View source for Yiddish

{{Short description|High German-derived language used by Ashkenazi Jews}} 
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} 
{{Infobox language
| name             = Yiddish
| altname          = Judaeo-German
| nativename       = {{lang|yi|ייִדיש}}, {{lang|yi|יידיש}}, {{lang|yi|אידיש}}<br />''yidish'', ''idish''
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|yi|ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ|}}
| states           = Central, Eastern, and Western Europe
| region           = Europe, Israel, North America, South America, [[Jewish diaspora|other regions with Jewish populations]]<ref name=e18>{{Ethnologue18|Yiddish}}</ref>
| ethnicity        = [[Ashkenazi Jews]]
| speakers         = ≤ 600,000
| date             = 2021
| ref              = <ref name="2021 stats"/>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[Elbe Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[High German languages|High German]]
| ancestor         = [[Old High German]]
* [[Middle High German]]<ref>Edited by Ekkehard König and Johan van der Auwera: ''The Germanic Languages.'' Routledge: London & New York, 1994, p. 388 (chapter ''12 Yiddish'')</ref><ref>Sten Vikner: ''Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax: Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages.'' Oxford University Press: New York & Oxford, 1995, p. 7</ref>
| script           = [[Hebrew alphabet]] ([[Yiddish orthography]])<br /> occasionally [[Latin alphabet]]<ref>Matthias Mieses: ''Die Gesetze der Schriftgeschichte: Konfession und Schrift im Leben der Völker.'' 1919, p. 323.<br />
Also cp. the following works, where certain works in Yiddish language with Latin script are mentioned:

* Carmen Reichert: ''Poetische Selbstbilder: Deutsch-jüdische und Jiddische Lyrikanthologien 1900–1938.'' (''Jüdische Religion, Geschichte und Kultur. Band 29''). 2019, p. 223 (in chapter ''4. 10 Ein radikaler Schritt:eine jiddische Anthologie in lateinischen Buchstaben'')
* Illa Meisels: ''Erinnerung der Herzen.'' Wien: Czernin Verlag, 2004, p. 74: "Chaja Raismann, Nit in Golus un nit in der Heem, Amsterdam 1931, ein in lateinischen Buchstaben geschriebenes jiddisches Büchlein."
* Desanka Schwara: ''Humor und Toleranz. Ostjüdische Anekdoten als historische Quelle.'' 2001, p. 42
* Edited by Manfred Treml and Josef Kirmeier with assistance by Evamaria Brockhoff: ''Geschichte und Kultur der Juden in Bayern: Aufsätze.'' 1988, p. 522</ref>
| nation           = {{plainlist|
*[[Russia]] ([[Jewish Autonomous Oblast]])<ref name=jao-ustav>{{cite web|url=http://constitution.garant.ru/region/ustav_evreis/chapter/1/|title=Устав Еврейской автономной области от 8 октября 1997 г. N 40-ОЗ (с изменениями и дополнениями) Глава I. Общие положения. Статья 6.2 [Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast N 40-ОЗ (with the Amendments and Additions of 8 October 1997): Chapter I. General situation. Article 6.2]|website=Сайт Конституции Российской Федерации [Site of the Constitution of the Russian Federation]|publisher=Garant|access-date=2023-06-16|archive-date=2015-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221205825/http://constitution.garant.ru/region/ustav_evreis/chapter/1/#block_1000|url-status=live|quote=В области создаются условия для сохранения, изучения и развития языков еврейского народа и других народов, проживающих на территории области.|trans-quote=In the oblast the conditions will be created for the protection, study and growth of the languages of the Jewish peoples and other peoples living on the territory of the oblast.}}</ref>
}}
| minority         = {{plainlist|
* [[Israel]]
* [[Netherlands]]<ref>[http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=8&DF=23/01/05&CL=ENG&VL=1 Netherlands: Declaration contained in the instrument of acceptance, deposited on 2 May 1996 – Or. Engl.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522083136/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=8&DF=23%2F01%2F05&CL=ENG&VL=1 |date=22 May 2012 }}, List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148 – [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]]</ref>
* [[Poland]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages |url=http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/english/files/act_on_national_minorities.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306175740/http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/english/files/act_on_national_minorities.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2021 |access-date=6 April 2020 |website=GUGiK.gov.pl |publisher=Główny Urząd Geodezji i Kartografii (Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography) |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Sweden]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sweden.se/life/equality/national-minorities-in-sweden |title=National minorities in Sweden |date=February 19, 2025 }}</ref>
* [[Ukraine]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/languages-covered|title=What languages does the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages apply to? - European Charter for Regional <br>or Minority Languages - www.coe.int|website=European Charter for Regional <br>or Minority Languages}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/670-2024-п |title=Про затвердження переліку мов національних меншин (спільнот) та корінних народів України, яким загрожує зникнення |date=7 June 2024 |website=Official webportal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine}}</ref>
* [[Romania]]<ref>{{Cite web | title=Limbile minorităţilor sunt bine promovate în învăţământ în România, dar trebuie diminuat pragul pentru administraţie  - Știrile ProTV | url=https://stirileprotv.ro/stiri/social/limbile-minoritatilor-sunt-bine-promovate-in-invatamant-in-romania-dar-trebuie-diminuat-pragul-pentru-administratie.html | access-date=2025-05-28 | website=stirileprotv.ro}}</ref>
* [[Russia]]<ref name=jao-ustav/>
}}
| agency           = No formal bodies<br />[[YIVO]] (''de facto'')
| iso1             = yi
| iso2             = yid
| iso3             = yid
| lc1              = ydd
| ld1              = Eastern Yiddish
| lc2              = yih
| ld2              = Western Yiddish
| lingua           = 52-ACB-g = 52-ACB-ga (West) + 52-ACB-gb (East); totaling 11 varieties
| glotto           = east2295
| glottoname       = Eastern Yiddish
| glotto2          = west2361
| glottoname2      = Western Yiddish
| map              = Lang Status 80-VU.svg
| mapcaption       = {{center|{{small|Yiddish is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]'' (2023)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/eastern-yiddish|title=World Atlas of Languages: Eastern Yiddish|website=en.wal.unesco.org|access-date=2023-04-23}}</ref>}}}}
| dia1             = Eastern Yiddish
| dia2             = Western Yiddish
| dia3             = [[Klezmer-loshn]] {{extinct}}
}}
[[File:BelohnteTugend.jpg|thumb|The opening page of the 1828 Yiddish-written Jewish holiday of [[Purim]] play ''Esther, oder die belohnte Tugend'' from [[Fürth]] (by Nürnberg), [[Bavaria]].]]
{{Contain special characters|Hebrew}}
'''Yiddish''',{{efn|{{lang|yi|ייִדיש}}, {{lang|yi|יידיש}} or {{lang|yi|אידיש}}, [[romanized]] as {{translit|yi|yidish}} or {{translit|yi|idish}}, {{IPA|yi|ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ|pron}}; {{lit|Jewish}}}} historically '''Judeo-German''',<ref>{{cite web|last=Matras|first=Yaron|url=http://languagecontact.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/ELA/languages/Yiddish.html|title=Archive of Endangered and Smaller Languages: Yiddish|publisher=University of Manchester|website=humanities.manchester.ac.uk|quote=As a result of the expulsion of Jews from Germany around the twelfth century and their emigration eastwards, into Slavic-speaking areas of central Europe, Yiddish gradually became isolated from majority varieties of German and took on an independent development path, absorbing much vocabulary and some structural characteristics from surrounding Slavic languages. It was only in this context that Jews began to refer to their language as 'Yiddish' (= 'Jewish'), while earlier it had been referred to as 'Yiddish-Taitsh' (='Judeo-German').}}</ref>{{efn|{{lang|yi|ייִדיש-טײַטש}}, {{translit|yi|Yidish-Taytsh}}, {{IPA|yi|ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ ˌtaɪtʃ|pron}}}} is a [[West Germanic language]] historically spoken by [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. It originated in 9th-century<ref name=jacobs2005>{{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Neil G. |title=Yiddish: a Linguistic Introduction |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-77215-X }}</ref>{{rp|2}} [[Central Europe]], and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a [[vernacular]] based on [[High German]] fused with many elements taken from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] (notably [[Mishnaic Hebrew|Mishnaic]]) and to some extent [[Aramaic]]. Most varieties of Yiddish include elements of [[Slavic languages]] and the vocabulary contains traces of [[Romance languages]].<ref name=baumgarten>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyBQn7JrBVwC&pg=PA72 |title=Introduction to Old Yiddish literature |page=72 |first1=Jean |last1=Baumgarten |first2=Jerold C. |last2=Frakes |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=June 1, 2005|isbn=978-0-19-927633-2 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/givennames/yiddial.htm |title=Development of Yiddish over the ages |publisher=jewishgen.org}}</ref><ref name="Yardumian">Aram Yardumian, [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2013/12/12/001354.full.pdf "A Tale of Two Hypotheses: Genetics and the Ethnogenesis of Ashkenazi Jewry".] University of Pennsylvania. 2013.</ref> Yiddish has traditionally been written using the [[Hebrew alphabet]].

Prior to [[World War II]], there were 11–13 million speakers.<ref name=yivoyiddish/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cal.org/heritage/yiddish.html|publisher=Center for Applied Linguistics|title=Yiddish Language|date=2012}}</ref> 85% of the approximately 6 million Jews who were murdered in the [[Holocaust]] were Yiddish speakers,<ref name="Sprache 1984 p. 3">[[Solomon Birnbaum]], ''Grammatik der jiddischen Sprache'' (4., erg. Aufl., Hamburg: Buske, 1984), p. 3.</ref> leading to a massive decline in the use of the language. [[Jewish assimilation|Assimilation]] following World War II and ''[[aliyah]]'' (immigration to Israel) further decreased the use of Yiddish among survivors after adapting to [[Modern Hebrew]] in Israel. However, the number of Yiddish-speakers is increasing in [[Haredi]] communities. In 2014, [[YIVO]] stated that "most people who speak Yiddish in their daily lives are [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidim]] and other [[Haredi Judaism|Haredim]]", whose population was estimated at the time to be between 500,000 and 1 million.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author-link=YIVO |date=2014 |title=Basic Facts about Yiddish |url=https://www.yivo.org/cimages/basic_facts_about_yiddish_2014.pdf |access-date=December 24, 2023 |website=YIVO}}</ref> A 2021 estimate from [[Rutgers University]] was that there were 250,000 American speakers, 250,000 Israeli speakers, and 100,000 in the rest of the world (for a total of 600,000).<ref name="2021 stats">{{cite web|url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/yiddish/102-department-of-jewish-studies/yiddish/159-yiddish-faqs|title=Yiddish FAQs|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=February 9, 2021|archive-date=February 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215015918/https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/yiddish/102-department-of-jewish-studies/yiddish/159-yiddish-faqs|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The earliest surviving references date from the 12th century and call the language {{Script/Hebrew|לשון־אַשכּנז|rtl=yes}} (''loshn-ashknaz''; {{lit|language of Ashkenaz}}) or {{Script/Hebrew|טײַטש|rtl=yes}} (''taytsh''), a variant of ''tiutsch'', the contemporary name for [[Middle High German]]. Colloquially, the language is sometimes called {{Script/Hebrew|מאַמע־לשון|rtl=yes}} (''mame-loshn''; {{lit|mother tongue}}), distinguishing it from {{Script/Hebrew|לשון־קודש|rtl=yes}} (''[[Lashon Hakodesh|loshn koydesh]]''; {{lit|holy tongue}}), meaning 'Hebrew and Aramaic'.{{efn|In particular, [[L. L. Zamenhof]], a Litvak Jew from [[Congress Poland]] and the initiator of [[Esperanto]], often mentioned his fondness for what he called his ''mama-loshen'' (it had not yet been called ''Yiddish'' but usually ''jargon'' at that time and place) in his correspondence.}} The term "Yiddish", short for "Yidish-Taitsh" ('Jewish German'), did not become the most frequently used designation in the literature until the 18th century. In the late 19th and into the 20th century, the language was more commonly called "Jewish", especially in non-Jewish contexts, but "Yiddish" is again the most common designation today.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yiddish |url=https://www.jewishlanguages.org/yiddish |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Jewish Languages |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

Modern Yiddish has [[Yiddish dialects|two major dialect groups]]: Eastern and Western. Eastern Yiddish is far more common today. It includes Southeastern (Ukrainian–Romanian), Mideastern (Polish–Galician–Eastern Hungarian) and Northeastern (Lithuanian–Belarusian) dialects. Eastern Yiddish differs from Western both by its far greater size and by the extensive inclusion of words of Slavic origin. Western Yiddish is divided into Southwestern (Swiss–Alsatian–Southern German), Midwestern (Central German), and Northwestern (Netherlandic–Northern German) dialects. Yiddish is used in a number of Haredi Jewish communities worldwide; it is the first language of the home, school, and in many social settings among many Haredi Jews, and is used in most [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] [[yeshiva]]s.

The term "Yiddish" is also used in the adjectival sense, synonymously with "Ashkenazi Jewish", to designate attributes of [[Yiddishkeit]] ('Ashkenazi culture'; for example, [[Jewish cuisine#Jewish cuisine variations|Yiddish cooking]] and [[Klezmer|music]]).<ref>[[Oscar Levant]] described [[Cole Porter]]'s '[[My Heart Belongs to Daddy]]" as "one of the most Yiddish tunes ever written", despite the fact that "Cole Porter's genetic background was completely alien to any Jewishness". Oscar Levant, ''[[The Unimportance of Being Oscar]]'', Pocket Books 1969 (reprint of G.P. Putnam 1968), p. 32. {{ISBN|0-671-77104-3}}.</ref>

{{Jewish culture}}

== History ==

=== Origins ===
By the 10th century, a distinctive Jewish culture had formed in Central Europe.<ref name=kriwaczek>{{cite book |last=Kriwaczek |first=Paul |title=Yiddish Civilization: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location= London |year=2005 |isbn=0-297-82941-6}}</ref>{{rp|151|q=As early evidence for Jewish presence in Germany mentions that [[Abraham ben Jacob]] (fl. 961) states that there were "Jews operating a salt mine in Halle in Germany" in his day.}} By the [[High Middle Ages|high medieval period]], their area of settlement, centered on the [[Rhineland]] ([[Mainz]]) and the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] (notably [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] and [[Speyer]]), came to be known as ''[[Ashkenaz]]'',<ref>{{bibleverse || Genesis|10:3|HE}}</ref> a term also used for [[Scythia]], and later of various areas of Eastern Europe and Anatolia. In the [[medieval Hebrew]] of [[Rashi]] (d. 1105), ''Ashkenaz'' becomes a term for Germany, and {{lang|he|אשכּנזי|rtl=yes}} ''[[Ashkenazi]]'' for the Jews settling in this area.<ref name=kriwaczek/>{{rp|Chapter 3, endnote 9}}{{request quotation|date=September 2021}}<!-- the book has endnotes, not footnotes. Endnote 9 refers to p. 47 and is on p. 329, but it consists only of a citation of Ben-Sasson, "A History of the Jewish People" (1976), so that it isn't clear what is being referenced here --><ref>"Thus in Rashi's (1040–1105) commentary on the Talmud, German expressions appear as ''leshon Ashkenaz''. Similarly when Rashi writes: "But in Ashkenaz I saw [...]"  he no doubt meant the communities of Mainz and Worms in which he had dwelt." {{cite EJ|title=Ashkenaz|volume=2|pages=569–571}}</ref>
Ashkenaz bordered on the area inhabited by another distinctive Jewish cultural group, the [[Sephardi Jews]], who ranged into [[southern France]]. Ashkenazi culture later spread into Eastern Europe with large-scale population migrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ashkenazim|title=Judaism: Ashkenazism|first=Shira|last=Schoenberg|access-date=December 10, 2019}}</ref>

Nothing is known with certainty about the vernacular of the earliest Jews in Germany, but several theories have been put forward. As noted above, the first language of the Ashkenazim may have been [[Aramaic]], the vernacular of the Jews in [[Judaea (Roman province)|Roman-era Judea]] and ancient and early medieval [[Mesopotamia]]. The widespread use of Aramaic among the large non-Jewish [[Syrians|Syrian]] trading population of the Roman provinces, including those in Europe, would have reinforced the use of Aramaic among Jews engaged in trade. In Roman times, many of the Jews living in [[Rome]] and [[Southern Italy]] appear to have been [[Greek language|Greek]]-speakers, and this is reflected in some Ashkenazi personal names (such as ''Kalonymos'' and Yiddish ''Todres''). Hebrew, on the other hand, was regarded as a holy language reserved for ritual and spiritual purposes and not for common use.

