Yeshivish

{{Short description|Sociolect of English spoken by Orthodox Jews in Yeshiva}} {{About|sociolect of English|the group of people who are commonly referred to as "Yeshivish"|Misnagdim#Litvishe}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2022}} {{Use American English|date = April 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

'''Yeshivish''' ({{Langx|yi|ישיבֿיש}}), also known as '''Yeshiva English''', '''Yeshivisheh Shprach''', or '''Yeshivisheh Reid''', is a sociolect of English spoken by Yeshiva students and other Jews with a strong connection to the Orthodox Yeshiva world.<ref>{{cite web |title=How To Understand Yeshivish |url=https://forward.com/culture/135621/how-to-understand-yeshivish/ |publisher=Forward |access-date=6 May 2020 |date=23 February 2011}}</ref>

"Yeshivish" may also refer to non-Hasidic Haredi Jews.<ref>{{cite web |last1=JPPI |title=The Yeshivish Community |url=https://jppi.org.il/en/article/aa2016/part3/orthodox-jews-in-the-united-states/yeshivish/#.Yv0_sP_MK02 |website=jppi.org.il/en/ |publisher=The Jewish People Policy Institute |access-date=17 August 2022 |archive-date=17 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817191516/https://jppi.org.il/en/article/aa2016/part3/orthodox-jews-in-the-united-states/yeshivish/#.Yv0_sP_MK02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sometimes it has an extra connotation of non-Hasidic Haredi Jews educated in yeshiva and whose education made a noticeable specific cultural impact onto them. In the latter case the term has ambivalent (both positive and negative) connotations comparable to those of the term "academic".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cross-currents.com/2013/07/10/the-yeshivish-brand/|title=The Yeshivish Brand|last=Cross-Currents|first=Special to|date=2013-07-10|website=Cross-Currents|access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref>

James Lambert writes that the term may be a portmanteau word of ''yeshiva'' and ''English'', or may simply be formed from ''yeshiva'' + the adjectival suffix ''-ish''.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1075/eww.00001.lam| title=A multitude of "lishes"| journal=English World-Wide| volume=38| issue=3| year=2017| last1=Lambert| first1=James| pages=1–33| url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/getpdf?webfile=a315252263 | url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Research== The first serious study about Yeshivish is a master's thesis by Steven Ray Goldfarb (University of Texas at El Paso, 1979) called "A Sampling of Lexical Items in Yeshiva English." The work lists, defines, and provides examples for nearly 250 Yeshivish words and phrases. The second, more comprehensive work is ''Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish'' by Chaim Weiser. Weiser (1995) maintains that Yeshivish is not a pidgin, creole, or an independent language, nor is it precisely a jargon.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weiser |first=Chaim M. |title=Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish |date=1995 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781568216140 |pages=xvi–xxi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Dx5oF911VIC&pg=PR16 |language=en}}</ref> Baumel (2006) following Weiser notes that Yeshivish differs from English primarily in phonemic structure, lexical meaning, and syntax.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baumel |first=Simeon D. |title=Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture Among the Haredim in Israel |date=2006 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9781845450625 |page=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKfnmG-pREEC&pg=PA174 |language=en |quote=As Weiser (1995) states in ''Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish'', this is neither a pidgin nor a technical ... Although some may initially categorize Yeshivish as a mere dialect, it differs from English in three ways: sound or ...}}</ref>

