LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.10.13 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 13.OCT.2002 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Thomas Byro <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Help needed" 2002.10.13 (06) [E/LS]

I worked for a while for an importer of books from Germany, Mary Rosenberg,
Inc.  Many of the books were scholarly, such as philology books.  One  book
I found  was about a version of Yiddish that was spoken in north Germany
that was based on Plattdeutsch.  I have ofen wodered if any speakers of this
language remain.  Of course one of the differences between Yiddish and
standard German is that Yiddish was written in the Hebrew alphabet.  This
means that the umlaut sounds had to be dropped because no Hebrew symbol for
these sounds exists.  Could this letter be from a speaker of Yiddish
Plattdeutsch?  If so, where did they survive?

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Tom,

If you can point me in the direction of any concrete sources about a Jewish
language variety based on a Lowlands language, please do so by all means,
because I have been looking for such information a long time.  I have
searched through all kinds of materials and collections, have read all kinds
of books about Jewish languages (including books in Yiddish and Hebrew),
have asked on this list and on Mendele (a Yiddish-focused list), and I have
never come across any evidence of a Continental-Lowlands-based Jewish
language variety.  The closest thing would be Yiddish spoken by descendants
of immigrants from Eastern Europe in Belgium and the Netherlands, and their
language varieties are based on Eastern Yiddish with Dutch admixture.

I suspect that what you are referring to is what is known as "Western
Yiddish," a group of varieties spoken primarily in Germany, the Low
Countries and Eastern France -- but no longer.  As far as is known, it is
extinct.  (If it is not, *please*, anyone, let me know.)  Rumor has it that
there are still some speakers in Western France, but no one has been able to
confirm this.  Also there are or were some Jewish-specific varieties in
Northern Switzerland, but, judging by samples I saw, they are Swiss German
dialects with Yiddish influences.

Sizeable Jewish communities were established in the Northern Lowlands fairly
late.  The first ones were Sefardic (i.e., Iberian Jewish), founded by
refugees from the horrors of the Inquisition on the Iberian Peninsula
(today's Spain and, particularly in the case of the Lowlands, Portugal, thus
mostly speakers of late medieval or early modern Portuguese and Galician).
They were particularly in evidence along the Netherlands coast, including
Amsterdam, and also in Hamburg (arriving there via Emden), specifically in
Altona, which then was a separate city and later frequently served as a
refuge for Hamburg Jews whenever the city senate harrassed them with visa
and business permit restrictions and other types of chicanery.  These
Sefardic communities proved to have made important contributions to the
welfare and development of the larger communities.  Their Hispanic-based
Ladino varieties became extinct, at the latest with World War II.

Sizeable Ashkenazic (i.e., German Jewish) communities in the Northern
Lowlands came about later, mostly in the 17th century.  (I am talking about
*communities*, not individuals or individual families that may have moved
north earlier.)  Most of these immigrated from what are now Southern and
Central Germany.  Their home and community language varieties were what is
known as "Western Yiddish," like Eastern Yiddish primarily a branch off
Medieval German (*not* Lowlands Saxon/Low German!), but without the Slavic,
Romanian, Baltic and Hungarian influences that characterize Eastern Yiddish
(which was based on Western Yiddish transported to Eastern Europe).  By the
time these Ashkenazic communities were established in the north, German had
already begun to encroach upon and usurping the Lowlands-Saxon speaking
land, having become the language of power and prestige.  West-Yiddish- and
(with the non-Jewish world) German-speaking newcomers thus had no incentive
to use Lowlands Saxon, although, like the German-speaking non-Jewish elite,
they had an incentive to learn to *understand* the language of the common
people if they had any direct contacts with them, few of which at that time
could speak German, leave alone write it.  In a couple of _belles-lettres_
works, I have come across dialogues in which Gentiles would speak in
Lowlands Saxon and Jews would speak German (with or without Yiddish
influences).  I assume that that was the typical situation, at least in the
cities.  I further assume that Jews living in rural areas outside sizeable
Yiddish- and German-speaking communities tended to be able to speak Lowlands
Saxon, especially those that intermingled and married with non-Jews.  Much
of this is apparently true of the Lowlands-Saxon-speaking parts of the
Netherlands as well, where most resident Jews were descendants of German
immigrants (including immigrants from the German-speaking parts of France).
Furthermore, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, Jewish families that
could afford it would intermarry across what is now the border between
Germany and the Netherlands.  You will find fascinating descriptions of this
in the memoirs of Glückel von Hameln (Glikl Hameln), a Jewish woman born in
Hamburg in the 17th century.  It exists in English, German and other
translations.  (I would be grateful if anyone could help me get a copy of
the original West Yiddish version.)

If anyone has any lead to any resources that shed further light on possible
Judeo-Lowlandic language varieties, I would be most grateful for informing
me about it.

Tom:

> This
> means that the umlaut sounds had to be dropped because no Hebrew symbol
for
these sounds exists.

Only in Medieval Yiddish and in a few Early Modern Yiddish texts.  On the
whole, Yiddish (and Ladino) written with Hebrew script does represent and
distinguish all vowels, and it does so in an ingenious way that bridges
dialect boundaries, since it is mostly vowels and diphthongs that vary from
dialect to dialect.  Roman or any such script for Yiddish is thus an
inferior solution, which is why a Roman- and Cyrillic-script orthography
movements for Yiddish in the early 20th century were failures.

> Could this letter be from a speaker of Yiddish Plattdeutsch?

Absolutely not. As many of our native speakers members can attest, it is
Mennonite Lowlands Saxon (Low German), a.k.a. "Plautdietsch," the sole
survivor of West Prussian Lowlands Saxon (of the area of the Vistula Delta
in what is now Northern Poland), thus, like Eastern Yiddish, a Germanic
language variety with Slavic and Baltic influences.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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