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Resources

Get answers to frequently asked questions about Jewish languages, like how many languages there are and how many speakers each has.

A list of researchers and translators of various Jewish languages.

A selection of textual images, audio recordings, and video clips of Jewish languages, as well as liturgy, especially for Passover and High Holidays.

Find books and articles about Jewish languages, including many works available for free online.

See the archives or join this platform that enables communication among Jewish language researchers and enthusiasts.

Lesson plans, videos, and other resources for Jewish schools, summer camps, and youth groups.

Statistics on the vitality/endangerment of several Jewish languages, including number of speakers and postvernacular use.

Resources for improving autocaptioning and autocorrect in Jewish English

Contact us for a free consultation about Jewish languages or names.

This page presents many additional resources about Jewish languages, including endangered language initiativeseducational resourcesmailing lists, syllabi, academic societies, research institutes, online corpora, digitized writings, and sound archives. If you have suggestions for resources to add, you can contact us here.

Mailing Lists

Sound Archives

  • Sephardic Music - songs in Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew, and other languages

Other Endangered Language Documentation Initiatives

  • Endangered Language Fund - supports the study and maintenance of endangered languages and dissemination of information to native communities and the scholarly world

  • Ethnologue - database about languages of the world

Courses, Professors and Their Syllabi

  • Benjamin Hary (NYU)

  • Elana Shohamy (Tel Aviv University)

  • Martin Wein (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Academic Journals

Educational/Communal Resources

Digitized Manuscript Collections

Online Corpora

Multiple languages (Jewish press)

Hebrew

 

Jewish Neo-Aramaic

 

Judeo-Arabic

Judeo-Spanish/ Ladino/Judezmo

 

Yiddish

Corpora
Initiatives 1
Mailing, Courses, Societies
Reserch Institutes
Digital Manuscripts
Sound Archives

Bibliography of Jewish Linguistic Studies

See full annotated bibliography by Sarah Bunin Benor at Oxford Bibliographies Online.

Bibliography

General Overviews

  • Bunis, David M. “Characteristics of Jewish Languages.” In Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Vol. 1, Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora. Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich, 167–171. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2009.

  • Edzard, Lutz, and Ofra Tirosh-Becker. 2021. Jewish Languages: Text Specimens, Grammatical, Lexical, and Cultural Sketches. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

  • Kahn, Lily, and Aaron Rubin, eds. 2015. Handbook of Jewish Languages. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

  • Lowenstein, Steven M. The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  • Rubin, Aaron D., and Lily Kahn. 2021. Jewish Languages from A to Z. London: Routledge.

  • Skolnik, Fred, ed. Encyclopaedia Judaica. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.

  • Spolsky, Bernard. The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

  • Spolsky, Bernard, and Sarah Bunin Benor. “Jewish Languages.” In Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 2d ed. Vol. 6. Edited by Keith Brown, 120–124. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.

  • Sunshine, Andrew. “History of Jewish Interlinguistics: A Preliminary Outline.” In History of Linguistics 1993. Edited by Kurt R. Jankowsky, 75–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.

Journals and Book Series

  • Edah Ve-lashon. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1977–.

  • Jewish Language Review. 1981–1987.

  • Journal of Jewish Languages. 2013–.

  • Masorot. 1984–.

  • Misgav Yerushalayim: The Center for Research and Study of Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage

Hebrew and Aramaic Component in Jewish Languages

  • Khan, Geoffrey, ed. Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. 4 vols. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013.

  • Morag, Shelomo, Moshe Bar-Asher, and Maria Mayer-Modena, eds. Vena Hebraica in Judaeorum Linguis: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Jewish Languages (Milan, October 23–26, 1995). Milan: Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, 1999.

  • Tedghi, Joseph, ed. Les interférences de l’hébreu dans les langues juives. Paris: Institut National des Langes et Civilisations Orientales, 1995.

  • See dictionaries here.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Typology of Jewish Languages

  • Alvarez-Péreyre, Frank, and Jean Baumgarten, eds. Linguistique des langues juives et linguistique générale. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2003.

  • Benor, Sarah Bunin. “Towards a New Understanding of Jewish Language in the Twenty-First Century.” Religion Compass 2.6 (2008): 1062–1080.

  • Hary, Benjamin H. Translating Religion: Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009.

  • Sephiha, H. Vidal. “Langues juives, langues calques et langues vivantes.” Linguistique 8.2 (1972): 59–68.

  • Wexler, Paul. “Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” Language 57.1 (1981): 99–149.

Publicly Available E-Books

Bibliographies

  • Baumgarten, Jean. “La linguistique des langues juives: Éléments bibliographiques.” Histoire Epistémologie Langage 18.1 (1996): 179–188.

  • Bratkowsky, Joan G. Yiddish Linguistics: A Multilingual Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1988.

  • Bunis, David M. Sephardic Studies: A Research Bibliography; Incorporating Language, Literature, and Folklore and Historical Background. New York: Garland, 1981.

  • Bunis, David M., and Andrew Sunshine. Yiddish Linguistics: A Classified Bilingual Index to Yiddish Serials and Collections, 1913–1958. New York: Garland, 1994.

  • Weinreich, Uriel, and Beatrice Weinreich. Yiddish Language and Folklore: A Selective Bibliography for Research. The Hague: Mouton, 1959.

  • Wexler, Paul. Judeo-Romance Linguistics: A Bibliography (Latin, Italo-, Gallo, Ibero-, and Rhaeto-Romance except Castilian). New York: Garland, 1989.

Collections of Jewish Language Research

  • Alvarez-Péreyre, Frank, and Jean Baumgarten, eds. Linguistique des langues juives et linguistique générale. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2003.

  • Aspesi, Francesco, Vermondo Brugnatelli, Anna Linda Callow, and Claudia Rosenzweig, eds.Il mio cuore ̀e a Oriente: Studi di linguistica storica, filologia e cultura ebraica dedicati a Maria Luisa Mayer Modena. Milan: Cisalpino, 2008.

  • Baumgarten, Jean, and Sophie Kessler-Mesguich, eds. Special Issue: La linguistique de l’hébreu et des langues juives. Histoire Epistémologie Langage 18.1 (1996).

  • Benabu, Isaac, and Joseph Sermoneta, eds. Judeo-Romance Languages. Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1985.

  • Dawidowicz, Lucy, Alexander Erlich, Rachel Erlich, and Joshua A. Fishman, eds. For Max Weinreich on His Seventieth Birthday: Studies in Jewish Languages, Literature, and Society. The Hague: Mouton, 1964.

  • Kahn, Lily, ed. Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

  • Maman, Aaron, Steven Ellis Fassberg, and Yochanan Breuer, eds. Shaʻare lashon: Mehkarim ba-lashon ha-’ivrit, be-aramit uvi-leshonot ha-yehudim, mugashim le-Mosheh Bar-Asher. 3 vols. Jerusalem: Mosad Byalik, 2007.

  • Miller, Joshua, and Anita Norich, eds. Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures: Comparative Perspectives. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016.

  • Paper, Herbert H., ed. Jewish Languages: Themes and Variations; Proceedings of Regional Conferences Sponsored by the Association for Jewish Studies Held at the University of Michigan and New York University in March–April 1975. Cambridge, MA: Association for Jewish Studies, 1978.

  • Tobi, Joseph, and Dennis Kurzon, eds. Hikre ma‘arav u-mizrah: Leshonot, sifruyot u-firke toladah, mugashim le-Yosef Shitrit. Jerusalem: Karmel, 2011.

Defining the Field

  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. “Judezmo.” YIVO Bleter 11 (1937): 192–198.

  • Gold, David L. “Jewish Intralinguistics as a Field of Study.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 31–46.

  • Mieses, Matthias. Die Entstehungsursache der jüdischen Dialekte. Vienna: R. Löwit Verlag, 1915.

  • Weinreich, Max. “Prehistory and Early History of Yiddish: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” In The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Yiddish Language, Folklore, and Literature. Edited by Uriel Weinreich, 73–101. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York, 1954.

  • Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

  • Wexler, Paul. “Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” Language 57.1 (1981): 99–149.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Comparative Linguistic Analysis

  • Aslanov, Cyril. “Mekhelek diber lezulato: Milim ivriyot shema‘amadan hishtana agav hishtak‘utan bileshonot hayehudim.” Masorot 15 (2010): 25–38.

  • Bar-Asher, Moshe. “Bekhinot bekheker hamarkiv ha‘ivri ba‘aravit hayehudit hakhadasha bamizrakh uvama‘arav.” Masorot 3–4 (1998): 147–169.

  • Bunis, David M. “A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Judezmo and Yiddish.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 49–70.

  • Bunis, David M. “A Theory of Hebrew-Based Fusion Lexemes in Jewish Languages as Illustrated by Morphologically Derived Animate Nouns in Judezmo and Yiddish.”Mediterranean Language Review 16 (2005): 1–115.

  • Mayer Modena, Maria Luisa. “Le choix ‘hébraique’ dans le lexique des langues juives.” In Divre ha-kongres ha-‘olami ha-teshi’i le-mada‘e ha-yahadut. Vol. 1. Edited by David Assaf, 85–94. Jerusalem: Ha-igud ha-ʻolami le-madaʻe ha-yahadut, 1986.

  • Morag, Shelomo. “Hamilim ha-ivriot ba-leshonot hayehudim: Mispar hebetim klaliyim.” Mi-kedem umi-yam 5 (1992): 101–114.

  • Szulmajster-Celnikier, Anne, and Marie-Christine Varol. “Yidich et judéo-espagnol: Dynamique comparée de deux langues de Diaspora.” Plurilinguismes 7 (1994): 93–132.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Comparing Jews and Other Groups

  • Fishman, Joshua A. “Post-Exilic Jewish Languages and Pidgins/Creoles: Two Mutually Clarifying Perspectives.” Multilingua 6.1 (1987): 7–24.

  • Myhill, John. Language in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2004.

  • Stillman, Norman A. “Language Patterns in Islamic and Judaic Societies.” In Islam and Judaism: 1400 Years of Shared Values. Edited by Steven M. Wasserstrom, 41–55. Portland, OR: Institute for Judaic Studies in the Pacific Northwest, 1991.