Benor (2012) offers a detailed list of distinctive features used in Yeshivish.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sarah Bunin Benor |title=Becoming frum: How newcomers learn the language and culture of Orthodox Judaism |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2012}}</ref> Katz describes it in ''Words on Fire: the Unfinished Story of Yiddish'' (2004) as a "new dialect of English", which is "taking over as the vernacular in everyday life in some ... circles in America and elsewhere".<ref>{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Dovid |title=Words on Fire: the Unfinished Story of Yiddish |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsonfireunfin00dovi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/wordsonfireunfin00dovi/page/384 384] |publisher=Basic Books |year=2004|isbn=9780465037285 }}</ref> Heilman (2006)<ref>{{cite book |author=Samuel C. Heilman |title=Sliding to the right: the contest for the future of American |page=192 |year=2006 |quote=The code switching here, so characteristic of Yeshivish culture, and the use of acronyms and phrases that only Orthodox ... but wish to display that they have been 'transformed' following an extended stay in a Haredi yeshiva.}}</ref> and others consider code-switching a part of Yeshivish.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |issue=1974 |pages=137–138 |year=1974 |quote=One similarly wonders what an analysis of British, Israeli, or Latin-American counterparts to Yeshivish might yield. The processes and contexts of code-switching between English and Yeshivish among Yeshiva students likewise warrant investigation. | last1 = FISHMAN | first1 = JOSHUA A. | last2 = FISHMAN | first2 = DAVID E. |title=Yiddish in Israel: A Case-Study of Efforts to Revise a Monocentric Language Policy |doi=10.1515/ijsl.1974.1.125 |s2cid=145722689 }}</ref> Though Kaye (1991) would exclude English speakers in the context of a Yeshiva, studying the Talmud, from code-switching where he considers the terms "Yiddish English" or "Yiddishized English" ("= Yinglish") may be more appropriate.<ref>{{cite book |author=Alan S. Kaye |editor=James R. Dow |editor2=Joshua A. Fishman |title=Language and ethnicity |year=1991 |page=180 |quote=I am willing to exclude, however, English-speaking New York Orthodox Jews in the context of a Yeshiva}}</ref>

==Patterns of usage== Yeshivish is primarily a male-spoken dialect.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Talmid Chachams and Tsedeykeses: Language, Learnedness, and Masculinity Among Orthodox Jews |author=Sarah Bunin Benor |journal=Jewish Social Studies |date=Fall 2004 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=147–170 |doi=10.1353/jss.2005.0001|s2cid=162387113 }}</ref> Fathers and sons, particularly of teenage years and above, might speak Yeshivish, while mothers and daughters generally speak a milder variety of it, which generally features Yeshivish phonology but excludes many Talmudic words. This can be explained as much of the Yeshivish lexicon is learned in Yeshiva where the studying takes place using a specialist nomenclature. Familiarity with these terms develops and they are then re-applied to other situations. There is a higher incidence of Yeshivish being spoken amongst Orthodox Jews that are regularly involved in Torah study, or belong to a community that promotes its study.

Commonly used platitudes among Orthodox Jews are frequently expressed with their Yeshivish equivalent. Examples include using ''shkoyakh'' or ''shkoyekh'' for an expression of appreciation: "bravo" or "good job", or "thank you",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Aaron |first1=Moss |title=What Does 'Shkoyach' Mean? |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2798155/jewish/What-Does-Shkoyach-Mean.htm |publisher=Chabad.org |access-date=7 May 2020}}</ref> a contraction from the Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|יִישַׁר כּוֹחַ}} "Yishar Ko'ach", which literally translates as "May your strength be firm" and is used to indicate to someone that they have done a good job, and ''Barukh HaShem'' (sometimes written as B"H, using the quotation mark used for abbreviations in Hebrew), meaning "Blessed is HaShem [The Name (of God)]". Yeshivish dialogue may include many expressions that refer to HaShem.

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629142106/http://www.ling.upenn.edu/NWAVE32/abs-pdf/benor.pdf Yeshivish, the language of Talmud Study] * {{cite web |url=https://zackarysholemberger.blogspot.com/2004/04/how-to-speak-yeshivish-friend-of-mine.html |publisher=Zackary Sholem Berger |date=15 April 2004 |title=How to Speak Yeshivish}} * {{cite book |last=Weiser |first=Chaim M. |year=1995 |title=Frumspeak: The first dictionary of Yeshivish |location=Northvale |publisher=Aronson |isbn=978-1-56821-614-0}}

==External links== * [https://www.dafyomi.org/ DafYomi.org], with extensive lectures on Talmud in Yeshivish English

Category:Judeo-English languages Category:Orthodox Judaism Category:Yiddish Category:Yiddish words and phrases Category:English-language dialects Category:Language varieties and styles Category:Sociolinguistics Category:Macaronic language