The established view is that, as with other [[Jewish languages]], Jews speaking distinct languages learned new co-territorial vernaculars, which they then Judaized. In the case of Yiddish, this scenario sees it as emerging when speakers of [[Zarphatic language|Zarphatic]] (Judeo-French) and other Judeo-Romance languages began to acquire varieties of [[Middle High German]], and from these groups the Ashkenazi community took shape.<ref name=ELL>{{ELL2| |Yiddish}}</ref><ref name="Spolsky" >{{cite book |last= Spolsky |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Spolsky |title=The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Xk9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |year=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91714-8 |page= 183}}</ref> Exactly what German substrate underlies the earliest form of Yiddish is disputed. The Jewish community in the Rhineland would have encountered the Middle High German dialects from which the [[Rhenish Franconian languages|Rhenish German]] dialects of the modern period would emerge. Jewish communities of the high medieval period would have been speaking their own versions of these German dialects, mixed with linguistic elements that they themselves brought into the region, including many Hebrew and Aramaic words, but there is also Romance.<ref>Traces remain in the contemporary Yiddish vocabulary: for example, {{lang|yi|בענטשן|rtl=yes}} (''bentshn'', "to bless"), ultimately from the Latin ''{{lang|la|benedicere}}''; {{lang|yi|לייענען|rtl=yes}} (''leyenen'', "to read"), from the Old French ''lei(e)re''; and the personal names {{lang|yi|בונים|rtl=yes}} Bunim (related to French ''bon nom'', good name) and Yentl (Old French ''gentil'', "noble"). Western Yiddish includes additional words of ultimate Latin derivation (but still very few): for example, {{lang|yi|אָרן|rtl=yes}} ''orn'' (to pray), cf. Old French ''orer''. Beider, Alexander (2015). Origins of Yiddish Dialects. {{ISBN|978-0-19-873931-9}}, pp. 382–402.</ref>

In [[Max Weinreich]]'s model, Jewish speakers of [[Old French]] or [[Old Italian]] who were literate in either liturgical [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] or Aramaic, or both, migrated through Southern Europe to settle in the [[Rhine Valley]] in an area known as [[Lotharingia]] (later known in Yiddish as ''Loter'') extending over parts of Germany and France.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Max Weinreich|last=Weinreich|first=Max|title=History of the Yiddish Language|editor-first=Paul|editor-last= Glasser |publisher= Yale University Press/ YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|year=2008|page=336}}</ref> There, they encountered and were influenced by Jewish speakers of [[High German languages]] and several other German dialects. Both Weinreich and [[Solomon Birnbaum]] developed this model further in the mid-1950s.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Weinreich |editor1-first=Uriel |title=The Field of Yiddish |year=1954 |publisher=Linguistic Circle of New York |pages=63–101}}</ref> In Weinreich's view, this Old Yiddish substrate later bifurcated into two distinct versions of the language, Western and Eastern Yiddish.<ref name="Fleischer" >{{cite book |last1=Aptroot |first1=Marion |last2=Hansen |first2=Björn |title=Yiddish Language Structures |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8ynoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |year=2014 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-033952-9 |page=108}}</ref> They retained the Semitic vocabulary and constructions needed for religious purposes and created a Judeo-German form of speech, sometimes not accepted as a fully autonomous language.
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote=Yiddish was a rich, living language, the chattering tongue of an urban population. It had the limitations of its origins. There were few Yiddish words for animals and birds. It had virtually no military vocabulary. Such voids were filled by borrowing from [[German language|German]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]. Yiddish was particularly good at borrowing: from [[Arabic]], from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], from [[Aramaic]] and from anything with which it intersected. On the other hand, it [[Yiddishisms|contributed]] to [[English language|English]] — [[American English|American]]. <small>[sic]</small> Its chief virtue lay in its internal subtlety, particularly in its characterization of human types and emotions. It was the language of street wisdom, of the clever underdog, of pathos, resignation and suffering, all of which it palliated by humor, intense irony and superstition. [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]], its greatest practitioner, pointed out that it is the only language never spoken by men in power.|3= –&nbsp;[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], ''A History of the Jews'' (1988)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Paul |title=A History of the Jews |date=1987 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-091533-9 |page=339 |edition=1st U.S. |url=https://www.pdfdrive.com/a-history-of-the-jews-e159156761.html |access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref>}}
Later linguistic research has refined the Weinreich model or provided alternative approaches to the language's origins, with points of contention being the characterization of its Germanic base, the source of its Hebrew/Aramaic [[Stratum (linguistics)|adstrata]], and the means and location of this fusion. Some theorists argue that the fusion occurred with a Bavarian dialect base.<ref name="Spolsky" /><ref name=jacobs2005/>{{rp|9–15}}
The two main candidates for the germinal matrix of Yiddish, the Rhineland and Bavaria, are not necessarily incompatible. There may have been parallel developments in the two regions, seeding the Western and Eastern dialects of Modern Yiddish. [[Dovid Katz]] proposes that Yiddish emerged from contact between speakers of High German and Aramaic-speaking Jews from the Middle East.<ref name=yivoyiddish>{{cite web |last= Katz | first= Dovid |title=Yiddish |url=http://yivo.org/downloads/Yiddish.pdf |work=[[YIVO]] |access-date= December 20, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322162722/http://yivo.org/downloads/Yiddish.pdf |archive-date=March 22, 2012}}</ref> The lines of development proposed by the different theories do not necessarily rule out the others (at least not entirely); an article in ''[[The Forward]]'' argues that "in the end, a new 'standard theory' of Yiddish's origins will probably be based on the work of Weinreich and his challengers alike."<ref>{{cite news |author1= Philologos |title=The Origins of Yiddish: Part Fir|url=http://forward.com/culture/202706/the-origins-of-yiddish-part-fir/ |work=The Forward |date=July 27, 2014}}</ref>

[[Paul Wexler (linguist)|Paul Wexler]] proposed a model in 1991 that took Yiddish, by which he means primarily eastern Yiddish,<ref name="Fleischer" /> not to be genetically grounded in a Germanic language at all, but rather as "[[Judeo-Sorbian]]" (a proposed [[West Slavic language]]) that had been [[relexification|relexified]] by High German.<ref name="Spolsky" /> In more recent work, Wexler has argued that Eastern Yiddish is unrelated genetically to Western Yiddish. Wexler's model has been met with little academic support, and strong critical challenges, especially among historical linguists.<ref name="Spolsky" /><ref name="Fleischer" />

=== Written evidence ===

[[File:Machzor.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The calligraphic segment in the [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] ''Machzor'' (a Hebrew prayer book). The Yiddish text is in red.]]
[[File:Süd-West-Jiddische Lebensbeschreibung.jpg|thumb|The South-West Yiddish account of the life of Seligmann Brunschwig von [[Durmenach|Dürmenach]] describes, among other things, the anti-Semitic events of the [[Revolutions of 1848|revolutionary year 1848]]. In the collection of the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]]. ]]
[[Yiddish orthography]] developed towards the end of the high medieval period. It is first recorded in 1272, with the oldest surviving literary document in Yiddish, a blessing found in the Worms ''[[machzor]]'' (a Hebrew prayer book).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/popups/viewmedia.aspx?id=1116 |title=Image |publisher=Yivoencyclopedia.org |access-date=August 7, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Frakes |first=Jerold C |title=Early Yiddish Texts 1100–1750 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2004 |isbn=0-19-926614-X}}</ref><ref name=baumgarten/>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ A Yiddish phrase transliterated and translated
|-
! scope="row" | Yiddish
| {{lang|yi|גוּט טַק אִים בְּטַגְֿא שְ וַיר דִּיש מַחֲזוֹר אִין בֵּיתֿ הַכְּנֶסֶתֿ טְרַגְֿא}}
|-
! scope="row" | Transliterated
| {{lang|yi-Latn|gut tak im betage se vaer dis makhazor in beis hakneses trage}}
|-
! scope="row" | Translated
| May a good day come to him who carries this prayer book into the synagogue.
|}

This brief rhyme is decoratively embedded in an otherwise purely Hebrew text.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.milon.co.il/general/general.php?term=%D7%91%D7%93%D7%A2%D7%AA%D7%95 |title=בדעתו |publisher=Milon.co.il |date=May 14, 2007 |access-date=August 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715192212/http://www.milon.co.il/general/general.php?term=%D7%91%D7%93%D7%A2%D7%AA%D7%95 |archive-date=July 15, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nonetheless, it indicates that the Yiddish of that day was a more or less regular Middle High German written in the Hebrew alphabet into which Hebrew words&nbsp;– {{lang|he|מַחֲזוֹר}}, {{lang|he-Latn|[[machzor|makhzor]]}} (prayerbook for the [[High Holy Days]]) and {{lang|he|בֵּיתֿ הַכְּנֶסֶתֿ|rtl=yes}}, 'synagogue' (read in Yiddish as {{lang|yi-Latn|beis hakneses}})&nbsp;– had been included. The [[niqqud]] appears as though it might have been added by a second scribe, in which case it may need to be dated separately and may not be indicative of the pronunciation of the rhyme at the time of its initial annotation.

Over the course of the 14th and 15th centuries, songs and poems in Yiddish, and [[macaronic language|macaronic]] pieces in Hebrew and German, began to appear. These were collected in the late 15th century by Menahem ben Naphtali Oldendorf.<ref>''Old Yiddish Literature from Its Origins to the Haskalah Period'' by Zinberg, Israel. KTAV, 1975. {{ISBN|0-87068-465-5}}.</ref> During the same period, a tradition seems to have emerged of the Jewish community's adapting its own versions of German secular literature. The earliest Yiddish epic poem of this sort is the ''[[Dukus Horant]]'', which survives in the famous Cambridge Codex T.-S.10.K.22. This 14th-century manuscript was discovered in the [[Cairo Geniza]] in 1896, and also contains a collection of narrative poems on themes from the [[Hebrew Bible]] and the [[Haggadah]].

=== Printing ===

The advent of the [[printing press]] in the 16th century enabled the large-scale production of works, at a cheaper cost, some of which have survived. One particularly popular work was [[Elia Levita]]'s ''[[Bovo-Bukh]]'' ({{lang|yi|בָּבָֿא-בּוך}}), composed around 1507–08 and printed several times, beginning in 1541 (under the title ''Bovo d'Antona''). Levita, the earliest named Yiddish author, may also have written {{lang|yi|פּאַריז און װיענע|rtl=yes}} ''Pariz un Viene'' (''Paris and [[Vienna]]''). Another Yiddish retelling of a chivalric romance, װידװילט ''Vidvilt'' (often referred to as "Widuwilt" by Germanizing scholars), presumably also dates from the 15th century, although the manuscripts are from the 16th. It is also known as ''Kinig Artus Hof'', an adaptation of the Middle High German romance ''Wigalois'' by [[Wirnt von Grafenberg]].<ref>''Speculum, A Journal of Medieval Studies'': [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7652280&fileId=S0038713400099498 Volume 78, Issue 01, January 2003, pp 210–212]</ref> Another significant writer is Avroham ben Schemuel Pikartei, who published a paraphrase on the [[Book of Job]] in 1557.

Women in the Ashkenazi community were traditionally not literate in Hebrew but did read and write Yiddish. A body of literature therefore developed for which women were a primary audience. This included secular works, such as the ''Bovo-Bukh'', and religious writing specifically for women, such as the {{lang|yi|צאנה וראינה|rtl=yes}} ''[[Tseno Ureno]]'' and the {{lang|yi|תחנות|rtl=yes}} ''[[Tkhine]]s''. One of the best-known early woman authors was [[Glückel of Hameln]], whose memoirs are still in print.

[[File:Page from Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita.jpg|thumb|A page from the ''Shemot Devarim'' ({{lit.|Names of Things}}), a Yiddish–Hebrew–Latin–German dictionary and thesaurus, published by Elia Levita in 1542]]

The segmentation of the Yiddish readership, between women who read {{lang|yi|מאַמע־לשון|rtl=yes}} ''mame-loshn'' but not {{lang|yi|לשון־קדש|rtl=yes}} ''loshn-koydesh'', and men who read both, was significant enough that distinctive [[typeface]]s were used for each. The name commonly given to the semicursive form used exclusively for Yiddish was {{lang|yi|ווײַבערטײַטש|rtl=yes}} (''[[vaybertaytsh]]'', 'women's ''taytsh''{{'}}, shown in the heading and fourth column in the ''[[Shemot Devarim]]''), with square Hebrew letters (shown in the third column) being reserved for text in that language and Aramaic. This distinction was retained in general typographic practice through to the early 19th century, with Yiddish books being set in ''vaybertaytsh'' (also termed {{lang|yi|מעשייט|rtl=yes}} ''mesheyt'' or {{lang|yi|מאַשקעט|rtl=yes}} ''mashket''—the construction is uncertain).<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Max Weinreich|last=Weinreich|first=Max|title=געשיכטע פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך|trans-title=History of the Yiddish language|location=New York|publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|year=1973|volume=1|page=280}} with explanation of symbol on p. xiv.</ref>

An additional distinctive semicursive typeface was, and still is, used for rabbinical commentary on religious texts when Hebrew and Yiddish appear on the same page. This is commonly termed [[Rashi script]], from the name of the most renowned early author, whose commentary is usually printed using this script. (Rashi is also the typeface normally used when the Sephardic counterpart to Yiddish, [[Judaeo-Spanish]] or ''Ladino'', is printed in Hebrew script.)

