Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.118 September 30, 1994 1) "Az der bubbe vot gehat.." (Zellig Bach) 2) Kreplekh and crepes (H. Davidson) 3) Sheva Zucker's book (Pierre Lewis) 4) Yiddish/Hebrew Word Processing (Ali Lemer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Sep 94 18:52:26 EDT From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: "Az der bubbe vot gehat.." Steven Pinker, a leading language scientist, professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recipient of many research awards and a teaching prize from M.I.T., published recently a book _The Language Instinct_ (William Morrow & Co., Inc., 494 pp., 1994). It won general wide acclaim from reviewers. After reading in the New York Times _Book Review_ an evaluation of the book, I went out and purchased it. It is of great interest to all lovers of languages in general, in which category I humbly include myself, and in one instance cited below of some concern to a proud lover of the Yiddish language. The author's specialty is the study of language development in children, an area in which I found great fascination in my own specialty, that of psychology and psychoanalysis. I always considered it a mark of intellectual achievement, akin to a minor mental miracle, when a very young child said for the first time "I Saw it." How did he learn to use the past tense? Did his mother or father sit him down and teach him verb conjugation? Not likely! He just figured it out all by himself from listening to, and apparently analyzing, the speech of adults. Suddenly, and what seemed completely spontaneously, he knew the correct verb usage. At the same time it was also indisputable evidence that he somehow gained a grasp of the concept "recent past." Pinker postulates the theory that language is a human instinct, that the capacity for language has evolved with evolution, and that our brain computes our grammar, syntax, vocabulary. So I found his book absorbing and fascinating. But I came across one sentence in _Yiddish_ (p. 66) that almost threw me for a loop. The author discusses the subjunctive construction, a construction used to express "counterfactual" situations, "events that are known to be false but entertained as hypotheticals." Pinker then states that anyone familiar with Yiddish knows "the ultimate riposte to someone reasoning from improbable premises." And he quotes in Yiddish the following saying : "Az der bubbe vot gehat baytzim vot zie geven mein zayde." For those uninitiated in the cryptic meaning of "baytzim," let me translate: "If my grandmother had balls, she would be my grandfather." The expression itself is well known to me. I heard it many, many years ago in Vilne (Lithuania) when I was a very young man. Indeed, on a recent occasion, I heard two euphemistic variants. Mikhl Herzog reports from his youth in Toronto: _ven di bobe volt GEHAT (long pause) volt zi geven a zeyde_; also _ven di bobe volt gehat redlekh, volt zi geven a stritkar_ (street car). Herewith my comments on Pinker's Yiddish sentence: A. The co-occurrence of several features reveal the speaker's dialect as Central ("Polish") Yiddish. B. Word analysis: 1. "Der" (bubbe). Totally unacceptable in Standard Yiddish. "Der" is the _masculine_ definite article. Since the false premise starts with the implausible "sex change" () of the grandmother, the article should naturally be "di"-the _feminine_ definite article in Yiddish. The inap- propriate use of "der" nullifies so to speak the entire counterargument. The only possible co-occurrence of _der_ and _bobe is encountered in the dative case in Standard Yiddish, thus: TSU DER bobe(n). In the nomina- tive case _der_ for "bobe" is categorically wrong. 2. "Bubbe"--This is apparently Polish Yiddish. The literary form is "bobe," and so romanized. Yiddish does not take double consonants, as Mendelyaner know so well. 3. "Vot"-- The auxiliary verb _voLt_ belongs here. The sound of the consonant /l/ sometimes disappears entirely ("vot"), but in Standard Yiddish it is "volt." [ikh volt, du voltst, er/zi volt, mir voltn.] 4. "Baytzim"--This is Hebrew for eggs and testicles. Standard romanized spelling is "beytsim" (baytsim, I believe, is a Polish-Yiddish variant). Several generations ago words pertaining to certain body parts, or even clothing, were considered indelicate and not fit for mixed company. They were taboo, and one could find them only in dictionaries. Note the ellipsis--the long pause--in the first of Mikhl Herzog's examples above where the intended word is not even spoken at all. These words have now lost their shock value, and one finds them in newspapers and family magazines spelled out and called by their actual anatomical names. But in the olden days people resorted to euphemisms or to words in a foreign or less known language. Thus the use of Hebrew for testicles was considered the more "elegant" or more "delicate" way of naming them. 5. "Zie"--Reflects a tendency to mimic the German spelling of "Sie," a pattern naturally to avoid. It should be _zi_.. 6. "Mein"--Ditto. German spelling. It should be_ mayn_. 7. "Zayde"--Standard romanization calls for _zeyde_. In his Preface Pinker expresses his thanks to a great many people for their comments, suggestions, and generous advice while the book was still in manuscript form. Many of these people were clearly experts in linguistics. Too bad he saw no need to consult an expert in Yiddish. Zellig Bach 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Sep 94 17:08 PDT From: ibidhad@mvs.oac.ucla.edu Subject: Kreplekh and crepes For M. Herzog or other etymologists. Is it farfetched to conjecture connection between kreplekh (traditional food for 7th day of Tabernacles) and crepes? H. Davidson 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Sep 1994 13:38:00 -0400 From: lew@bnr.ca Subject: Sheva Zucker's book compared to Weinreich and Zuckerman/Herbst Could someone (eg. a teacher) who has seen all three books compare them wrt to level and comprehensiveness? Does Sheva Zucker's book really add something to Weinreich (for someone who's comfortable with "Objects of prepositions take the dative case")? It certainly is a tempting book. With a tempting offer from Stephen to boot. To Khayem: suggestions for your list (a very good idea, btw): - Birnbaums "Grammatik der Jiddischen Sprache" (the german version isn't very useful to most here of course, but I understand there's an english version from Toronto). - Add some reading material: I found "Yidishe kinder giml" very useful for example (even if mayne kinderyorn are far away). - Add the main dictionaries. - Add some audio sources (radio programmes, tapes, films). A wouldn't mind a comparison of the two grammars either (Katz & above). I want to order one, but don't know which one. As for Leybl's suggestions to organize periodic lessons: GREAT! Pierre Lewis 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Sep 94 0:48:44 EDT From: ali@panix.com Subject: Yiddish/Hebrew Word Processing I believe the word processor NISUS can handle right-to-left printing. You also have to get a Yiddish typeface, of course; I believe there's one called Perele, and a Hebrew one called Shalom. I don't know where these can be bought, although you might try YIVO, Der Arbeter Ring, the ads in Der Forvets, etc, etc. Ali Lemer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.118 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu