIL.bitnet@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU
Subject: Ye  'yes'

Everyone knows the Yiddish word for 'yes' is /yo/ (I guess
in Polish, Galitsyaner, and Ukranian dialects /yu/?).  But
my grandmother, from a town a few miles west of Minsk well
inside Litvish territory, said /ye/ to rhyme with /fe/
'yuck' and /ikh ze/ 'I see', and insisted that this was not
the English word "yeah" but genuine Yiddish.  Of course she
knew /yo/, but said that's not the way it was pronounced in
her dialect.  What's puzzling is that there is no regular
sound change from /o/ to /e/ in Yiddish and she said /do/
'here', /sho/ 'hour'.  (/kop/-/kep/, /nomen/-/nemen/ and
/helfn/- /geholfn/ are different phenomena: they're
morphological alternations that carry contrasts of
meaning).

I haven't heard of anyone else saying /ye/.  Is this a
well-known variant? Where does it occur?  Does anyone
(Mikhl?) have an explanation for its history?

Berl (Bob) Hoberman
rhoberman@sbccmail.bitnet
rhoberman@ccmail.sunysb.edu

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue Mar 16 12:19:12 1993
From: RHOBERMAN%SBCCMAIL.bitnet@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU
Subject: Mutual comprehensibility

Were all Yiddish dialects mutually comprehensible?  A
linguist friend has asked me this, knowing perfectly well
that it is an undefined question, because two aspects are
left open: how comprehensible is comprehensible, and when
and where are we asking about.

For comprehensibility: do we require instant ease of
conversation, or is a period of accommodation acceptible;
how frequent do we tolerate misunderstandings?  Obviously
one can LEARN to understand a different dialect, just as
one can learn a foreign language.  As for when and were:
clearly someone who had never left his/her village has much
less experience with different dialects than someone living
for some years in the Lower East Side of New York.

So let's define it arbitrarily and hypothetically as
follows: is it the case that any two Yiddish speakers who
had never left their villages in anywhere in eastern Europe
(let's exclude Western Yiddish from consideration) and
rarely or never talked with people from elsewhere could, if
brought suddenly together, have conducted an extended
conversation including more than a simple exchange of basic
factual information?  We'll allow a bit of difficulty for
the first few minutes, and an occasional minor misunder-
standing that would be easily clarified.  Anybody want to
hazard a thought on this question?  Guesses, estimates, and
anecdotes welcome.

Berl (Bob) Hoberman
rhoberman@ccmail.sunysb.edu

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End of Mendele Vol 2.159