According to a study by the German media association Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH), more than 40 printed Yiddish newspapers and magazines were published worldwide in 2024, and the trend is rising.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH) |date=2024-09-22 |title=They still exist: Yiddish-language newspapers and magazines throughout the world |url=https://www.medienhilfe.org/still-exist-yiddish-language-newspapers-magazines-throughout-world/ |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=IMH |language=de-DE}}</ref>

=== Secularization ===
The Western Yiddish dialect—sometimes pejoratively labeled ''Mauscheldeutsch'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Bechtel |first=Delphine |editor1-last=Malkin |editor1-first=Jeanette R. |editor2-last=Rokem |editor2-first=Freddie |title=Jews and the making of modern German theatre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=geJnnySQ4rUC |access-date=October 28, 2011 |series=Studies in theatre history and culture |year=2010 |contribution=Yiddish Theatre and Its Impact on the German and Austrian Stage |publisher = University of Iowa Press |isbn=978-1-58729-868-4 |page=304 |quote=[...] audiences heard on the stage a continuum of hybrid language-levels between Yiddish and German that was sometimes combined with the traditional use of Mauscheldeutsch (surviving forms of Western Yiddish).}}</ref> i. e. "Moses German"<ref>{{cite book |first1=Celia |last1=Applegate |author1-link=Celia Applegate |first2=Pamela Maxine |last2=Potter |title=Music and German national identity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=roHbXnBqE1wC |access-date=October 28, 2011 |year=2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-02131-7 |page=310 |quote=[...] in 1787, over 10 percent of the Prague population was Jewish [...] which spoke German and, probably, ''Mauscheldeutsch'', a local Jewish-German dialect distinct from Yiddish (''Mauscheldeutsch'' = Moischele-Deutsch = 'Moses German').}}</ref>—declined in the 18th century, as the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and the ''[[Haskalah]]'' led to a view of Yiddish as a corrupt dialect. The 19th-century Prussian-Jewish historian [[Heinrich Graetz]], for example, wrote that "the language of the Jews [in Poland] ... degenerat[ed] into a ridiculous jargon, a mixture of German, Polish, and Talmudical elements, an unpleasant stammering, rendered still more repulsive by forced attempts at wit."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graetz |first1=Heinrich |last2=Löwy |first2=Bella |title=History of the Jews, vol. 6 |date=1891 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America |location=Philadelphia |page=641 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofje04grae/page/640/mode/2up |access-date=3 December 2023}}</ref>

A ''[[Maskil]]'' (one who takes part in the ''Haskalah'') would write about and promote acclimatization to the outside world.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-development-of-yiddish |title=History & Development of Yiddish |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |language=en |access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref> Jewish children began attending secular schools where the primary language spoken and taught was German, not Yiddish.<ref name=":0" /><ref>[[L. L. Zamenhof|Zamenhof]], whose [[Mark Zamenhof|father]] was overtly assimilationist, expressed in his correspondence both a great fondness for his ''mama-loshen'' and (apart from [[Esperanto]], of course) a preference for [[Russian language|Russian]] over [[Polish language|Polish]] as a culture language.</ref>{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote=Yiddish grates on our ears and distorts. This jargon is incapable in fact of expressing sublime thoughts. It is our obligation to cast off these old rags, a heritage of the dark Middle Ages.|3= –&nbsp;[[Osip Rabinovich|Osip Aronovich Rabinovich]], in an article titled "Russia – Our Native Land: Just as We Breathe Its Air, We Must Speak Its Language" in the [[Odessa]]n journal ''Рассвет'' (dawn), 1861<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rabinovich |first1=O.A. |title=Russia – Our Native Land: Just as We Breathe Its Air We Must Speak Its Language |journal=Рассвет |date=1861 |volume=16 |page=220. As cited on the [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-development-of-yiddish#1 website] of the [[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}</ref>}}

Owing to both assimilation to German and the [[Modern Hebrew|revival of Hebrew]], Western Yiddish survived only as a language of "intimate family circles or of closely knit trade groups".<ref>{{cite book |last=Liptzin |first=Sol |title=A History of Yiddish Literature |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofyiddish00lipt |url-access=registration |publisher=Jonathan David Publishers |location=Middle Village, New York |date=1972 |isbn=0-8246-0124-6}}</ref>

In eastern Europe, the response to these forces took the opposite direction, with Yiddish becoming the cohesive force in a [[secularity|secular culture]] (see the [[Yiddishist movement]]). Notable Yiddish writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are Sholem Yankev Abramovitch, writing as [[Mendele Mocher Sforim]]; Sholem Rabinovitsh, widely known as [[Sholem Aleichem]], whose stories about {{lang|yi|טבֿיה דער מילכיקער|rtl=yes}} (''Tevye der milkhiker'', "[[Tevye]] the Milkman") inspired the Broadway musical and film ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]''; and [[I. L. Peretz|Isaac Leib Peretz]].

=== 20th century ===

[[File:Yiddish WWI poster2.jpg|thumb|American [[World War I]]-era poster in Yiddish. Translated caption: "Food will win the war – [[History of immigration to the United States#New immigration|You came here seeking freedom]], now you must help to preserve it – We must supply the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] with wheat – Let nothing go to waste". Colour lithograph, 1917. Digitally restored.]]

[[File:100karbovantsevUNR R.jpg|thumb|right|1917. 100 [[karbovanets]] of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Revers. Three languages: [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and Yiddish.]]

In the early 20th century, especially after the Socialist [[October Revolution]] in Russia, Yiddish was emerging as a major Eastern European language. Its rich literature was more widely published than ever, [[Yiddish theatre]] and [[Yiddish cinema]] were booming, and for a time it achieved the status of one of the [[official language]]s of the short-lived [[Galician Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Educational autonomy for Jews in several countries (notably [[Poland]]) after [[World War I]] led to an increase in formal Yiddish-language education, more uniform orthography, and to the 1925 founding of the Yiddish Scientific Institute, [[YIVO]]. In [[Vilnius]], there was debate over which language should take primacy, Hebrew or Yiddish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/before/hebrew_or_yiddish.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki|title=Hebrew or Yiddish? – The Interwar Period – The Jerusalem of Lithuania: The Story of the Jewish Community of Vilna|website=www.yadvashem.org|access-date=April 3, 2019|archive-date=April 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403153951/https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/before/hebrew_or_yiddish.asp%3FWT.mc_id%3Dwiki|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Yiddish changed significantly during the 20th century. [[Michael Wex]] writes, "As increasing numbers of Yiddish speakers moved from the Slavic-speaking East to Western Europe and the Americas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were so quick to jettison Slavic vocabulary that the most prominent Yiddish writers of the time—the founders of modern Yiddish literature, who were still living in Slavic-speaking countries—revised the printed editions of their oeuvres to eliminate obsolete and 'unnecessary' Slavisms."<ref>{{cite book |title=Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods |last=Wex |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Wex |year=2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/borntokvetchyidd00wexm/page/29 29] |isbn=0-312-30741-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/borntokvetchyidd00wexm/page/29 }}</ref> The vocabulary used in Israel absorbed many Modern Hebrew words, and there was a similar but smaller increase in the English component of Yiddish in the United States and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} This has resulted in some difficulty in communication between Yiddish speakers from Israel and those from other countries.

"[[Khurbn]] Yiddish", as discussed by Professor Hannah Pollin-Galay, refers to the [[sociolect]] shaped by Yiddish speakers' experience during the Holocaust. Prisoners developed new words and slang, particularly relating to theft, protest, and sexuality.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollin-Galay |first1=Hannah |title=Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish |date=September 3, 2024 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9781512825916}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
{{Main|Yiddish phonology}}There is significant [[Phonology|phonological]] variation among the various [[Yiddish dialects]]. The description that follows is of a modern Standard Yiddish that was devised during the early 20th century and is frequently encountered in pedagogical contexts.

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Yiddish consonants<ref name=kleine>{{Cite journal |last=Kleine |first=Ane |date=December 2003 |title=Standard Yiddish |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=261–265 |doi=10.1017/S0025100303001385 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |s2cid=232346563 |issn=1475-3502|doi-access=free }}</ref>
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]/
[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!{{small|hard}}
!{{small|[[Palatalization (phonetics)|soft]]}}
!{{small|hard}}
!{{small|soft}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|nʲ}})
| colspan="2" |
|
|({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|({{IPA link|ʔ}})
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|ts}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|tsʲ}})
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|tʃʲ}})
|
|
|
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|dz}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|dzʲ}})
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|dʒʲ}})
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|sʲ}})
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|χ}}
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|v}}
|{{IPA link|z}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|zʲ}})
|({{IPA link|ʒ}})
|
|
|[[Voiced uvular fricative|ʁ]]
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| colspan="6" |{{IPA|r}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
!{{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
|
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|-
!{{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|({{IPA link|ʎ}})
|
|
|}

* {{IPA|/m, p, b/}} are [[Bilabial consonant|bilabial]], whereas {{IPA|/f, v/}} are [[Labiodental consonant|labiodental]].<ref name=kleine/>
* The {{IPA|/l – ʎ/}} contrast has collapsed in some speakers.<ref name=kleine/>
* The palatalized coronals {{IPA|/nʲ, tsʲ, dzʲ, tʃʲ, dʒʲ, sʲ, zʲ/}} appear only in Slavic loanwords.<ref name=kleine/> The phonemic status of these palatalised consonants, as well as any other affricates, is unclear.
* {{IPA|/k, ɡ/}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} are [[Velar consonant|velar]], whereas {{IPA|/j, ʎ/}} are [[Palatal consonant|palatal.]]<ref name=kleine/>
** {{IPA|[ŋ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/n/}} after {{IPA|/k, ɡ/}}, and it can only be syllabic {{IPA|[ŋ̍]}}.<ref name=kleine/>
** {{IPA|[ɣ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/χ/}} before {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʒ/}}.<ref name=katz1987>{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Dovid |title=Grammar of the Yiddish Language |url=https://archive.org/details/grammarofyiddish0000katz |url-access=registration |publisher=Duckworth |location= London |year=1987 |isbn=0-7156-2162-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2022}}
* The phonetic realization of {{IPA|/χ/}} and {{IPA|/nʲ/}} is unclear:
** In the case of {{IPA|/χ/}},<ref name=kleine/> puts it in the "velar" column, but consistently uses a symbol denoting a voiceless ''uvular'' fricative {{angbr IPA|χ}} to transcribe it. It is thus safe to assume that {{IPA|/χ/}} is phonetically uvular {{IPAblink|χ}}.
** In the case of {{IPA|/nʲ/}},<ref name=kleine/> puts it in the "palatalized" column. This can mean that it is either palatalized alveolar {{IPA|[nʲ]}} or alveolo-palatal {{IPAblink|ɲ̟}}. {{IPA|/ʎ/}} may actually also be alveolo-palatal {{IPAblink|ʎ̟}}, rather than just palatal.
* The rhotic {{IPA|/r/}} can be either alveolar or uvular, either a trill {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|r}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʀ}}]}} or, more commonly, a flap/tap {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɾ}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʀ̆}}]}}.<ref name=kleine/>
* The glottal stop {{IPA|[ʔ]}} appears only as an intervocalic separator.<ref name=kleine/>

As in the [[Slavic languages]] with which Yiddish was long in [[Language contact|contact]] (Russian, [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), but unlike German, [[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]] stops have little to no [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]]; unlike many such languages, voiced stops are not devoiced in final position.<ref name=kleine/> Moreover, Yiddish has regressive [[Phonation|voicing]] [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]], so that, for example, {{lang|yi|זאָגט}} {{IPA|/zɔɡt/}} ('says') is pronounced {{IPA|[zɔkt]}} and {{lang|yi|הקדמה}} {{IPA|/hakˈdɔmɜ/}} ('foreword') is pronounced {{IPA|[haɡˈdɔmɜ]}}.

=== Vowels ===
The [[vowel]] phonemes of Standard Yiddish are:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Yiddish [[monophthong]]s<ref name=kleine/>
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|ɪ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|- align="center"
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|{{IPA link|ɜ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|
|}

* {{IPA|/ɪ, ʊ/}} are typically [[Near-close vowel|near-close]] {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɪ}}, {{IPAplink|ʊ}}]}} respectively, but the height of {{IPA|/ɪ/}} may vary freely between a higher and lower allophone.<ref name=kleine/>
* {{IPA|/ɜ/}} appears only in [[Stress (linguistics)|unstressed]] syllables.<ref name=kleine/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+[[Diphthong]]s<ref name=kleine/>
!Front [[Syllable#Nucleus|nucleus]]
!Central nucleus
!Back nucleus
|-
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɛɪ}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|aɪ}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɔɪ}}
|}

* The last two diphthongs may be realized as {{IPA|[aɛ]}} and {{IPA|[ɔɜ]}}, respectively.[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/standard-yiddish/981F08583A3410BA1D43264975016C2D Standard Yiddish]

In addition, the [[sonorant]]s {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} can function as [[Syllable#Nucleus|syllable nuclei]]:

* אײזל  {{IPA|/ˈɛɪzl̩/}} 'donkey'
* אָװנט  {{IPA|/ˈɔvn̩t/}} 'evening'

{{IPA|[m]}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} appear as syllable nuclei as well, but only as allophones of {{IPA|/n/}}, after bilabial consonants and [[dorsal consonant]]s, respectively.

The syllabic sonorants are always unstressed.

=== Dialectal variation ===
Stressed vowels in the [[Yiddish dialects]] may be understood by considering their common origins in the Proto-Yiddish sound system. Yiddish linguistic scholarship uses a system developed by [[Max Weinreich]] in 1960 to indicate the descendent [[diaphoneme]]s of the Proto-Yiddish stressed vowels.<ref name=jacobs2005/>{{rp|28}}

Each Proto-Yiddish vowel is given a unique two-digit identifier, and its reflexes use it as a subscript, for example Southeastern ''o<sub>11</sub>'' is the vowel /o/, descended from Proto-Yiddish */a/.<ref name=jacobs2005/>{{rp|28}} The first digit indicates Proto-Yiddish ''quality'' (1-=*[a], 2-=*[e], 3-=*[i], 4-=*[o], 5-=*[u]), and the second refers to ''quantity or diphthongization'' (−1=short, −2=long, −3=short but lengthened early in the history of Yiddish, −4=diphthong, −5=special length occurring only in Proto-Yiddish vowel 25).<ref name=jacobs2005/>{{rp|28}}

Vowels 23, 33, 43 and 53 have the same reflexes as 22, 32, 42 and 52 in all Yiddish dialects, but they developed distinct values in [[Middle High German]]; Katz (1987) argues that they should be collapsed with the −2 series, leaving only 13 in the −3 series.<ref name=katz1987/>{{rp|17}}
{|
|+'''Genetic sources of Yiddish dialect vowels'''<ref name=katz1987/>{{rp|25}}
|
{| class="wikitable"
|+Netherlandic
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|i<sub>31</sub> iː<sub>32</sub>}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|u}}<sub>52</sub>
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|eː}}<sub>25</sub>
| align="center" |{{IPA|o<sub>51</sub> oː}}<sub>12</sub>
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɛ<sub>21</sub> ɛj}}<sub>22/34</sub>
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɔ<sub>41</sub> ɔu}}<sub>42/54</sub>
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" |{{IPA|a<sub>11/13</sub> aː}}<sub>24/44</sub>
|}
|
{| class="wikitable"
|+Polish
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|i<sub>31/51</sub> iː<sub>32/52</sub>}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|u}}<sub>12/13</sub>
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|eː~ej}}<sub>25</sub>
| align="center" |{{IPA|oː~ou<sub>54</sub>}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɛ<sub>21</sub>}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɔ<sub>41</sub> ɔj}}<sub>42/44</sub>
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" |{{IPA|a<sub>11</sub> aː<sub>34</sub> aj<sub>22/24</sub>}}
|}
|
{| class="wikitable"
|+Lithuanian
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|i<sub>31/32</sub>}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|u}}<sub>51/52</sub>
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|ej}}<sub>22/24/42/44</sub>
| align="center" |
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɛ<sub>21/25</sub>}}
| align="center" |{{IPA|ɔ<sub>12/13/41</sub> ɔj<sub>54</sub>}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" |{{IPA|a<sub>11</sub> aj}}<sub>34</sub>
|}
|}

=== Comparison with German ===
{{see also|High German consonant shift}}

In vocabulary of Germanic origin, the differences between Standard German and Yiddish pronunciation are mainly in the [[vowel]]s and [[diphthong]]s. All varieties of Yiddish lack the German [[front rounded vowel]]s {{IPA|/œ, øː/}} and {{IPA|/ʏ, yː/}}, having merged them with {{IPA|/ɛ, e:/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ, i:/}}, respectively. In many respects, particularly with vowels and vowel diphthongs, and even how it forms diminutives, Yiddish is closer to [[Swabian German]] than to standard High German.

Diphthongs have also undergone divergent developments in German and Yiddish. Where Standard German has merged the [[Middle High German]] diphthong ''ei'' and long vowel ''î'' to {{IPA|/aɪ/}}, Yiddish has maintained the distinction between them; and likewise, the Standard German {{IPA|/ɔʏ/}} corresponds to both the MHG diphthong ''öu'' and the long vowel ''iu'', which in Yiddish have merged with their unrounded counterparts ''ei'' and ''î'', respectively. Lastly, the Standard German {{IPA|/aʊ/}} corresponds to both the MHG diphthong ''ou'' and the long vowel ''û'', but in Yiddish, they have not merged. Although Standard Yiddish does not distinguish between those two diphthongs and renders both as {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}, the distinction becomes apparent when the two diphthongs undergo [[Germanic umlaut]], such as in forming plurals:
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="4" |Singular
! colspan="2" |Plural
|-
! English
! MHG
! Standard German
! Standard Yiddish
! Standard German
! Standard Yiddish
|-
| tree
| {{lang|gmh|boum}}
| {{lang|de|Baum}} /baʊ̯m/
| {{lang|yi|בױם}} /bɔɪm/
| {{lang|de|Bäume}} /ˈbɔʏ̯mə/
| {{lang|yi|בײמער‎}} /bɛɪmɜr/
|-
| abdomen
| {{lang|gmh|bûch}}
| {{lang|de|Bauch}} /baʊ̯x/
| {{lang|yi|בױך}} /bɔɪχ/
| {{lang|de|Bäuche}} /ˈbɔʏ̯çə/
| {{lang|yi|בײַכער‎}} /baɪχɜr/
|}
The [[vowel length]] distinctions of German do not exist in the Northeastern (Lithuanian) varieties of Yiddish, which form the phonetic basis for Standard Yiddish. In those varieties, the vowel qualities in most long/short vowel pairs diverged and so the phonemic distinction has remained.

