The Loshn Koydesh Component in Contemporary Hasidic Yiddish

The loshn koydesh (Hebrew and Aramaic) component has historically influenced the development of Yiddish lexis and grammar. We examine its contemporary use among 26 native speakers of contemporary Hasidic Yiddish from Israel, New York, and London using a written questionnaire examining the gender of loshn koydesh nouns, periphrastic verbs with a Hebrew/Aramaic element, and adjectives derived from the loshn koydesh element of periphrastics. Our findings show that there are differences on both the geographical and gender axes, many of which are consistent with the speakers’ varied exposure to Modern Hebrew, English, and loshn koydesh. We also found that the loshn koydesh component has developed since the pre-War stage of the language in ways that seem to affect contemporary Hasidic Yiddish usage in all locations and for both genders. We take these developments to provide evidence for the existence of this newly emergent variety of Yiddish – Contemporary Hasidic Yiddish.