Synopses & Reviews
This book attempts to correct the institutional bent of previous studies of American Yiddish, which have focused on the press, theater, cinema, and literature. In contrast, the author presents a linguistic ethnography based on several years of intensive fieldwork in the Jewish Community of South Philadelphia. He examines the residents' use of Yiddish in everyday speech and how it illuminates their changing and overlapping identifications with the neighborhood, their non-Jewish neighbors, Jewish traditions, and their children and parents. Throughout, the author carefully examines his own role in revitalizing Yiddish in South Philadelphia as he established close relationships with elderly Jews, meeting them in their homes, shops, and leading a Yiddish conversation group at the community centre.
Synopsis
The author presents a linguistic ethnography in the Jewish Community of South Philadelphia.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-263) and index.
Table of Contents
Part I. Getting to Know the Residents: 1. Walking into the neighborhood; 2. 'It used to be like Jerusalem': history and institutions of the Jewish community of South Philadelphia; 3. Izzy's luncheonette: the neighborhood's center; 4. A gleyele tey (a glass of tea): a Yiddish conversation group; Part II. Identities: 5. A Jewish place; 6. Coming home to South Philadelphia; Part III. Language and Culture: 7. Cycles of using Yiddish; 8. Yiddish fluency; 9. Facets of speech; Part IV. Philadelphia and Beyond: The Evolution of Ethnic Culture: 10. Language and identity; 11. Aging and the life course: the memory of language; 12. American Yiddish, American Jewish: from immigrant to ethnic culture; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index.