There are consonantal differences between German and Yiddish. Yiddish [[Lenition|deaffricates]] the Middle High German [[voiceless labiodental affricate]] {{IPA|/pf/}} to {{IPA|/f/}} initially (as in {{lang|yi|פֿונט}} {{lang|yi-Latn|funt}}, but this pronunciation is also quasi-standard throughout northern and central Germany); /pf/ surfaces as an [[High German consonant shift|unshifted]] {{IPA|/p/}} medially or finally (as in {{lang|yi|עפּל}} {{IPA|/ɛpl/}} and {{lang|yi|קאָפּ}} {{IPA|/kɔp/}}). Additionally, final voiced stops appear in Standard Yiddish but not Northern Standard German.
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |M. Weinreich's
[[diaphoneme]]
! colspan="6" |Pronunciation
! colspan="3" |Examples
|-
! Middle High German
! Standard German
! Western Yiddish
! Northeastern ("Litvish")
! Central ("Poylish")
! South-Eastern ("Ukrainish")
! MHG
! Standard German
! Standard Yiddish
|-
| A<sub>1</sub>
| ''a'' in closed syllable
| short ''a'' {{IPAslink|ä|a}}
| {{IPA|/a/}}
| {{IPA|/a/}}
| {{IPA|/a/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|machen, glat}}
| {{lang|de|machen, glatt}} {{IPA|/ˈmaxən, ɡlat/}}
| {{lang|yi|מאַכן, גלאַט}} {{IPA|/maχn, ɡlat/}}
|-
| A<sub>2</sub>
|''â''
| rowspan="2" |long ''a'' {{IPAslink|ä|aː}}
| {{IPA|/oː/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/uː/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/u/}}
| {{lang|gmh|sâme}}
| {{lang|de|Samen}} {{IPA|/ˈzaːmən/}}
| {{lang|yi|זױמען}} {{IPA|/ˈzɔɪ̯mn̩/}}
|-
| A<sub>3</sub>
| ''a'' in open syllable
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{lang|gmh|vater, sagen}}
| {{lang|de|Vater, sagen}} {{IPA|/ˈfaːtɐ, zaːɡən/}}
| {{lang|yi|פֿאָטער, זאָגן}} {{IPA|/ˈfɔtɜr, zɔɡn/}}
|-
| rowspan="2" |E<sub>1</sub>
| ''e, ä, æ'', all in closed syllable
| short ''ä'' and short ''e'' {{IPAslink|ɛ}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| rowspan="3" |{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|becker, mensch}}
| {{lang|de|Bäcker, Mensch}} {{IPA|/ˈbɛkɐ, mɛnʃ/}}
| {{lang|yi|בעקער, מענטש}} {{IPA|/ˈbɛkɜr, mɛntʃ/}}
|-
| ''ö'' in closed syllable
| short ''ö'' {{IPAslink|œ}}
| {{lang|gmh|töhter}}
| {{lang|de|Töchter}} {{IPA|/ˈtœçtɐ/}}
| {{lang|yi|טעכטער}} {{IPA|/ˈtɛχtɜr/}}
|-
| E<sub>5</sub>
| ''ä'' and ''æ'' in open syllable
| long ''ä'' {{IPAslink|ɛː}}
| {{IPA|/eː/}}
| {{IPA|/eː~eɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ~ɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|kæse}}
| {{lang|de|Käse}} {{IPA|/ˈkɛːzə/}}
| {{lang|yi|קעז}} {{IPA|/kɛz/}}
|-
| rowspan="2" |E<sub>2/3</sub>
| ''e'' in open syllable, and ''ê''
| long ''e'' {{IPAslink|eː}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɛɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|esel}}
| {{lang|de|Esel}} {{IPA|/eːzl̩/}}
| {{lang|yi|אײזל}} {{IPA|/ɛɪzl/}}
|-
| ''ö'' in open syllable, and ''œ''
| long ''ö'' {{IPAslink|øː}}
| {{lang|gmh|schœne}}
| {{lang|de|schön}} {{IPA|/ʃøːn/}}
| {{lang|yi|שײן}} {{IPA|/ʃɛɪn/}}
|-
| rowspan="2" |I<sub>1</sub>
| ''i'' in closed syllable
| short ''i'' {{IPAslink|ɪ}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| rowspan="4" |{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|niht}}
| {{lang|de|nicht}} {{IPA|/nɪçt/}}
| {{lang|yi|נישט}} {{IPA|/nɪʃt/}}
|-
| ''ü'' in closed syllable
| short ''ü'' {{IPAslink|ʏ}}
| {{lang|gmh|brück, vünf}}
| {{lang|de|Brücke, fünf}} {{IPA|/ˈbʁʏkə, fʏnf/}}
| {{lang|yi|בריק, פֿינף}} {{IPA|/brɪk, fɪnf/}}
|-
| rowspan="2" |I<sub>2/3</sub>
| ''i'' in open syllable, and ''ie''
| long ''i'' {{IPAslink|iː}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/iː/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/iː/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/iː/}}
| {{lang|gmh|liebe}}
| {{lang|de|Liebe}} {{IPA|/ˈliːbə/}}
| {{lang|yi|ליבע}} {{IPA|/ˈlɪbɜ/}}
|-
| ''ü'' in open syllable, and ''üe''
| long ''ü'' {{IPAslink|yː}}
| {{lang|gmh|grüene}}
| {{lang|de|grün}} {{IPA|/ɡʁyːn/}}
| {{lang|yi|גרין}} {{IPA|/ɡrɪn/}}
|-
| O<sub>1</sub>
| ''o'' in closed syllable
| short ''o'' {{IPAslink|ɔ}}
| {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|kopf, scholn}}
| {{lang|de|Kopf, sollen}} {{IPA|/kɔpf, ˈzɔlən/}}
| {{lang|yi|קאָפּ, זאָלן}} {{IPA|/kɔp, zɔln/}}
|-
| O<sub>2/3</sub>
| ''o'' in open syllable, and ''ô''
| long ''o'' {{IPAslink|oː}}
| {{IPA|/ɔu/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ~u~ui/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|hôch, schône}}
| {{lang|de|hoch, schon}} {{IPA|/hoːx, ʃoːn/}}
| {{lang|yi|הױך, שױן}} {{IPA|/hɔɪχ, ʃɔɪn/}}
|-
| U<sub>1</sub>
| ''u'' in closed syllable
| short ''u'' {{IPAslink|ʊ}}
| {{IPA|/ʊ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ʊ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|hunt}}
| {{lang|de|Hund}} {{IPA|/hʊnt/}}
| {{lang|yi|הונט}} {{IPA|/hʊnt/}}
|-
| U<sub>2/3</sub>
| ''u'' in open syllable, and ''uo''
| long ''u'' {{IPAslink|uː}}
| {{IPA|/uː/}}
| {{IPA|/iː/}}
| {{IPA|/iː/}}
| {{lang|gmh|buoch}}
| {{lang|de|Buch}} {{IPA|/buːx/}}
| {{lang|yi|בוך}} {{IPA|/bʊχ/}}
|-
| E<sub>4</sub>
| ''ei''
| rowspan="2" |''ei'' {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|vleisch}}
| {{lang|de|Fleisch}} {{IPA|/flaɪ̯ʃ/}}
| {{lang|yi|פֿלײש}} {{IPA|/flɛɪʃ/}}
|-
| I<sub>4</sub>
| ''î''
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{IPA|/a/}}
| {{lang|gmh|mîn}}
| {{lang|de|mein}} {{IPA|/maɪ̯n/}}
| {{lang|yi|מײַן}} {{IPA|/maɪn/}}
|-
| O<sub>4</sub>
| ''ou''
| rowspan="2" |''au'' {{IPA|/aʊ/}}
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|ouh, koufen}}
| {{lang|de|auch, kaufen}} {{IPA|/aʊ̯x, ˈkaʊ̯fən/}}
| {{lang|yi|אױך, קױפֿן}} {{IPA|/ɔɪχ, kɔɪfn/}}
|-
| U<sub>4</sub>
| ''û''
| {{IPA|/ɔu/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/oː~ou/}}
| {{IPA|/ou~u/}}
| {{lang|gmh|hûs}}
| {{lang|de|Haus }}{{IPA|/haʊ̯s/}}
| {{lang|yi|הױז}} {{IPA|/hɔɪz/}}
|-
| (E<sub>4</sub>)
| ''öu''
| rowspan="2" |''äu'' and ''eu'' {{IPA|/ɔʏ/}}
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| {{lang|gmh|vröude}}
| {{lang|de|Freude}} {{IPA|/ˈfʁɔʏ̯də/}}
| {{lang|yi|פֿרײד}} {{IPA|/frɛɪd/}}
|-
| (I<sub>4</sub>)
| ''iu''
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| {{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{IPA|/a/}}
| {{lang|gmh|diutsch}}
| {{lang|de|Deutsch}} {{IPA|/dɔʏ̯t͡ʃ/}}
| {{lang|yi|דײַטש}} {{IPA|/daɪtʃ/}}
|}

=== Comparison with Hebrew ===
The pronunciation of vowels in Yiddish words of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] origin is similar to [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]] but not identical. The most prominent difference is ''[[kamatz]] gadol'' in closed syllables being pronounced same as ''[[patah]]'' in Yiddish but the same as any other ''kamatz'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew. Also, Hebrew features no reduction of unstressed vowels and so the given name [[Jochebed]] {{lang|yi|יוֹכֶבֶֿד}} would be {{IPA|/jɔɪˈχɛvɛd/}} in Ashkenazi Hebrew but {{IPA|/ˈjɔχvɜd/}} in Standard Yiddish.
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |M. Weinreich's
[[diaphoneme]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Tiberian vocalization]]
! colspan="3" |Pronunciation
!Examples
|-
!Western Yiddish
!Northeastern ("Litvish")
!Central ("Poylish")
!Standard Yiddish
|-
|A<sub>1</sub>
|''patah'' and ''kamatz gadol'' in closed syllable
|{{IPA|/a/}}
|{{IPA|/a/}}
|{{IPA|/a/}}
|{{lang|yi|אַלְמָן, כְּתָבֿ}} {{IPA|/ˈalmɜn, ksav/}}
|-
|A<sub>2</sub>
|''kamatz gadol'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/oː/}}
|{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|{{IPA|/uː/}}
|{{lang|yi|פָּנִים‎}} {{IPA|/ˈpɔnɜm/}}
|-
|E<sub>1</sub>
|''[[tzere]]'' and ''[[segol]]'' in closed syllable; ''hataf segol''
|{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
|{{lang|yi|גֵּט, חֶבְֿרָה, אֱמֶת‎}} {{IPA|/gɛt, ˈχɛvrɜ, ˈɛmɜs/}}
|-
|E<sub>5</sub>
|''segol'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/eː/}}
|{{IPA|/eː~eɪ/}}
|{{lang|yi|גֶּפֶֿן}} {{IPA|/ˈgɛfɜn/}}
|-
|E<sub>2/3</sub>
|''tzere'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/ɛɪ/}}
|{{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|{{IPA|/aɪ/}}
|{{lang|yi|סֵדֶר‎}} {{IPA|/ˈsɛɪdɜr/}}
|-
|I<sub>1</sub>
|''[[hiriq]]'' in closed syllable
|{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
|{{lang|yi|דִּבּוּק}} {{IPA|/ˈdɪbɜk/}}
|-
|I<sub>2/3</sub>
|''hiriq'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/iː/}}
|{{IPA|/iː/}}
|{{lang|yi|מְדִינָה}} {{IPA|/mɜˈdɪnɜ/}}
|-
|O<sub>1</sub>
|''holam'' and ''kamatz katan'' in closed syllable
|{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|{{lang|yi|חָכְמָה, עוֹף‎}} {{IPA|/ˈχɔχmɜ, ɔf/}}
|-
|O<sub>2/3</sub>
|''holam'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/ɔu/}}
|{{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
|{{lang|yi|סוֹחֵר}} {{IPA|/ˈsɔɪχɜr/}}
|-
|U<sub>1</sub>
|''[[kubutz and shuruk]]'' in closed syllable
|{{IPA|/ʊ/}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ʊ/}}
|{{IPA|/ɪ/}}
|{{lang|yi|מוּם}} {{IPA|/mʊm/}}
|-
|U<sub>2/3</sub>
|''kubutz and shuruk'' in open syllable
|{{IPA|/uː/}}
|{{IPA|/iː/}}
|{{lang|yi|שׁוּרָה}} {{IPA|/ˈʃʊrɜ/}}
|}
''[[Patah]]'' in open syllable, as well as ''hataf patah'', are unpredictably split between A<sub>1</sub> and A<sub>2</sub>: {{lang|yi|קַדַּחַת, נַחַת}} {{IPA|/kaˈdɔχɜs, ˈnaχɜs/}}; {{lang|yi|חֲלוֹם, חֲתֻנָּה}} {{IPA|/ˈχɔlɜm, ˈχasɜnɜ/}}.

== Grammar ==
{{Main|Yiddish grammar}}[[Yiddish grammar]] can vary slightly depending on the dialect. The main article focuses on standard form of Yiddish grammar while also acknowledging some dialectal differences. Yiddish grammar has similarities to the German grammar system, as well as grammatical elements from Hebrew and Slavic languages.

== Writing system ==
{{main|Yiddish orthography}}

Yiddish is written in the [[Hebrew alphabet]], but its [[orthography]] differs significantly from [[Hebrew spelling|that of Hebrew]]. In Hebrew, many vowels are represented only optionally by [[diacritical marks]] called [[niqqud]] whereas Yiddish uses letters to represent all vowels. Several Yiddish letters consist of another letter combined with a niqqud mark resembling a Hebrew letter–niqqud pair, but each of those combinations is an inseparable unit representing a vowel alone, not a consonant–vowel sequence. The niqqud marks have no phonetic value on their own.

In most varieties of Yiddish, however, words borrowed from Hebrew are written in their native forms without application of Yiddish orthographical conventions.

== Numbers of speakers ==

[[File:Yiddish.png|thumb|Map of the Yiddish dialects between the 15th and the 19th centuries (Western dialects in orange / Eastern dialects in green)]]
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote=Ghosts love Yiddish and as far as I know, they all speak it.|3= –&nbsp;[[Isaac Bashevis Singer]] upon receiving the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]], 1978<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bashevis Singer |first1=Isaac |title=Isaac Bashevis Singer's banquet speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature 1978 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1978/singer/speech/ |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |access-date=1 February 2023 |date=10 December 1978}}</ref>}}

On the eve of [[World War II]], there were 11 to 13 million Yiddish speakers.<ref name=yivoyiddish/> [[The Holocaust]], however, led to a dramatic, sudden decline in the use of Yiddish, as the extensive Jewish communities, both secular and religious, that used Yiddish in their day-to-day life were largely destroyed. Around five million of those killed{{snd}}85 percent of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust{{snd}}were speakers of Yiddish.<ref name="Sprache 1984 p. 3"/> Although millions of Yiddish speakers survived the war (including nearly all Yiddish speakers in the Americas), further assimilation in countries such as the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], in addition to the strictly monolingual stance of the [[Haskalah]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Katz |first1=Dovid |title=Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish |date=2007 |publisher=Basic Books |location=London | isbn=978-0-465-03730-8}}</ref> and later [[Zionist]] movements, led to a decline in the use of Eastern Yiddish.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last1=Halperin |first1=Liora R. |title=Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine, 1920-1948 |date=2015 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-300-19748-8 |page=9}}</ref> However, the number of speakers within the widely dispersed Haredi (mainly Hasidic) communities is now increasing. Although used in various countries, Yiddish has attained official recognition as a [[minority language]] only in the [[Jewish Autonomous Oblast]] of Russia, [[Moldova]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], the [[Netherlands]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/erkende-talen/vraag-en-antwoord/erkende-talen-nederland |title=Welke erkende talen heeft Nederland? |publisher=Rijksoverheid.nl |date=July 2, 2010 |access-date=June 5, 2019}}</ref> and [[Sweden]].

