Uriel Weinreich ( yi, אוריאל ווײַנרײַך ''Uriel Vaynraykh'', ; May 23, 1926 – March 30, 1967) was a Jewish–American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

Life

Uriel Weinreich was born in

Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(since 1945, Vilnius, Lithuania), the first child of

Max Weinreich Max Weinreich ( yi, מאַקס ווײַנרײַך ''Maks Vaynraych''; russian: Мейер Лазаревич Вайнрайх, ''Meyer Lazarevich Vaynraykh''; 22 April 1894, Goldingen, Russian Empire – 29 January 1969, New York City) was a Russ ...

( pl, Mejer Weinreich) and Regina Szabad, to a family that paternally hailed from

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

in Latvia and maternally came from a well-respected and established

Jewish family. He earned his BA, MA, and PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and went on to teach there, specializing in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

studies,

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of ...

, and

dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...

. He advocated the increased acceptance of

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

and compiled the iconic ''Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary'', published shortly after his death. Weinreich was the son of the linguist

and the mentor of both Marvin Herzog, with whom he laid the groundwork for the ''Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry'' ( LCAAJ), and

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 ...

. Weinreich is also credited with being the first linguist to recognize the phenomenon of

interlanguage An interlanguage is an idiolect that has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristic ...

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 on March 30, 1967, at Montefiore Hospital in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, prior to the publication of his Yiddish–English dictionary. Writing about Weinreich in his history of Yiddish ''Words on fire''

Dovid Katz Dovid Katz (Yiddish: , also , Hirshe-Dovid Kats, , born 9 May 1956) is an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar, author and educator, specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. ...

said:

"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'' (

YIVO YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...

, New York, 1st edition 1949, 6th edition 1999), . *''Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems''. New York, 1953. Reprint, Mouton, The Hague, 1963, . *''Say It in Yiddish: A Phrase Book for Travelers'' (with Beatrice Weinreich).

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

, New York, 1958, . *''Modern english-yidish yidish-english verterbukh''. Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968 and Schocken, new paperback edition 1987), at Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/modernenglishyid00wein_0/page/n1/mode/2up .

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20041029090827/http://www5.bartleby.com/65/we/Weinreic.html
EYDES (LCAAJ's website)
*

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

's essay inspired by ''Say It in Yiddish'', referenced i

and disputed i

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinreich, Uriel 1926 births 1967 deaths Linguists from the United States Linguists of Yiddish American lexicographers Linguists from Poland American people of Polish-Jewish descent Columbia University faculty Dialectologists Sociolinguists Writers from Vilnius History of YIVO 20th-century linguists 20th-century lexicographers Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University alumni

Life

Publications

See also

References

External links