Come for lunch and learn about the languages of the Jewish Diaspora! Please join us for a short introduction to Yiddish and Ladino by linguistic undergraduate students Chiam and Allegra.
Join us for a two-part discussion on the linguistic diversity of the Jewish diaspora! As we explore Jewish migration over thousands of years in exile, we’ll get a chance to look at the creation and evolution of language in Jewish communities worldwide – a direct result of Hebrew multilingualism. Chaim and Allegra will present a brief history on our diasporic communities, their languages, and personal experience with Yiddish and Ladino respectively. Both Yiddish- and Ladino-speaking communities have produced vast inventories of newspapers, novels, plays, and poetry that communicate their unique worldviews, humour and pain despite persecution.
We will take a look at how linguistic imperialism has affected the contemporary Jewish language landscape and where our diasporic languages stand now. As case studies, Yiddish exemplifies a revitalization effort that we hope to see occur in Ladino. Come for the multilingualism discourse, stay for the Jewish humour and song!