Reports of the number of current Yiddish speakers vary significantly. ''[[Ethnologue]]'' estimates, based on publications through 1991, that there were at that time 1.5&nbsp;million speakers of Eastern Yiddish,<ref name=Ethnologue>{{e18|ydd|Eastern Yiddish}}</ref> of which 40% lived in Ukraine, 15% in Israel, and 10% in the United States. The [[Modern Language Association]] agrees with fewer than 200,000 in the United States.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060619224705/http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results Most spoken languages in the United States], Modern Language Association. Retrieved October 17, 2006.</ref> Western Yiddish is reported by ''Ethnologue'' to have had an ethnic population of 50,000 in 2000, and an undated speaking population of 5,400, mostly in Germany.<ref name=Ethnologue-western>{{e18|yih|Western Yiddish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Did you know Western Yiddish is threatened? |url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/2990 |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=Endangered Languages |language=en}}</ref> A 1996 report by the [[Council of Europe]] estimates a worldwide Yiddish-speaking population of about two million.<ref>Emanuelis Zingeris, [http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc96/EDOC7489.htm Yiddish culture] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330161904/http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc96/EDOC7489.htm |date=March 30, 2012}}, Council of Europe Committee on Culture and Education Doc. 7489, February 12, 1996. Retrieved October 17, 2006.</ref> Further [[demographics|demographic]] information about the recent status of what is treated as an Eastern–Western dialect continuum is provided in the YIVO ''Language and Cultural Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry''.

In a study in the first half of 2024, the German media association Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH) found that the number of Yiddish media is increasing again, due to an increase in the Yiddish-speaking population, especially in the USA. According to IMH estimates, the number of speakers worldwide is approaching two million. In 2024, more than 40 print media were published worldwide in Yiddish - and the trend is rising.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH) |date=2024-09-19 |title=Trendumkehr: Immer mehr Menschen sprechen Jiddisch |url=https://www.medienhilfe.org/jiddische-medien-yiddish-media/ |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=IMH |language=de-DE}}</ref>

The [[1922 census of Palestine]] lists 1,946 Yiddish speakers in Mandatory Palestine (9 in the Southern District, 1,401 in Jerusalem-Jaffa, 4 in Samaria, and 532 in the Northern District), including 1,759 in municipal areas (999 in [[Jerusalem]], 356 in [[Jaffa]], 332 in [[Haifa]], 5 in [[Gaza City|Gaza]], 4 in [[Hebron]], 3 in [[Nazareth]], 7 in [[Ramla|Ramleh]], 33 in [[Tiberias]], and 4 in [[Jenin]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922|title=Palestine Census ( 1922)|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

In the Hasidic communities of Israel, boys speak more Yiddish amongst themselves, while girls use Hebrew more often. This is probably due to the tendency of girls to learn more secular subjects, thus increasing their contact with the Hebrew language, while boys are usually taught religious subjects in Yiddish.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-for-some-ultra-orthodox-there-can-be-only-one-language-1.5452371 |title=War on Hebrew For Some ultra-Orthodox, There Can Be Only One Language|last=Rabinowitz|first=Aaron|date=September 23, 2017|work=Haaretz|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>

== Status as a language ==

Historically, there have been frequent debates about the extent of the linguistic independence of Yiddish from the languages that it absorbed. There has been periodic assertion that Yiddish is a dialect of German, or even "just broken German, more of a linguistic mishmash than a true language".<ref name="NYT_Johnson">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/29/science/scholars-debate-roots-of-yiddish-migration-of-jews.html |title=Scholars Debate Roots of Yiddish, Migration of Jews |last=Johnson |first=George |date=October 29, 1996 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 4, 2021}}</ref> Even when recognized as an autonomous language, it has occasionally been referred to, typically by people foreign to the language, as Judeo-German, along the lines of other Jewish languages like [[Judeo-Persian]], [[Judeo-Spanish]] or [[Judeo-French]]. A widely cited summary of attitudes in the 1930s was published by [[Max Weinreich]], quoting a remark by an auditor of one of his lectures: {{lang|yi|אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bisso.com/ujg_archives/pix/armyNavyFull.jpg |title=Army Navy Full |access-date=October 2, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051003053447/http://www.bisso.com/ujg_archives/pix/armyNavyFull.jpg |archive-date=October 3, 2005 }}</ref> — "[[A language is a dialect with an army and navy]]").

Today's speakers consider Yiddish a separate language, officially recognized as such in the USSR (where it was viewed as "the Jewish language"), [[Jewish Autonomous Oblast|post-Soviet Russia]] and Sweden, thus complying to Max Weinreich's notion of official state recognition. Virtually all specialists working in the field of Yiddish view it as a separate language, including researchers and teachers who study and teach Yiddish in German-speaking countries. For centuries, Yiddish has been developing in countries separated from the German language space and has its own system of dialects. Contemporary debates on this subject are almost exclusively limited to the nature of medieval and early modern texts written in Western Yiddish dialects that seem much closer to varieties of German than today's Eastern Yiddish.<ref>https://www.yivo.org/cimages/basic_facts_about_yiddish_2014.pdf Basic Facts about Yiddish by [[YIVO]]</ref><ref>https://www.jewishlanguages.org/eastern-yiddish Yiddish (Eastern), Description by William F. Weigel</ref>

=== Israel and Zionism ===
{{Rquote|1=right|2=We shall get rid of the stunted and squashed jargons which we use now, these ghetto languages. They were the furtive tongues of prisoners.{{efn|Die verkümmerten und verdrückten Jargons, deren wir uns jetzt bedienen, diese Ghettosprachen werden wir uns abgewöhnen. Es waren die verstohlenen Sprachen von Gefangenen.}}|3= [[Theodor Herzl]], {{Lang|de|[[Der Judenstaat]]}}, 1896.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herzl |first1=Theodor |title=Der Judenstaat: Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage |date=1896 |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] |location=Leipzig and Vienna |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28865}}</ref>}}{{See also|War of the Languages}}[[File:Yidish graffiti.JPG|thumb|An example of graffiti in Yiddish, Tel Aviv, Washington Avenue ({{lang|yi|און איר זאלט ליב האבן דעם פרעמדען, ווארום פרעמדע זייט איר געווען אין לאנד מצרים|rtl=yes}}—{{lang|yi-Latn|Un ir zolt lib hobn dem fremden, varum fremde zayt ir geven in land mitsraym}}). "You shall have love for the stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:19)]]

The national language of Israel is [[Modern Hebrew]]. The debate in Zionist circles over the use of Yiddish in Israel and in the diaspora in preference to Hebrew also reflected the tensions between religious and secular Jewish lifestyles. Many secular Zionists wanted Hebrew as the sole language of Jews, to contribute to a national cohesive identity. Traditionally religious Jews, on the other hand, preferred use of Yiddish, viewing Hebrew as a respected holy language reserved for prayer and religious study. In the early 20th century, Zionist activists in the [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandate of Palestine]] tried to eradicate the use of Yiddish among Jews in preference to Hebrew, and make its use socially unacceptable.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rozovsky |first=Lorne |url=http://www.chabad.org/1051135 |title=Jewish Language Path to Extinction |publisher=Chabad.org |access-date=December 8, 2013}}</ref>

This conflict also reflected the opposing views among secular Jews worldwide, one side seeing Hebrew (and Zionism) and the other Yiddish (and [[internationalism (politics)|Internationalism]]) as the means of defining Jewish nationalism. In the 1920s and 1930s, {{lang|he|גדוד מגיני השפה}} {{lang|he-Latn|gdud maginéi hasafá}}, "[[Battalion for the Defence of the Language]]", whose motto was "{{lang|he|עברי, דבר עברית}} {{lang|he-Latn|ivri, dabér ivrít}}", that is, "Hebrew [i.e. Jew], speak Hebrew!", used to tear down signs written in "foreign" languages and disturb Yiddish theatre gatherings with stink bombs.<ref>Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009), [http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns]. In ''Journal of Language Contact'', Varia 2: 40–67, p. 48.</ref> In 1927, a proposal to institute a chair in Yiddish at [[Hebrew University]] was met with protests.<ref name="auto"/> However, according to linguist [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]], the members of this group in particular, and the Hebrew revival in general, did not succeed in uprooting Yiddish patterns (as well as the patterns of other European languages Jewish immigrants spoke) within what he calls "Israeli", i.e. [[Modern Hebrew]]. Zuckermann believes that "Israeli does include numerous Hebrew elements resulting from a conscious revival but also numerous pervasive linguistic features deriving from a subconscious survival of the revivalists’ mother tongues, e.g. Yiddish."<ref>Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009), [http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns]. In ''Journal of Language Contact'', Varia 2: 40–67, p. 46.</ref>

After the founding of the State of Israel, a massive wave of [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|Jewish immigrants from Arab countries]] arrived. In short order, these [[Mizrahi Jews]] and their descendants would account for nearly half the Jewish population. While all were at least familiar with Hebrew as a liturgical language, essentially none had any contact with or affinity for Yiddish (some, of [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] origin, spoke Judeo-Spanish, others various [[Judeo-Arabic dialects|Judeo-Arabic varieties]]). Thus, Hebrew emerged as the dominant linguistic common denominator between the different population groups.

Despite a past of marginalization and [[anti-Yiddish]] government policy, in 1996 the [[Knesset]] passed a law founding the "National Authority for Yiddish Culture", with the aim of supporting and promoting contemporary Yiddish art and [[Yiddish literature|literature]], as well as preservation of [[Yiddish culture]] and publication of Yiddish classics, both in Yiddish and in Hebrew translation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yiddish-rashutleumit.co.il/he/%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A7-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA|title=חוק הרשות|date=1996|publisher=The National Authority for Yiddish Culture|access-date=July 11, 2020}}</ref>

In religious circles, it is the Ashkenazi [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi Jews]], particularly the Hasidic Jews and the Lithuanian yeshiva world (see [[Lithuanian Jews]]), who continue to teach, speak and use Yiddish, making it a language used regularly by hundreds of thousands of Haredi Jews today. The largest of these centers are in [[Bnei Brak]] and [[Jerusalem]].

There is a growing revival of interest in Yiddish culture among secular Israelis, with the flourishing of new proactive cultural organizations like YUNG YiDiSH, as well as [[Yiddish theatre]] (usually with simultaneous translation to Hebrew and Russian) and young people are taking university courses in Yiddish, some achieving considerable fluency.<ref name="NYT_Johnson"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/03/09/yiddish_studies.html |title=Yiddish Studies Thrives at Columbia After More than Fifty Years |last=Hollander |first=Jason |date=September 15, 2003 |website=Columbia News |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |access-date=April 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011125248/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/03/09/yiddish_studies.html |archive-date=October 11, 2017 |quote=...there has been a regular, significant increase in enrollment in Columbia's Yiddish language and literature classes over the past few years.}}</ref>

=== South Africa ===

In the early years of the 20th century Yiddish was classified as a 'Semitic Language'. After much campaigning, in 1906 the South African legislator [[Morris Alexander]] won a parliamentary fight to have Yiddish reclassified as a European language, thereby permitting the immigration of Yiddish-speakers to South Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hirson|first=Baruch|title=Friend to Olive Schreiner: The Story of Ruth Schechter|journal=Collected Seminar Papers – Institute of Commonwealth Studies. University of London|publisher=Collected Seminar Papers. Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 45|year=1993|issn=0076-0773|pages=43}}</ref> While there used to be a large Yiddish press in South Africa now Yiddish has largely died out in South Africa being replaced with other languages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-30 |title=South African Jews - BJE |work=BJE |url=https://bje.org.au/knowledge-centre/jewish-people/jewish-communities/south-africa/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pimlott |first=William |date=2024-01-11 |title=The Yiddish press and the making of South African Jewry in the British world: exclusion, libel, and Jewish nationalism, 1890–1914 |url=https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/jhs/article/id/3101/ |journal=Jewish Historical Studies: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry |language=en |volume=55 |issue=1 |doi=10.14324/111.444.jhs.2024v55.02 |issn=2397-1290|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Mexico ===
In [[Mexico]], Yiddish was spoken among the Ashkenazi Jewish population and Yiddish poet [[Isaac Berliner]] wrote about the life of [[History of the Jews in Mexico|Mexican Jews]]. Isaac Berliner's Yiddishism was a way for the Ashkenazi Jews in Mexico to build a secular culture in a Mexico skeptical of religion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grossman |first=Rachelle |title=Mexican Yiddish and Secular Jewish Identity in Mexico |url=https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/mexican-yiddish-and-secular-jewish-identity-in-mexico/ |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=ReVista |language=en-US}}</ref> Yiddish became a marker of Ashkenazi ethnic identity in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ashkenazi Jews of Mexico |url=https://yivo.org/YCLS2021-Cimet |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research |language=en}}</ref>

=== Former Soviet Union ===

[[File:Drive to the Collective Farm.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|[[New Economic Policy|NEP]]-era Soviet Yiddish poster "Come to us at the [[Kolkhoz]]!" (''{{lang|yi|קום צו אונדז אין קאָלווירט!|rtl=yes}}'')]]

In the Soviet Union during the era of the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP) in the 1920s, Yiddish was promoted as the language of the Jewish [[proletariat]]. At the same time, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] was considered a [[bourgeois]] and [[reactionary]] language and its use was generally discouraged.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Eliezer |first=Moshe |date=1980 |title=Hebrew and the Survival of Jewish Culture in the Soviet Union |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=248–253 |issn=0014-164X |jstor=42575482}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Yiddish |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CY%5CI%5CYiddish.htm |access-date=July 29, 2020 |website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}}</ref> Yiddish was one of the recognized languages of the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Until 1938, the [[Emblem of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]] included the motto ''[[Workers of the world, unite!]]'' in Yiddish. Yiddish was also an official language in several agricultural districts of the [[Galician Soviet Socialist Republic]].

The use of Yiddish as the primary spoken language by Jews was heavily encouraged by multiple Jewish political groups at the time. The [[Evsektsiia|Evsketsii]], the Jewish Communist Group, and The [[General Jewish Labour Bund|Bund]], the Jewish Socialist Group, both heavily encouraged the use of Yiddish. During the Bolshevik Era these political groups worked alongside the government to encourage the widespread Jewish use of Yiddish. Both the Evsketsii and the Bund supported the Jewish movement towards assimilation and saw Yiddish as a way to encourage it. They saw the use of Yiddish as a step away from the religious aspects of Judaism, instead favoring the cultural aspects of Judaism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gitelman |first=Zvi Y. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/606432500 |title=A century of ambivalence : the Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the present |date=2001 |publisher=Indiana University Press |via=Yivo Institute for Jewish Research |isbn=978-0-253-01373-6 |edition=2nd expanded |location=Bloomington |oclc=606432500}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}}

[[File:Emblem of the Byelorussian SSR (1927–1937).svg|thumb|upright=0.85|State emblem of the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]] (1927–1937) with the motto ''Workers of the world, unite!'' in Yiddish (lower left part of the ribbon): {{Lang|yi|״פראָלעטאריער פון אלע לענדער, פאראייניקט זיך!״|rtl=yes}}—{{Lang|yi-Latn|Proletarier fun ale lender, fareynikt zikh}}''!'' The same slogan is written in Belarusian, Russian and Polish.]]

