Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] Book 136)

Main description: The book claims that Yiddish was created when Judaized Sorbs first relexified their language to High German between the 9th-12th centuries; by the 15th century, the descendants of the Judaized Khazars also relexified their Kiev-Polessian (northern Ukrainian and southern Belarusian) speech to Yiddish and German, Yiddish thus uses a mixed West-East Slavic grammar and suggests that converted Khazars were a major component in the Ashkenazic ethnogenesis

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TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.

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Ch. 1. The Relexification Hypothesis In Yiddish -- Ch. 2. Approaches To The Study Of Yiddish And Other Jewish Languages -- Ch. 3. Criteria For Selecting German And Hebrew-aramaic And For Retaining Slavic Elements In Yiddish -- Ch. 4. Evidence For The Two-tiered Relexification Hypothesis In Yiddish: From Upper Sorbian To German And From Kiev-polessian To Yiddish -- Ch. 5. Future Challenges. By Paul Wexler. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [555]-630) And Indexes.