  • Wexler, Paul. “Periphrastic Integration of Semitic Verbal Material in Slavicized Yiddish and Turkish.” In The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Language, Folklore, and Literature; Fourth Collection. Edited by Marvin I. Herzog, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Dan Miron, and Ruth Wisse, 431–473. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1980.

  • Wexler, Paul. “Exploring the Distinctive Features of Wandersprachen: The Case of European Romani and Jewish Languages.” Mediterranean Language Review 2 (1986): 7–45.

Collected Works of Individuals

  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. Ein Leben für die Wissenschaft: Wissenschaftliche Aufsätze aus sechs Jahrzehnten. 2 vols. Edited by Erika Timm. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2011.

  • Chetrit, Joseph. Diglossie, hybridation et diversité intra-linguistique: Études socio-pragmatiques sur les langues juives, le judéo-arabe et le judéo-berbère. Paris: Editions Peeters, 2007.

  • Fishman, Joshua A. Yiddish: Turning to Life. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1991.

  • Wexler, Paul. Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of “Jewish” Languages: With Special Attention to Judaized Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (Modern Hebrew/Yiddish), Spanish, and Karaite and Semitic Hebrew/Ladino; A Collection of Reprinted Articles from across Four Decades with a Reassessment. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.

Sociolinguistics and Sociology of Language

  • Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Tsvi Sadan, eds. Special Issue: Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet. Language and Communication 31.2 (2011).

  • Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Special Issue: The Sociology of Jewish Languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981).

  • Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1985.

  • Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Special Issue: The Sociology of Jewish Languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 67 (1987).

  • Spolsky, Bernard. The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Genesis and Sociology of Jewish Languages

  • Bar-Asher, Moshe. “Behinot be-heker leshonot hayehudim ve-sifruyotehem.” Pe’amim 93 (2002): 77–89.

  • Fishman, Joshua A. “The Sociology of Jewish Languages from a General Sociolinguistic Point of View.” In Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Edited by Joshua A. Fishman, 3–21. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1985.

  • Rabin, Chaim. “What Constitutes a Jewish Language?” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 19–28.

  • Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

  • Wexler, Paul. “Preface: Old Views, New Views, and Renewed Views.” In Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of “Jewish” Languages: With Special Attention to Judaized Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (Modern Hebrew/Yiddish), Spanish, and Karaite, and Semitic Hebrew/Ladino; A Collection of Reprinted Articles from across Four Decades with a Reassessment. By Paul Wexler, xv–liv. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Specific Jewish Languages in the Context of Jewish Linguistics

  • Benor, Sarah Bunin. “Do American Jews Speak a ‘Jewish Language’? A Model of Jewish Linguistic Distinctiveness.” Jewish Quarterly Review 99.2 (2009): 230–269.

  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. “Judezmo.” YIVO Bleter 11 (1937): 192–198.

  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016 [1979].

  • Chetrit, Joseph. Diglossie, hybridation et diversité intra-linguistique: Études socio-pragmatiques sur les langues juives, le judéo-arabe et le judéo-berbère. Paris: Editions Peeters, 2007.

  • Fudeman, Kirsten A. Vernacular Voices: Language and Identity in Medieval French Jewish Communities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.

  • Gamliel, Ophira. “Jewish Malayalam.” International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 38.1 (2009): 147–175.

  • Hary, Benjamin H. Translating Religion: Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009.

  • Sabar, Yona. A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary: Dialects of Amidya, Dihok, Nerwa and Zakho, Northwestern Iraq; Based on Old and New Manuscripts, Oral and Written Bible Translations, Folkloric Texts, and Diverse Spoken Registers, with an Introduction to Grammar and Semantics and an Index of Talmudic Words Which Have Reflexes in Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2002.

  • Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

Jewish Linguistic Theory - Jewish Language Ideologies

  • Birnbaum, Solomon A. Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979.

  • Bunis, David M. “The Names of Jewish Languages: A Taxonomy.” In Il mio cuore è a Oriente: Studi di linguistica storica, filologia e cultura ebraica dedicati a Maria Luisa Mayer Modena. Edited by Francesco Aspesi, Vermondo Brugnatelli, Anna Linda Callow, and Claudia Rosenzweig, 415–433. Milan: Cisalpino, 2008.

  • Fishman, Joshua A. “Post-Exilic Jewish Languages and Pidgins/Creoles: Two Mutually Clarifying Perspectives.” Multilingua 6.1 (1987): 7–24.

  • Frakes, Jerold C. The Politics of Interpretation: Alterity and Ideology in Old Yiddish Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

  • Fudeman, Kirsten A. Vernacular Voices: Language and Identity in Medieval French Jewish Communities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.

  • Myhill, John. Language in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2004.

  • Myhill, John. “Varieties of Diaspora Languages.” In Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Vol. 1, Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora. Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich, 172–180. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2009.

  • Prager, Leonard. “A Preliminary Checklist of English Names of Jewish Lects.” Jewish Language Review 6 (1986): 225–236.

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