A public educational system entirely based on the Yiddish language was established and comprised kindergartens, schools, and higher educational institutions (technical schools, [[rabfak]]s and other university departments).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=YIVO {{!}} Soviet Yiddish-Language Schools|url=https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Soviet_Yiddish-Language_Schools|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=yivoencyclopedia.org}}</ref>  These were initially created in the [[Russian Empire]] to stop Jewish children from taking too many spots in regular Russian schools. Imperial government feared that the Jewish children were both taking spots from non-Jews as well as spreading revolutionary ideas to their non-Jewish peers. As a result, in 1914 laws were passed that guaranteed Jews the right to a Jewish education and as a result the Yiddish education system was established.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Polonsky |first=Antony |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/149092612 |title=The Jews in Poland and Russia |date=2010 |publisher=Littman Library of Jewish Civilization |isbn=978-1-874774-64-8 |location=Oxford |oclc=149092612}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}} After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 even more Yiddish schools were established. These schools thrived with government, specifically Bolshevik, and Jewish support. They were established as part of the effort to revitalize the Soviet Jewish Community. Specifically, the Bolsheviks wanted to encourage Jewish assimilation. While these schools were taught in Yiddish, the content was Soviet. They were created to attract Jews in to getting a Soviet education under the guise of a Jewish institution.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/869736200 |title=Antisemitism : a history |date=2010 |first1=Albert S. |last1=Lindemann |first2=Richard S. |last2=Levy |isbn=978-0-19-102931-8 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|oclc=869736200}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}}

While schools with curriculums taught in Yiddish existed in some areas until the 1950s, there was a general decline in enrollment due to preference for Russian-speaking institutions and the declining reputation of Yiddish schools among Yiddish speaking Soviets. As the Yiddish schools declined, so did overall Yiddish culture. The two were inherently linked and with the downfall of one, so did the other.<ref>{{Cite web |title=YIVO {{!}} Documents |url=https://yivoencyclopedia.org/documents.aspx?query=russian+yiddish+schools |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=yivoencyclopedia.org}}</ref><ref name=":3" />{{page needed|date=July 2023}} General Soviet denationalization programs and secularization policies also led to a further lack of enrollment and funding; the last schools to be closed existed until 1951.<ref name=":2" /> It continued to be spoken widely for decades, nonetheless, in areas with compact Jewish populations (primarily in Moldova, Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Belarus).

In the former Soviet states, recently active Yiddish authors include [[Josef Burg (writer)|Yoysef Burg]] ([[Chernivtsi]] 1912–2009) and [[Olexander Beyderman]] (b. 1949, [[Odessa]]). Publication of an earlier Yiddish periodical ({{lang|yi|דער פֿרײַנד|rtl=yes}} – {{lang|yi-Latn|der fraynd}}; lit. ''The Friend''), was resumed in 2004 with {{lang|yi|דער נײַער פֿרײַנד|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|der nayer fraynd}}; lit. ''The New Friend'', [[Saint Petersburg]]).

==== Russia ====

According to the [[Russian Census (2010)|2010 census]], 1,683 people spoke Yiddish in Russia, approximately 1% of all the Jews of the Russian Federation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab6.xls |title=Информационные материалы всероссийской переписи населения 2010 г. Население Российской Федерации по владению языками |access-date=December 8, 2013 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006173252/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab6.xls |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to [[Mikhail Shvydkoy]], former Minister of Culture of Russia and himself of Jewish origin, Yiddish culture in Russia is gone, and its revival is unlikely.<ref name="Lechaim.ru">{{cite web|url=http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/112/geyzer.htm |title=журнал "Лехаим" М. Е. Швыдкой. Расставание с прошлым неизбежно |publisher=Lechaim.ru |access-date=December 8, 2013}}</ref>

{{blockquote|From my point of view, Yiddish culture today isn't just fading away, but disappearing. It is stored as memories, as fragments of phrases, as books that have long gone unread. ... Yiddish culture is dying and this should be treated with utmost calm. There is no need to pity that which cannot be resurrected – it has receded into the world of the enchanting past, where it should remain. Any artificial culture, a culture without replenishment, is meaningless. ... Everything that happens with Yiddish culture is transformed into a kind of cabaret—epistolary genre, nice, cute to the ear and the eye, but having nothing to do with high art, because there is no natural, national soil. In Russia, it is the memory of the departed, sometimes sweet memories. But it's the memories of what will never be again. Perhaps that's why these memories are always so sharp.<ref name="Lechaim.ru"/>}}

===== Jewish Autonomous Oblast =====
{{Main|Jewish Autonomous Oblast|Birobidzhan|History of the Jews in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast}}

[[File:RussiaJewish2007-07.png|thumb|The [[History of the Jews in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast|Jewish Autonomous Oblast]] in Russia]]

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast was formed in 1934 in the [[Russian Far East]], with its capital city in Birobidzhan and Yiddish as its official language.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grenoble |first=Lenore A. |year=2003 |title=Language Policy in the Soviet Union |location=New York |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |page=75}}</ref> The intention was for the Soviet Jewish population to settle there. Jewish cultural life was revived in Birobidzhan much earlier than elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Yiddish theaters began opening in the 1970s. The newspaper {{lang|yi| ביראָבידזשאַנער שטערן|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|[[Birobidzhaner Shtern]]}}; lit: ''Birobidzhan Star'') includes a Yiddish section.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gazetaeao.ru/idish |title=Birobidzhaner Shtern in Yiddish |publisher=Gazetaeao.ru |access-date=August 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414072458/http://www.gazetaeao.ru/idish/ |archive-date=April 14, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In modern Russia, the cultural significance of the language is still recognized and bolstered. The First Birobidzhan International Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Culture was launched in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rettig |first=Haviv |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1176152810577 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708090302/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1176152810577 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |title=Yiddish returns to Birobidzhan |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=April 17, 2007 |access-date=October 18, 2009 }}</ref>

{{As of|2010}}, according to data provided by the Russian Census Bureau, there were 97 speakers of Yiddish in the JAO.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://evrstat.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/evrstat/resources/0b58c68041a3e4a79a38de2d59c15b71/6.+%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D0%B1%D1%8E%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C+%C2%AB%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9+%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2+%D0%B8+%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5+%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%2C+%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D0%95%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%C2%BB.rar |at=In document "5. ВЛАДЕНИЕ ЯЗЫКАМИ НАСЕЛЕНИЕМ ОБЛАСТИ.pdf" |script-title=ru:Статистический бюллетень "Национальный состав и владение языками, гражданство населения Еврейской автономной области" |trans-title=Statistical Bulletin "National structure and language skills, citizenship population Jewish Autonomous Region" |language=ru |format=RAR, PDF |date=October 30, 2013 |publisher=[[Russian Federal State Statistics Service]] |access-date=May 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502005744/http://evrstat.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/evrstat/resources/0b58c68041a3e4a79a38de2d59c15b71/6.+%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9+%D0%B1%D1%8E%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C+%C2%AB%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9+%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2+%D0%B8+%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5+%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%2C+%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D0%95%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%C2%BB.rar |archive-date=May 2, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A November 2017 article in ''[[The Guardian]]'', titled, "Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage", examined the current status of the city and suggested that, even though the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia's far east is now barely 1% Jewish, officials hope to woo back people who left after Soviet collapse and to revive the Yiddish language in this region.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/27/revival-of-a-soviet-zion-birobidzhan-celebrates-its-jewish-heritage|title=Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage|first=Shaun|last=Walker|newspaper=The Guardian |date=September 27, 2017|access-date=April 3, 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> Despite the small number of local speakers, the weekly state-run newspaper ''[[Birobidzhaner Shtern]]'' contains 2-4 pages in Yiddish, largely written by authors who live in other cities and countries, and its online version attracts international readership. Yiddish often appears in the local TV program Yiddishkeit, also available online.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://biratv.ru/category/nashi-programmy/idishkajt/ | title=Идишкайт }}</ref>

==== Ukraine ====

Yiddish was an official language of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] (1917–1921).<ref name="Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation">{{cite book |last=Yekelchyk |first=Serhy |author-link=Serhy Yekelchyk |title=Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZLtAAAAMAAJ |year=2007 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-530546-3}}</ref><ref name=HoUJsntui>{{cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi |title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNUtdVrw6lIC&pg=PA537 |year=2010 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-4085-6 |page=537}}</ref> But due to the holocaust, assimilation, and migration of [[History of the Jews in Ukraine|Ukrainian Jews]] abroad today only 3,100 of the remaining Jews speak Yiddish as their first language.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Congress |first=World Jewish |title=World Jewish Congress |url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/UA |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=World Jewish Congress |language=en}}</ref> The Southeast dialect of Yiddish has many Ukrainian loanwords due to the long contact between Yiddish speakers and Ukrainian speakers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yiddish |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CY%5CI%5CYiddish.htm |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}}</ref>

=== Council of Europe ===
Several countries that ratified the 1992 [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]] have included Yiddish in the list of their recognized minority languages: the Netherlands (1996), Sweden (2000), Romania (2008), Poland (2009), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010).<ref name=":1" /> In 2005, Ukraine did not mention Yiddish as such, but "the language(s) of the Jewish ethnic minority".<ref name=":1">[https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/search-on-treaties/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148], Status as of: April 29, 2019</ref>

=== Sweden ===

[[File:Jidische.Folkschtime.jpg|thumb|Banner from the first issue of the {{lang|yi|יודישע פאלקסשטימע|rtl=yes}}—{{lang|yi-Latn|Jidische Folkschtime}} (''Yiddish People's Voice''), published in Stockholm, January 12, 1917]]

In June 1999, the Swedish Parliament enacted legislation giving Yiddish legal status<ref>{{in lang|sv}} [http://regeringen.se/download/f5c9eed7.pdf?major=1&minor=2218&cn=attachmentPublDuplicator_0_attachment Regeringens proposition 1998/99:143 Nationella minoriteter i Sverige]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, June 10, 1999. Retrieved October 17, 2006.</ref> as one of the country's [[official minority languages of Sweden|official minority languages]] (entering into effect in April 2000).

Additional legislation was enacted in June 2006 establishing a new governmental agency, the Swedish National Language Council, whose goal is to "collect, preserve, scientifically research, and spread material about the national minority languages." These languages include Yiddish.

The Swedish government has published documents in Yiddish detailing the national action plan for human rights.<ref>{{in lang|yi}} [http://regeringen.se/download/098c9eb4.pdf?major=1&minor=67638&cn=attachmentPublDuplicator_0_attachment אַ נאַציאָנאַלער האַנדלונגס־פּלאַן פאַר די מענטשלעכע רעכט]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} A National Action Plan for Human Rights 2006–2009. Retrieved December 4, 2006.</ref> An earlier one provides general information about national minority language policies.<ref>{{in lang|yi}} [http://www.manskligarattigheter.gov.se/dynamaster/file_archive/050216/24a99c86fd734f15c9f722b343cc152e/FaktaJu%5f0415ji.pdf נאַציאַנאַלע מינאָריטעטן און מינאָריטעט־שפּראַכן] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926131653/http://www.manskligarattigheter.gov.se/dynamaster/file_archive/050216/24a99c86fd734f15c9f722b343cc152e/FaktaJu%5f0415ji.pdf |date=September 26, 2007 }} National Minorities and Minority Languages. Retrieved December 4, 2006.</ref> On September 6, 2007, it became possible to register Internet domains with Yiddish names in the national top-level domain [[.se]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.119665 |title=IDG: Jiddischdomänen är här |publisher=Idg.se |access-date=October 18, 2009 |archive-date=February 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207204801/http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.119665 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. The Jewish population in Sweden is estimated at 20,000. According to various reports and surveys, between 2,000 and 6,000 Swedish Jews have at least some knowledge of Yiddish. In 2009, the number of native speakers was estimated by linguist Mikael Parkvall to be 750–1,500. He says that most native speakers of Yiddish in Sweden today are adults, many of them elderly.<ref>Mikael Parkvall, ''Sveriges språk. Vem talar vad och var?''. RAPPLING 1. Rapporter från Institutionen för lingvistik vid Stockholms universitet. 2009 [http://www.språkförsvaret.se/sf/fileadmin/PDF/Parkvall_spraakstatistik.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140920233246/http://www.xn--sprkfrsvaret-vcb4v.se/sf/fileadmin/PDF/Parkvall_spraakstatistik.pdf|date=September 20, 2014}}, pp. 68–72</ref>

After the war Yiddish theater enjoyed great popularity in Sweden and all the great stars performed there. Since the recognition of Yiddish as an official minority language, Swedish schoolchildren have the right to study Yiddish at school as a mother tongue, and there are public radio broadcasts and television shows in Yiddish.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Why a Yiddish Renaissance Is Underway in Sweden, of All Places |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/2024-02-23/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/why-a-yiddish-renaissance-is-underway-in-sweden-of-all-places/0000018d-d36b-d5f7-a3ff-d3ffea4f0000 |access-date=2024-03-06 |work=Haaretz |language=en}}</ref>

=== United States ===

[[File:Free Classes in English.jpg|thumb|Poster by the [[Government of New York City|City of New York]] advertising free English classes for Yiddish speakers, 1930s:<br />"Learn to speak, read and write the language of your children."]]

[[File:Women voter outreach 1935 English Yiddish.jpg|thumb|Women surrounded by posters in English and Yiddish supporting [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Herbert H. Lehman]], and the [[American Labor Party]] teach other women how to vote, 1936.]]

[[File:Yiddish language distribution in the United States.svg|thumb|Yiddish distribution in the United States {{legend|blue|More than 100,000 speakers}} {{legend|cyan|More than 10,000 speakers}}

{{legend|red|More than 5,000 speakers}}

{{legend|yellow|More than 1,000 speakers}}

{{legend|#cccccc|Fewer than 1,000 speakers}}]]
In the United States, at first most Jews were of [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] origin, and hence did not speak Yiddish. It was not until the mid-to-late 19th century, as first German Jews, then Central and Eastern European Jews, arrived in the nation, that Yiddish became dominant within the immigrant community. This helped to bond Jews from many countries. {{lang|yi|פֿאָרווערטס|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|Forverts}} – ''[[The Forward]]'') was one of seven Yiddish daily newspapers in New York City, and other Yiddish newspapers served as a forum for Jews of all European backgrounds. In 1915, the circulation of the daily Yiddish newspapers was half a million in New York City alone, and 600,000 nationally. In addition, thousands more subscribed to the numerous weekly papers and the many magazines.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Moses Shapiro|title=Why Didn't the Press Shout?: American & International Journalism During the Holocaust|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3lItIwOzCkC&pg=PA18|year=2003|publisher=KTAV|page=18|isbn=978-0-88125-775-5}}</ref>

The typical circulation in the 21st century is a few thousand. The ''Forward'' still appears weekly and is also available in an online edition.<ref>{{in lang|yi}} [http://yiddish.forward.com/ פֿאָרווערטס]: ''[[The Forward]]'' online.</ref> It remains in wide distribution, together with {{lang|yi|דער אַלגעמיינער זשורנאַל|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|der algemeyner zhurnal}} – {{lang|yi-Latn|[[Algemeiner Journal|Algemeyner Journal]]}}; {{lang|yi-Latn|algemeyner}} = general), a [[Chabad]] newspaper which is also published weekly and appears online.<ref>{{in lang|yi}} [http://www.algemeiner.com/generic.asp?cat=4 דער אַלגעמיינער זשורנאַל] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106211758/http://www.algemeiner.com/generic.asp?cat=4 |date=January 6, 2011 }}: ''Algemeiner Journal'' online</ref> The widest-circulation Yiddish newspapers are probably the weekly issues {{lang|yi-Latn|[[Der Yid]]}} ({{lang|yi|דער איד|rtl=yes}} "The Jew"), {{lang|yi-Latn|[[Der Blatt]]}} ({{lang|yi|דער בלאַט|rtl=yes}}; {{lang|yi-Latn|blat}} 'paper') and {{lang|yi-Latn|[[Di Tzeitung]]}} ({{lang|yi|די צייטונג|rtl=yes}} 'the newspaper'). Several additional newspapers and magazines are in regular production, such as the weekly {{lang|yi|אידישער טריביון}} ''Yiddish Tribune'' and the monthly publications {{lang|yi|דער שטערן|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|Der Shtern}} ''The Star'') and {{lang|yi|דער בליק|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|Der Blik}} ''The View''). (The romanized titles cited in this paragraph are in the form given on the masthead of each publication and may be at some variance both with the literal Yiddish title and the [[Yiddish orthography#Transliteration|transliteration rules]] otherwise applied in this article.) Thriving Yiddish theater, especially in the New York City [[Yiddish Theatre District]], kept the language vital. Interest in [[klezmer]] music provided another bonding mechanism.

