LL-L "Phonology" 2004.05.08 (07) [E/Yiddish]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 08.MAY.2004 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Lee Goldberg <leybl_goldberg at yahoo.com>
Subject: H-Deletion in Hebrew and Yiddish

I don't think dropping H's in Israeli Hebrew (e.g. pronouncing HAKOL
BESEDER? 'Alles in Ordenung?' as AKOL BESEDER?) could have come from French
or Castilian (not too many speakers of those languages in Israel in those
years and the bulk of those who did speak it were from Morocco or Argentina
and probably knew Arabic or Yiddish, which have the H).

I think a more likely source is certain Byelorussian dialects of Yiddish
spoken by David Ben Gurion and other founders of the State of Israel (and,
more importantly, the bulk of the cadre who 're-vernacularized' Hebrew in
the decade before World War I).  Besides dropping H's, speakers of these
dialects tend to give the unstressed E vowel a quality like the E in English
'bed' (for most other Yiddish speakers, pronounced as a 'schwa') and the
uvular R much more friction than speakers other regions: MIR OBM GEAT BA
UNDZ IN SHTETL A SAKH BAKANTE SHRAYBERS ('we had a lot of famous writers in
our town')--traits also noticeable in the prevalent Israeli pronunciation of
BESEDER.

(I apologize if this is too off-topic; I realize neither Hebrew nor Yiddish
are Low Germanic languages!)

Lee

Ron wrote:
There is a similar situation in Modern Hebrew, which I watched develop
among
younger speakers in the early 1970s. Supposedly under French and/or
Castilian influence, /h/ came to be deleted.

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

A gutn tog, Lee, un borkh habe oyf undzere liste!  A groysn dank zolt ir
hobn far di nitsike un gleyblikhe derklerung fun dem avekkumende "h"-klang.

I have heard several theories, but your explanation makes a lot more sense
than mine and all the others.  Personally I have had next to no contact with
that particular variety of Yiddish (more with Polish and Ukrainian Yiddish),
so this did not occur to me.  I suppose this is another case of a variety
spreading due to personality-based prestige.

Thanks for answering this question.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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