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Gennady Estraikh, Soviet Yiddish: Language planning and linguistic development. (Oxford modern languages and literature monographs.) Oxford: Clarendon; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. x, 217. Hb $70.00.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2001

Robert D. King
Robert D. King
Affiliation:
Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78713, rking@mail.utexas.edu
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Abstract

Soviet Yiddish occupies a special place in Yiddish linguistics. It is different from klal-Yiddish – ‘rule’-Yiddish, or normative Yiddish – in having certain orthographic peculiarities and a quite striking oddness in the spelling of words of Hebrew-Aramaic origin. These differences, which were ideologically driven and enforced by the Soviets, are plain to see and visually startling even to neophyte readers of ordinary Yiddish. The older British spellings gaol, kerb, and tyre for jail, curb, and tire convey something of the effect to the American English speaker.

Type
Book Review
Information
Language in Society , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 118 - 121
Copyright
2001 Cambridge University Press

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