Most of the Jewish immigrants to the New York metropolitan area during the years of [[Ellis Island]] considered Yiddish their native language; however, native Yiddish speakers tended not to pass the language on to their children, who assimilated and spoke English. For example, [[Isaac Asimov]] states in his autobiography ''[[In Memory Yet Green]]'' that Yiddish was his first and sole spoken language, and remained so for about two years after he emigrated to the United States as a small child. By contrast, Asimov's younger siblings, born in the United States, never developed any degree of fluency in Yiddish.

Many "Yiddishisms", like "Italianisms" and "Spanishisms", entered [[New York City English]], often used by Jews and non-Jews alike, unaware of the linguistic origin of the phrases. [[Yiddish words used in English]] were documented extensively by [[Leo Rosten]] in ''[[The Joys of Yiddish]]'';<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Leo Rosten |last=Rosten |first=Leo |title=Joys of Yiddish |publisher=Pocket |date=2000 |isbn=0-7434-0651-6}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> see also the [[list of English words of Yiddish origin]].

In 1975, the film ''[[Hester Street (film)|Hester Street]]'', much of which is in Yiddish, was released. It was later chosen to be on the Library of Congress [[National Film Registry]] for being considered a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-11-240/2011-national-film-registry-more-than-a-box-of-chocolates/2011-12-28/|title=2011 National Film Registry More Than a Box of Chocolates|website=Library of Congress|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>

In 1976, the Canadian-born American author [[Saul Bellow]] received the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]. He was fluent in Yiddish, and translated several Yiddish poems and stories into English, including [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]]'s "Gimpel the Fool". In 1978, Singer, a writer in the Yiddish language, who was born in [[Poland]] and lived in the United States, received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Legal scholars [[Eugene Volokh]] and [[Alex Kozinski]] argue that Yiddish is "supplanting Latin as the spice in American legal argot".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Volokh |first=Eugene |author2=Kozinski, Alex |year=1993 |title=Lawsuit, Shmawsuit |journal=Yale Law Journal |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=463–467 |doi=10.2307/797101 |publisher=The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc. |jstor=797101 }}</ref><ref>Note: an updated version of the article appears on Professor Volokh's UCLA web page, {{cite web|url=http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/yiddish.htm |title=Judge Alex Kozinski & Eugene Volokh, "Lawsuit, Shmawsuit" <*> |publisher=Law.ucla.edu |access-date=October 18, 2009}}</ref>

==== Present U.S. speaker population ====

In the [[2000 United States Census]], 178,945 people in the United States reported speaking Yiddish at home. Of these speakers, 113,515 lived in [[New York (state)|New York]] (63.43% of American Yiddish speakers); 18,220 in [[Florida]] (10.18%); 9,145 in [[New Jersey]] (5.11%); and 8,950 in [[California]] (5.00%). The remaining states with speaker populations larger than 1,000 are [[Pennsylvania]] (5,445), [[Ohio]] (1,925), [[Michigan]] (1,945), [[Massachusetts]] (2,380), [[Maryland]] (2,125), [[Illinois]] (3,510), [[Connecticut]] (1,710), and [[Arizona]] (1,055). The population is largely elderly: 72,885 of the speakers were older than 65, 66,815 were between 18 and 64, and only 39,245 were age 17 or lower.<ref>[http://www.mla.org/map_data_states&lang_id=609&mode=lang_tops&a=&ea=&order=r Language by State: Yiddish] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919151951/http://www.mla.org/map_data_states%26lang_id%3D609%26mode%3Dlang_tops%26a%3D%26ea%3D%26order%3Dr |date=September 19, 2015}}, [[Modern Language Association|MLA]] Language Map Data Center, based on U.S. Census data. Retrieved December 25, 2006.</ref>

In the six years since the 2000 census, the 2006 [[American Community Survey]] reflected an estimated 15 percent decline of people speaking Yiddish at home in the U.S. to 152,515.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |title=U.S. Census website |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=October 18, 2009 }}</ref> In 2011, the number of persons in the United States above the age of five speaking Yiddish at home was 160,968.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf#page=12&zoom=auto,-265,62 |title=Camille Ryan: ''Language Use in the United States: 2011'', Issued August 2013 |access-date=January 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205101044/http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf#page=12&zoom=auto,-265,62 |archive-date=February 5, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 88% of them were living in four [[metropolitan area]]s – New York City and another metropolitan area [[Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area|just north of it]], Miami, and Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Basu |first1=Tanya |title=Oy Vey: Yiddish Has a Problem |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/yiddish-has-a-problem/379658/ |work=The Atlantic |date=September 9, 2014}}</ref>

There are a few predominantly [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] communities in the United States in which Yiddish remains the majority language including concentrations in the [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]], [[Borough Park, Brooklyn|Borough Park]], and [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]] neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In [[Kiryas Joel, New York|Kiryas Joel]] in [[Orange County, New York]], in the 2000 census, nearly 90% of residents of Kiryas Joel reported speaking Yiddish at home.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mla.org/census_data_results&state_id=36&place_id=39853|title=Data center results] Modern Language Association]|access-date=April 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923112824/http://www.mla.org/census_data_results%26state_id%3D36%26place_id%3D39853|archive-date=September 23, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/opinion/yiddish-hebrew-language-thriving.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |title=Opinion &#124; Yiddish is a Supposedly Dying Language That's Thrillingly Alive |date=November 28, 2024 |last1=McWhorter |first1=John }}</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===

There are well over 30,000 Yiddish speakers in the United Kingdom, and several thousand children now have Yiddish as a first language. The largest group of Yiddish speakers in Britain reside in the [[Stamford Hill]] district of North London, but there are sizable communities in northwest London, [[Leeds]], Manchester and [[Gateshead]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/yiddish-once-again-speaks-for-itself-27bcvlf2qc9 |title=Yiddish once again speaks for itself |first=Jack |last=Shamash |date= March 6, 2004}}</ref> The Yiddish readership in the UK is mainly reliant upon imported material from the United States and Israel for newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. However, the London-based weekly ''[[Jewish Tribune (UK)|Jewish Tribune]]'' has a small section in Yiddish called {{lang|yi|אידישע טריבונע|rtl=yes}} {{lang|yi-Latn|Yidishe Tribune}}. From the 1910s to the 1950s, London had a daily Yiddish newspaper called {{lang|yi|די צײַט}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|Di Tsayt}}, {{IPA|yi|dɪ tsaɪt}}; in English, ''The Time''), founded, and edited from offices in [[Whitechapel Road]], by Romanian-born Morris Myer, who was succeeded on his death in 1943 by his son Harry. There were also from time to time Yiddish newspapers in Manchester, [[Liverpool]], [[Glasgow]] and Leeds. The bilingual Yiddish and English café [[Pink Peacock]] opened in Glasgow in 2021 but closed down in 2023.

=== Canada ===

[[Montreal]] had, and to some extent still has, one of the most thriving Yiddish communities in North America. Yiddish was Montreal's third language (after French and English) for the entire first half of the twentieth century. {{lang|yi-Latn|Der [[Keneder Adler]]}} (''The Canadian Eagle'', founded by [[Hirsch Wolofsky]]), Montreal's daily Yiddish newspaper, appeared from 1907 to 1988.<ref>CHRISTOPHER DEWOLF, "A peek inside Yiddish Montreal", ''Spacing Montreal'', February 23, 2008.[http://spacing.ca/montreal/2008/02/23/a-peek-inside-montreals-yiddish-universe/]</ref> The [[Monument-National]] was the center of Yiddish theater from 1896 until the construction of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts (now the [[Segal Centre for Performing Arts]]), inaugurated on September 24, 1967, where the established resident theater, the [[Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre]], remains the only permanent Yiddish theatre in North America. The theatre group also tours Canada, US, Israel, and Europe.<ref>Carol Roach, "Yiddish Theater in Montreal", ''Examiner'', May 14, 2012.[[MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2023/05#examiner.com|www.examiner.com/article/jewish-theater-montreal]]; "The emergence of Yiddish theater in Montreal", "Examiner", May 14, 2012 [[MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2023/05#examiner.com|www.examiner.com/article/the-emergence-of-yiddish-theater-montreal]]</ref>

Even though Yiddish has receded, it is the immediate ancestral language of Montrealers like [[Mordecai Richler]] and [[Leonard Cohen]], as well as former interim city mayor [[Michael Applebaum]]. Besides Yiddish-speaking activists, it remains today the native everyday language of 15,000 Montreal Hasidim.

=== Religious communities ===

[[File:Brooklyn Posters 1.jpg|thumb|A typical poster-hung wall in a Jewish section of [[Brooklyn]], New York]]

Major exceptions to the decline of spoken Yiddish are found in [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] communities all over the world. In some of the more closely knit such communities, Yiddish is spoken as a home and schooling language, especially in Hasidic, [[Lithuanian Jews|Litvish]], or Yeshivish communities, such as [[Brooklyn]]'s [[Borough Park, Brooklyn|Borough Park]], [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]], and [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]], and in the communities of [[Monsey, New York|Monsey]], [[Kiryas Joel, New York|Kiryas Joel]], and [[New Square, New York|New Square]] in New York (over 88% of the population of Kiryas Joel is reported to speak Yiddish at home.<ref>[http://www.mla.org/census_data_results&state_id=36&place_id=39853 MLA Data Center Results: Kiryas Joel, New York] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016053859/http://www.mla.org/census_data_results%26state_id%3D36%26place_id%3D39853 |date=October 16, 2015 }}, Modern Language Association. Retrieved October 17, 2006.</ref>) Also in [[New Jersey]], Yiddish is widely spoken mostly in [[Lakewood Township, New Jersey|Lakewood Township]], but also in smaller towns with [[yeshiva]]s, such as [[Passaic, New Jersey|Passaic]], [[Teaneck, New Jersey|Teaneck]], and elsewhere. Yiddish is also widely spoken in the Jewish community in [[History of the Jews in Antwerp|Antwerp]], and in Haredi communities such as the ones in [[London]], [[Manchester]], and [[Montreal]]. Yiddish is also spoken in many Haredi communities throughout Israel. Among most Ashkenazi Haredim, Hebrew is generally reserved for prayer, while Yiddish is used for religious studies, as well as a home and business language. In Israel, however, Haredim commonly speak [[modern Hebrew]], with the notable exception of many Hasidic communities. However, many Haredim who use Modern Hebrew also understand Yiddish. There are some who send their children to schools in which the primary language of instruction is Yiddish. Members of anti-Zionist Haredi groups such as the [[Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)|Satmar Hasidim]], who view the commonplace use of Hebrew as a form of Zionism, use Yiddish almost exclusively.

Hundreds of thousands of young children around the globe have been, and are still, taught to translate the texts of the [[Torah]] into Yiddish. This process is called {{lang|yi|טײַטשן|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|yi-Latn|taytshn}}) – 'translating'. Many Ashkenazi yeshivas' highest level lectures in Talmud and [[Halakha]] are delivered in Yiddish by the [[rosh yeshiva]]s as well as ethical talks of the [[Musar movement]]. Hasidic [[rebbe]]s generally use only Yiddish to converse with their followers and to deliver their various Torah talks, classes, and lectures. The linguistic style and vocabulary of Yiddish have influenced the manner in which many [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] who attend yeshivas speak English. This usage is distinctive enough that it has been dubbed "[[Yeshivish]]".

While Hebrew remains the exclusive language of [[Jewish prayer]], the Hasidim have mixed some Yiddish into their Hebrew, and are also responsible for a significant secondary religious literature written in Yiddish. For example, the tales about the [[Baal Shem Tov]] were written largely in Yiddish. The Torah Talks of the late Chabad leaders are published in their original form, Yiddish. In addition, some prayers, such as "[[God of Abraham (prayer)|God of Abraham]]", were composed and are recited in Yiddish.

=== Modern Yiddish education ===

[[File:Yiddishsign.JPG|thumb|A road sign in Yiddish (except for the word "sidewalk") at an official construction site in the [[Monsey, New York|Monsey]] hamlet, a community with thousands of Yiddish speakers, in [[Ramapo, New York|Ramapo]], New York]]

There has been a resurgence in Yiddish learning in recent times among many from around the world with Jewish ancestry. The language which had lost many of its native speakers during the Holocaust has been making something of a comeback.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/9529/edition_id/182/format/html/displaystory.html |title=Yiddish making a comeback, as theater group shows &#124; j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California |publisher=Jewishsf.com |date=September 18, 1998 |access-date=October 18, 2009}}</ref> In Poland, which traditionally had Yiddish speaking communities, a museum has begun to revive Yiddish education and culture.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/09/30/poland.jewish.revival/index.html |title=Poland's Jews alive and kicking |publisher=CNN |date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=October 18, 2009}}</ref> Located in Kraków, the [[Galicia Jewish Museum]] offers classes in Yiddish Language Instruction and workshops on Yiddish Songs. The museum has taken steps to revive the culture through concerts and events held on site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.galiciajewishmuseum.org |title=Galicia Jewish Museum |publisher=Galicia Jewish Museum |access-date=December 22, 2011 |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127004003/https://galiciajewishmuseum.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
There are various universities worldwide which now offer Yiddish programs based on the [[YIVO]] Yiddish standard. Many of these programs are held during the summer and are attended by Yiddish enthusiasts from around the world. One such school located within [[Vilnius University]] (Vilnius Yiddish Institute) was the first Yiddish center of higher learning to be established in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe. Vilnius Yiddish Institute is an integral part of the four-century-old Vilnius University. Published Yiddish scholar and researcher Dovid Katz is among the Faculty.<ref>{{cite web |author=Neosymmetria (www.neosymmetria.com) |url=http://www.judaicvilnius.com/en |title=Vilnius Yiddish Institute |publisher=Judaicvilnius.com |date=October 1, 2009 |access-date=October 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022063739/http://www.judaicvilnius.com/en |archive-date=October 22, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite this growing popularity among many [[American Jews]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-may-22-cl-32637-story.html |title=A Lasting Language  |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 22, 2000 |access-date=October 18, 2009 |first=Mary |last=Rourke}}</ref> finding opportunities for practical use of Yiddish is becoming increasingly difficult, and thus many students have trouble learning to speak the language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/6818/ |title=In Academia, Yiddish Is Seen, But Not Heard&nbsp;– |publisher=Forward.com |date=March 24, 2006 |access-date=October 18, 2009}}</ref> One solution has been the establishment of a farm in [[Goshen, New York]], for Yiddishists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/pakn-treger/01-13/naftali-ejdelman-and-yisroel-bass-yiddish-farmers |title=Naftali Ejdelman and Yisroel Bass: Yiddish Farmers |publisher=Yiddishbookcenter.org |date=January 10, 2013 |access-date=January 18, 2013}}</ref>

Yiddish is the medium of instruction in many Hasidic {{lang|yi|חדרים}} {{lang|yi-Latn|khadorim}}, Jewish boys' schools, and some Hasidic girls' schools.

Some American Jewish days schools and high schools offer Yiddish education.

