Draft:Jewish American English

Jewish American English, American Jewish Accent, or simply Jewish English is an ethnolect of American English spoken by American Jews and Canadian Jews (especially among North American Ashkenazi Jews). It is closely related to New York English, but is charactarized by a large number of loanwords from Yiddish, Hebrew, and occasionally Judeo-Spanish or Arabic.

English
As many Jews arriving in the United States either passed through or directly settled in New York City, Jewish American English has been heavily influenced by New York City English. Even as many Jews left New York City, their speech preserved many New York characteristics, such as high, gliding vowel (in words like talk and caught); a split of the "short a" vowel into two separate sounds; variable dropping of r sounds; and a lack of the cot–caught, Mary–marry–merry, and hurry–furry mergers heard in many other American accents.

Yiddish
The majority of American Jews are the descendants of Yiddish-speaking immigrants, and thus a large amount of Yiddish has entered the Jewish American lexicon. In some cases words, such as klutz or schpiel, have become widespread among non-Jewish speakers. Others, such as naches, are still mostly used by Jewish speakers. The Yiddish word shmooze has a widely used definition by Jews ('to chat') and a definition more used by non-Jews ('to kiss up to').

Hebrew
Hebrew words and phrases are commonly used in reference to religious or cultural ideas. Many of these are borrowed through Yiddish, thus using the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation.

Phonetics
Jewish American shares many of its phonologic features with New York English.

William Labov found that Jewish American New Yorkers were more likely than other groups to use the closest variants of (meaning towards ) and perhaps fully released final stops (for example, pronunciation of sent as  rather than the more General American  or ).

There is also general replacement of with  such as /lɔəŋɡ ˈɑɪlənd/ ('Long Island').

There is general reduction of to : many speakers (especially those in New York) typically do not allow  to precede ; this gives pronunciations like yuman  and yooge  for human and huge. Bernie Sanders is a notable user of that reduction.

Grammar
Certain Yiddish grammatical contact features, such as topicalizations of direct objects (e.g., constructions such as Esther, she saw! or A dozen knishes, you bought! as well as Enough, already!). There are loan grammar uses from Yiddish: I'm eating by her; He doesn't know from that; I want that you should see this)

Shm-reduplication is a form of reduplication originating in Yiddish, that has been inherited into Jewish American. The construction is generally used to indicate irony, sarcasm, derision, skepticism, or lack of interest with respect to comments about the discussed object.

Jewish American English speakers are also more likely to speak in a collaborative manner. Interruptions, either to add information, ask a question, or to comment on what was said, are common. Many grammar constructions account for this, postponing the most important part of a sentence for the end, in (conscious or unconscious) anticipation of the conversation partner collaborating.

An example of a collaborative conversation:

Speaker A: Do you remember that book that I bought Chaim,

Speaker B: The Mitch Albom?

Speaker A: Punkt. I was with Abe,

Speaker B: For Sukkos?

Speaker A: No, no, just for Shabbos. And he had the gufa copy!

Speaker B: Where was it from?

Speaker A: Just sitting on the blech, he says it's from...

Speaker B: From Chaim? What a tipesh.

Intonation
Rachel Burdin has found that many speakers of Jewish American, especially those with exposure to Yiddish were more likely to use a rise fall contour (L+H* L-L%), fewer H-L% boundary tones and H* pitch accents, and more rising pitch accents (L+H* and L*+H).

Orthography
English Jewish American English utilizes the American English Orthography, and renders Hebrew and Yiddish words variably, mostly utilizing the Common Israeli method of romanization with some allowances towards Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation.

Heth and Kaph (with dagesh) (usually pronounced as /χ/) will either be rendered as 'ch' or 'kh'. Rarely, 'ḥ' will be used. In some communities that retain Sephardic Hebrew, a distinction is made between 'kh' and 'ḥ', representing /χ/ and /ħ/ respectively.

Tzadi (/t͡s/) is either rendered as 'tz' or 'ts'.

Occasionally, Hebrew orthography will be used to render Hebrew and Yiddish words, while English words are rendered in Latin orthography.

Rarely, Hebrew orthography for English words is used.

Classification
As with many Jewish languages, there is little consensus on what Jewish American English should be classified as. It can be seen as an ethnolect or accent of English, although in earlier generations, it could also be characterized closer to a mixed language.

Many speakers of Jewish American code-switch. A form of the variety much closer to Yeshiva English might be used within Jewish community spaces such as synagogues or among family and friends (especially Jewish ones), while a more subdued form could be utilized in public spaces such as school or work.

Sarah Bunin Benor has argued that Jewish English is currently developing into its own Jewish language. This is not universally agreed upon, as some argue that Jews in the present-day United States are not as isolated and segregated as Jews in the Holy Roman Empire or Christian Spain, which led to the creation of the two most distinct and long-lasting Jewish Languages: Yiddish and Ladino.

Gesticulation
American Jews, much like Italians, utilize their hands for communication. Common hand signs include:
 * 'Nu' or 'therefore' - the hand, clenched into a fist with only the thumb postrated (thumbs up), is dipped down, then hooked in a circular motion until upright. This is commonly used to support a line of reasoning.
 * 'Ani' or 'myself' - both hands have fingers spread, and palms facing towards the speaker, the hands are tapped against the chest a few times.
 * 'Ma?' - Both hands are open palmed and then shaken up and down. It is very similar to Che vuoi?, and also means "what?".
 * 'But' - A hand, with fingers spread, is motioned downwards. This is used to emphasize 'but', 'however', or 'yet'.
 * 'Placing' - While introducing multiple subjects, such as giving a list, or contrasting two ideas, the speaker will "place" these items in the air.
 * Stress motioning - the hands are used in conjunction with speech to emphasize certain words and phrases through the articulation of the fingers, and movement of the arm and hand.

Use in Media
Jewish American English is common in media. It is used commonly in comedic senses, especially when utlizing Jewish stereotypes such as the Jewish mother, Jewish-American princess, or nice Jewish boy. Examples of these include:
 * Molly Goldberg from The Goldbergs
 * Ida Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
 * Mrs. Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory
 * Sheila Broflovski from South Park

Mel Brooks, Larry David, and Jerry Seinfeld are notable for their use a natural or enhanced version of Jewish American English.