Yiddish

Biography of a Language
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-065196-1
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 502 g

The most widely spoken Jewish language on the eve of the Holocaust, Yiddish continues to play a significant role in Jewish life today, from Hasidim for whom it is a language of daily life to avant-garde performers, political activists, and LGBTQ writers turning to Yiddish for inspiration. Yiddish: Biography of a Language presents the story of this centuries-old language, the defining vernacular of Ashkenazi Jews, from its origins to the present.

Jeffrey Shandler tells the multifaceted history of Yiddish in the form of a biographical profile, revealing surprising insights through a series of thematic chapters. He addresses key aspects of Yiddish as the language of a diasporic population, whose speakers have always used more than one language. As the vernacular of a marginalized minority, Yiddish has often been held in low regard compared to other languages, and its legitimacy as a language has been questioned. But some devoted Yiddish speakers have championed the language as embodying the essence of Jewish culture and a defining feature of a Jewish national identity. Despite predictions of the demise of Yiddish-dating back well before half of its speakers were murdered during the Holocaust-the language leads a vibrant, evolving life to this day.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shandler, Jeffrey

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Acknowledgments

- Author's Note

- Introduction

- 1. Date and Place of Birth

- 2. Family Background

- 3. Residence

- 4. Name

- 5. Gender

- 6. Appearance

- 7. Health

- 8. Religion

- 9. Education

- 10. Literacy

- 11. Occupation

- 12. Politics

- 13. Personality

- 14. Life Expectancy

- Notes

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jeffrey Shandler is Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. A scholar of modern and contemporary Jewish culture, he has written, edited, or translated sixteen books. Shandler has served as president of the Association for Jewish Studies and is a fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research.