An organization called ''Yiddishkayt (יידישקייט)'' promotes Yiddish-language education in schools.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yiddish in the Day Schools |url=https://yiddishkayt.org/yiddish-in-the-day-schools/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Yiddishkayt |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Sholem Aleichem College]], a secular Jewish primary school in [[Melbourne]] teaches Yiddish as a second language to all its students. The school was founded in 1975 by the [[Jewish Labour Bund (Australia)|Bund movement in Australia]], and still maintains daily Yiddish instruction today, and includes student theater and music in Yiddish.

=== Internet ===

[[Google Translate]] includes Yiddish as one of its languages,<ref>{{cite web |last=Lowensohn |first=Josh |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10322250-248.html |title=Oy! Google Translate now speaks Yiddish |publisher=News.cnet.com |date=August 31, 2009 |access-date=December 22, 2011 |archive-date=March 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311133357/http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10322250-248.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://translate.google.com/?hl=en#yi%7Cen |title=Google Translate from Yiddish to English |access-date=December 22, 2011}}</ref> as does [[Yiddish Wikipedia|Wikipedia]]. Hebrew-alphabet keyboards are available, and right-to-left writing is recognized. [[Google Search]] accepts queries in Yiddish.

Over eleven thousand Yiddish texts,<ref>{{cite web |title=Digital Library & Collections |url=https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections |publisher=Yiddish Book Center |access-date=May 22, 2024}}</ref> estimated as between a sixth and a quarter of all the published works in Yiddish,<ref>{{cite web |title=David Mazower, White Goat Press |url=https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/about/white-goat-press-0/david-mazower |publisher=Yiddish Book Center |access-date=May 22, 2024}}</ref> are now online, based on the work of the [[Yiddish Book Center]], volunteers, and the [[Internet Archive]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yiddish Book Center's Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalyiddishbookcenter |publisher=Internet Archives |access-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

There are many websites on the Internet in Yiddish. In January 2013, ''The Forward'' announced the launch of the new daily version of its newspaper's website, which has been active since 1999 as an online weekly, supplied with radio and video programs, a literary section for fiction writers and a special blog written in local contemporary Hasidic dialects.<ref>{{cite news |title=Yiddish Forverts Seeks New Audience Online |url=http://forward.com/articles/169919/yiddish-forverts-seeks-new-audience-online/ |access-date=January 10, 2014 |newspaper=Forward |date=January 25, 2013}}</ref>

Many Jewish [[ethnolect]]s influenced by Yiddish are available via online resources such as [[YouTube]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Jewish French |url=https://www.jewishlanguages.org/jewish-french |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Jewish Languages |language=en}}</ref>

Computer scientist [[Raphael Finkel]] maintains a hub of Yiddish-language resources, including a searchable [[dictionary]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Finkel |first1=Raphael |title=Yiddish Dictionary Lookup|url=http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/dictionary.cgi |website=cs.uky.edu |access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> and [[spell checker]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Finkel |first1=Raphael |title=spellcheck |url=http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/checkSpellUTF.cgi |website=cs.uky.edu |access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref>

In late 2016, [[Motorola]] Inc. released its smartphones with keyboard access for the Yiddish language in its foreign language option.

On April 5, 2021, [[Duolingo]] added Yiddish to its courses.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://forward.com/culture/467106/i-took-duolingos-new-yiddish-course-for-a-test-drive-heres-what-i-found/ |title=I took Duolingo's new Yiddish course for a test drive. Here's what I found. |last=Kutzik |first=Jordan |date=April 5, 2021 |publisher=[[The Forward]] |access-date=April 6, 2021 }}</ref>

== Influence on other languages ==
In addition to [[Modern Hebrew]] and [[New York English]], especially as spoken by [[yeshivah]] students (sometimes known as [[Yeshivish]]), Yiddish has influenced [[Cockney English|Cockney]] in [[England]], the city dialect of [[Amsterdam]] and to some degree the city dialects of [[Vienna]] and [[Berlin]]. [[French language|French]] [[argot]] has some words coming from Yiddish.<ref name="Nahon 2017 pp. 139–155">{{cite journal |last1=Nahon |first1=Peter |title=Notes lexicologiques sur des interférences entre yidich et français moderne  |trans-title=Lexicological notes on interferences between Yidish and modern French |url=https://www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/view?pid=rlr-001%3A2017%3A81%3A%3A4#144 |journal=Revue de Linguistique Romane |language=fr |publisher=SARL ELiPhi |publication-place=Strasbourg |publication-date=January–June 2017 |volume=81 |issue=321–322 |pages=139–155 |issn=0035-1458 |oclc=1114334924 |via=ETH-Bibliothek Zuerich |access-date=2023-01-25}}</ref>

[[Paul Wexler (linguist)|Paul Wexler]] proposed that [[Esperanto]] was not an arbitrary pastiche of major European languages but a Latinate [[relexification]] of Yiddish, a native language of its [[L. L. Zamenhof|founder]].<ref name="Wexler">
{{cite book
| last = Wexler
| first = Paul
| title = Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect
| year = 2002
| publisher = De Gruyter Mouton
| isbn = 978-3-11-089873-6
}}</ref> This model is generally unsupported by mainstream linguists.<ref name="Spolsky 157" >Bernard Spolsky,[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Xk9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 ''The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History,''] Cambridge University Press, 2014 pp.157,180ff. p.183</ref>

Yiddish had an influence on [[Jewish Swedish]], a dialect of [[Swedish language|Swedish]] used by Jews with loanwords from Hebrew and Yiddish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Joshua Klagsbrun Lebenswerd |first=Patric |title=Handbook of Jewish Languages |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-21733-1 |pages=618–619 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref> And Yiddish had an influence on Hungarian with extra influence on [[Judeo Hungarian|Jewish Hungarian]], a dialect of Hungarian spoken by [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungarian Jews]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Hungarian |url=https://www.jewishlanguages.org/jewish-hungarian |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Jewish Languages |language=en}}</ref> Yiddish had influence on other [[History of the Jews in Europe|European Jewish]] ethnolects like [[Judeo Russian|Jewish Russian]] and [[Varieties of French|Jewish French]].<ref name="Jewish Russian">{{Cite web |title=Jewish Russian |url=https://www.jewishlanguages.org/jewish-russian |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Jewish Languages |language=en}}</ref> These ethnolects are shown in various pieces of media across various mediums both digital and physical.<ref name="Jewish Russian"/><ref name=":4" />

{{Gallery
| File:NewSquareElectionSign.JPG|A 2008 election poster in front of a store in [[New Square, New York|Village of New Square]], Town of Ramapo, New York, entirely in Yiddish. The candidates' names are transliterated into Hebrew letters.
| File:Rosh Hashana Montevideo 1932.jpg|[[Rosh Hashanah]] greeting card, [[Montevideo]], 1932. The inscription includes text in Hebrew (לשנה טובה תכתבו—''LeShoyno Toyvo Tikoseyvu'') and Yiddish (מאנטעווידעא—''Montevideo'').
| File:Examples of Yiddish usage in Birobidzhan public space.jpg|Examples of Yiddish usage in Birobidzhan public space
}}

== Language examples ==
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Suri speaking Yiddish.webm|thumb|Example video of native Yiddish speaker talking in the Yiddish language (with English-translated subtitles)]]
The following is a short example of the Yiddish language written in both the Hebrew and Latin scripts with English and [[standard German]] for comparison.

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Article 1 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]
|-
!scope="col"| Language
!scope="col"| Text
|-
!scope="row"| '''English'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=eng|title=OHCHR English|author=OHCHR|website=www.ohchr.org|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>
| All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
|-
!scope="row"| '''Yiddish'''<ref name="ohchr yiddish">{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=ydd|title=OHCHR Yiddish|author=OHCHR|website=www.ohchr.org|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>
| {{rtl-para|yi|יעדער מענטש װערט געבױרן פֿרײַ און גלײַך אין כּבֿוד און רעכט. יעדער װערט באַשאָנקן מיט פֿאַרשטאַנד און געװיסן; יעדער זאָל זיך פֿירן מיט אַ צװײטן אין אַ געמיט פֿון ברודערשאַפֿט.}}
|-
!scope="row"| '''Yiddish''' '''(transliteration)'''
| {{Lang|yi-Latn|yeder mentsh vert geboyrn fray un glaykh in koved un rekht. yeder vert bashonkn mit farshtand un gevisn; yeder zol zikh firn mit a tsveytn in a gemit fun brudershaft.}}
|-
!scope="row"| '''German with wording and word order as close to the Yiddish version as possible'''
| {{lang|de|Jeder Mensch wird geboren, frei und gleich in Ehre und Recht. Jeder wird beschenkt, mit Verstand und Gewissen; Jeder soll sich führen, miteinander im Gemüt von Bruderschaft.}}
|-
!scope="row"| '''Official German version'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/pages/Language.aspx?LangID=ger|title=OHCHR German|author=OHCHR|website=www.ohchr.org|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>
| {{lang|de|Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.}}
|-
!Hebrew<ref>{{Cite web |title=UDHR in Afroasiatic languages |url=https://www.omniglot.com/udhr/afroasiatic.htm#semitic |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=www.omniglot.com}}</ref>                                     
|כל בני האדם נולדו בני חורין ושווים בערכם ובזכויותיהם. כולם חוננו בתבונה ובמצפון, לפיכך חובה עליהם לנהוג איש ברעהו ברוח של אחווה
|-
!Hebrew (transliteration)     
|''kol benei ha'adam noldu benei khorin veshavim be'erkam uvizkhuyoteihem. Kulam khonenu bitevuna uvematspun, lefikhakh chova 'aleihem linhog ish bere'ehu beruakh shel akhava.''
|}

== See also ==

* [[List of Yiddish-language poets]]
* [[List of Yiddish newspapers and periodicals]]
* {{annotated link|The Yiddish King Lear|link_lang=yi}}<!--workaround to produce italic title-->
* {{annotated link|Yinglish}}
* {{annotated link|Yiddish symbols}}
* {{annotated link|Judaeo-Spanish}}
* {{annotated link|Judeo-Iranian languages}}

{{clear}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em|small=yes}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Solomon Birnbaum |last=Birnbaum |first=Solomon |title=Yiddish – A Survey and a Grammar |location=Toronto |orig-date=1979 |edition=2nd |date=2016|publisher=University of Toronto Press|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Dunphy |first=Graeme |contribution=The New Jewish Vernacular |editor-first=Max|editor-last=Reinhart |title=Camden House History of German Literature, Volume 4: Early Modern German Literature 1350–1700 |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-57113-247-5 |pages=74–79|publisher=Camden House |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Fishman |first=David E. |title=The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh |year=2005 |isbn=0-8229-4272-0|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Fishman |editor-first=Joshua A. |title=Never Say Die: A Thousand Years of Yiddish in Jewish Life and Letters |publisher=Mouton Publishers |location=The Hague |date=1981 |isbn=90-279-7978-2 |language=yi, en|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Herzog |editor-first=Marvin |display-editors=et al. |title=The Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry |publisher=Max-Niemeyer-Verlag in collaboration with [[YIVO]] |location=Tübingen |date=1992–2000 |isbn=3-484-73013-7}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Dovid Katz |last=Katz |first=Hirshe-Dovid |title=Code of Yiddish spelling ratified in 1992 by the programmes in Yiddish language and literature at Bar Ilan University, Oxford University, Tel Aviv University, Vilnius University |location=Oxford |publisher=Oksforder Yiddish Press in cooperation with the [[Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies]] |date=1992 |isbn=1-897744-01-3|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Katz |first=Dovid |title=Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish |edition=2nd |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-465-03730-8|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Lansky |first=Aaron |title=Outwitting History: How a Young Man Rescued a Million Books and Saved a Vanishing Civilisation |publisher=Algonquin Books |location=Chapel Hill |date=2004 |isbn=1-56512-429-4|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Margolis |first=Rebecca |title=Basic Yiddish: A Grammar and Workbook |publisher=Routledge |date=2011 |isbn=978-0-415-55522-7|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Shandler |first=Jeffrey |title=Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |date=2006 |isbn=0-520-24416-8|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Shmeruk |first=Chone |title=Prokim fun der Yidisher Literatur-Geshikhte |trans-title=Chapters of Yiddish Literary History |publisher=Peretz |location=Tel Aviv |date=1988 |language=yi|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Shternshis|first=Anna|year=2006|title=Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939|location=Bloomington, IN|publisher=Indiana University Press|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Nahum Stutchkoff |last=Stutchkoff |first=Nahum |title=Oytser fun der Yidisher Shprakh |url=https://archive.org/details/nybc201134 |trans-title=Thesaurus of the Yiddish language|publisher=Yidisher Ṿisenshafṭlekher Insṭiṭuṭ|location=New York |language=yi |date=1950|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Uriel Weinreich |last=Weinreich |first=Uriel |title=College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish language and to Jewish Life and Culture |edition=6th rev. |publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research |location=New York |date=1999 |isbn=0-914512-26-9 |language=yi, en}}
* {{cite book |last=Weinstein |first=Miriam |title=Yiddish: A Nation of Words |url=https://archive.org/details/yiddish00miri |url-access=registration |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |date=2001 |isbn=0-345-44730-1|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Witriol |first=Joseph |date=1974 |url=http://mummeloohshen.wordpress.com/ |title=Mumme Loohshen: An Anatomy of Yiddish |publisher=Philip Israel Witriol|location=London|ref=none}}

{{Div col end}}

== Further reading ==
* ''YIVO Bleter'', pub. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, NYC, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216075513/http://www.yivo.org/aboutyivo/timeline3.htm initial series] from 1931, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060515195332/http://www.yivoinstitute.org/publications/index.php?tid=123&aid=319 new series] since 1991.
* ''Afn Shvel'', pub. League for Yiddish, NYC, since 1940; [http://www.leagueforyiddish.org/ishi.html אויפן שוועל], [http://docs.leagueforyiddish.org/undzer-perets-artikl.pdf sample article אונדזער פרץ – Our Peretz]
* ''Lebns-fragn'', by-monthly for social issues, current affairs, and culture, Tel Aviv, since 1951; [http://lebnsfragn.com/about.html לעבנס-פראגן], [http://lebnsfragn.com/index.html current issue]
* ''Yerusholaymer Almanakh'', periodical collection of Yiddish literature and culture, Jerusalem, since 1973; [https://web.archive.org/web/20090103220918/http://yiddish-almanach.org/index.php/the-yerusholaymer-almanakh/ ירושלימער אלמאנאך], [https://web.archive.org/web/20081221005457/http://yiddish-almanach.org/ new volume, contents and downloads]
* {{cite news |last1=Diamant |first1=Anita |title=Es lebt! It's alive! - That's right: Yiddish |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-12-07_11_49/page/n37/mode/1up |access-date=October 7, 2024 |work=The Boston Phoenix |date=December 7, 1982}}
* ''Der Yiddisher Tam-Tam'', pub. Maison de la Culture Yiddish, Paris, since 1994, also available in [http://www.yiddishweb.com/tamtam.htm electronic format].
* ''Yidishe Heftn'', pub. Le Cercle Bernard Lazare, Paris, since 1996, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213025703/http://mapage.noos.fr/bernardlazare/CahiersY.htm יידישע העפטן sample cover], [http://www.bernardlazare.org/ subscription info].
* ''Gilgulim, naye shafungen'', new literary magazine, Paris, since 2008; [https://web.archive.org/web/20170616164805/http://gilgulim.org/ גילגולים, נייע שאפונגען]

== External links ==
{{InterWiki|code=yi}}
{{Sister project links|auto=yes}}
{{Americana Poster|Yiddish Language}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161001140409/http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ Yiddish Book Center]
* [http://www.yivo.org/yiddish-dictionaries/ YIVO Institute for Jewish Research: Yiddish Dictionaries]
* [https://yiddish-rashutleumit.co.il/en/ The Israeli National Authority of Yiddish Culture]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190901133657/http://strauss.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de:8080/lang/yiddish-eastern/yiddish-western/ Comparison of Eastern and Western Yiddish] based on a stable vocabulary. [[EVOLAEMP]] Project, [[University of Tübingen]].
* [https://ingeveb.org/ In Geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies]

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