Uriel Weinreich
Encyclopedia
Uriel Weinreich was a linguist
at Columbia University
. Born in Vilnius
(then part of Poland
and now capital of Lithuania
), he earned his Ph.D. from Columbia, and went on to teach there, specializing in Yiddish studies, sociolinguistics
, and dialectology
. He advocated the increased acceptance of semantics
, and edited one of the most influential Yiddish-English dictionaries.
Weinreich was the son of the linguist Max Weinreich
, and the mentor of both Marvin Herzog
, with whom he laid the groundwork for the Language and Cultural Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry (LCAAJ), and William Labov
. Weinreich is also credited with being the first linguist to recognize the phenomenon of interlanguage
19 years before Larry Selinker coined the term in his 1972 article "Interlanguage". In his benchmark book Languages in Contact, Weinreich first noted that learners of second languages consider linguistic forms from their first language equal to forms in the target language. However, the essential inequality of these forms leads to speech which the native speakers of the target language consider unequal. He died of cancer prior to the publication of his Yiddish-English dictionary.
In a tribute by Dovid Katz
, "Though he lived less than forty-one years, Uriel Weinreich ... managed to facilitate the teaching of Yiddish language at American universities, build a new Yiddish language atlas, and demonstrate the importance of Yiddish for the science of linguistics."
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Born in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
(then part of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and now capital of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), he earned his Ph.D. from Columbia, and went on to teach there, specializing in Yiddish studies, sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...
, and dialectology
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
. He advocated the increased acceptance of semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
, and edited one of the most influential Yiddish-English dictionaries.
Weinreich was the son of the linguist Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich was a linguist, specializing in the Yiddish language, and the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich, who edited the Modern Yiddish-English English-Yiddish Dictionary.- Biography :Max Weinreich began his studies in a German school in Kuldiga,...
, and the mentor of both Marvin Herzog
Marvin Herzog
Marvin I. Herzog is a Yiddish language Professor at Columbia University.He is the Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Yiddish Atlas Project at Columbia University, which publishes, in conjunction with YIVO, The Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry .He received his Ph.d...
, with whom he laid the groundwork for the Language and Cultural Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry (LCAAJ), and William Labov
William Labov
William Labov born December 4, 1927) is an American linguist, widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has created much of the methodology" of sociolinguistics...
. Weinreich is also credited with being the first linguist to recognize the phenomenon of interlanguage
Interlanguage
An interlanguage is an emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet but is approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language , or overgeneralizing target language rules in speaking or...
19 years before Larry Selinker coined the term in his 1972 article "Interlanguage". In his benchmark book Languages in Contact, Weinreich first noted that learners of second languages consider linguistic forms from their first language equal to forms in the target language. However, the essential inequality of these forms leads to speech which the native speakers of the target language consider unequal. He died of cancer prior to the publication of his Yiddish-English dictionary.
In a tribute by Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz is an American-born, Vilnius-based Judaic studies professor, Yiddish specialist, and political activist, currently living in Lithuania.-Biography:...
, "Though he lived less than forty-one years, Uriel Weinreich ... managed to facilitate the teaching of Yiddish language at American universities, build a new Yiddish language atlas, and demonstrate the importance of Yiddish for the science of linguistics."
Publications
- College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture (YIVOYIVOYIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
, New York, 1st edition 1949, 6th edition 1999), ISBN 0-914512-26-9. - Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems. New York, 1953. Reprint, Mouton, The Hague, 1963, ISBN 90-279-2689-1.
- Say It In Yiddish: A Phrase Book for Travelers (with Beatrice Weinreich). DoverDover PublicationsDover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...
, New York, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20815-X. - Modern english-yidish yidish-english verterbukh. Modern English-Yiddish English-Yiddish Dictionary (SchockenSchocken BooksSchocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...
, new paperback edition 1987), ISBN 0-8052-0575-6.
External links
- http://www.bartleby.com/65/we/Weinreic.html
- EYDES (LCAAJ's website)
- Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
's essay inspired by Say It In Yiddish, referenced in http://flickerfitphenomenon.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html and disputed in http://www.ibiblio.net/pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele/vol07.031