Linguistic Landscape לנגיסתק לאנדסקיפ

Kobi Wasner, Mallory Joe, Anthony Wong

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Introduction-The purpose of this linguistic landscape is to observe language contact, mixing and dominance within a Jewish Hasidic Neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

-The area studied in Williamsburg was on Lee Avenue between Division Avenue and Flushing Avenue.

-The main languages observed in the area were English, Yiddish and Hebrew.

-The items examined were bottom-up signs including store signs and fliers surrounding the neighborhood, as well as some surveys from residents.

A Brief History- Before 1852 German Immigrants poured into Williamsburgh- 1852: Williamsburgh was incorporated as a city (and dropped the “h”). The population was 35,000.- By 1855 the population had grown to more than 100,000 - 1903 – the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge, which allowed for Jewish, Italian and Slavic immigrants to move from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The population grew to be over 250,000 people. - “In 1917, Williamsburg could claim to have the most crowded street in NYC, with over 5,000 people crammed into a single block.”- “Around WWI, large groups of Jews began to move west into South Williamsburg.”- Following WWII, the arrival of the Hasidic Rebbes accounts for the Hasidic dominance present in the neighborhood today.

Wilkerson Michael, “South Williamsburg”, A project of ournewyorkhistory.com, http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/histo/salzman/gallery/Wilkerson2.html

A Brief History (Continued)- Rebbes – “Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe followed these Hasidic spiritual leaders…to New York. It was their aim to “recreate the world that had existed in prewar Europe” in New York. Essential to this attempt to preserve their traditional way of life was the rejection of assimilation into American culture.”- “The area was well-suited for a self-sustaining community, and the Hasidim quickly transformed the neighborhood. Brownstones, row houses and tenements on streets crossing Bedford and Lee Avenues were made suitable for multiple Hasidic families.”

NOTE:The Jewish enclave was initially located further east. Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, set in 1912, describes the “districtcalled Jew Town” as being centered around Manhattan Avenue, startingat Siegel Street and extending south past Broadway. This is confirmedby the listing of Jewish organizations in The Jewish Communal Register of New York City, 1917-1918.

Method• Pictures were taken of bottom-up signs that exhibited

Hebrew and Yiddish• Surveys were conducted on local residents questioning

the common language use in the area• The signs were examined and viewed the

Hebrew/Yiddish and compared it to the English beside it

• Using the pictures, the signs were identified to which language is most dominant in terms of size and quantity

• Analyzed the data to determine which language was dominant on fliers and store signs.

The Linguistic Situation In Williamsburg, Brooklyn

-Williamsburg is a very diverse neighborhood, typical of any other community in New York City. Once you hit Lee Avenue, however, you will find yourself surrounded by Yeshivas, Glatt Kosher Delis and Hacidic families dressed in traditional Jewish garb.

-Between Division Avenue and Flushing avenue (North to South), and Marcy Avenue and Bedford Avenue (East to West), there is a sudden culture change to the Hacidic community. Along with this culture change comes a language shift: English and Spanish become Yiddish and Hebrew.

The StudyThe model we are following is Heubner’s Linguistic Landscape of Thailand. Heubner analyzed signs in 15 neighborhoods of Thailand and distinguished the dominance relationship of language on the signs. The signs can either be monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual.

Every store sign had at least some English on it, while fliers and Privately posted notes were either soley in Hebrew or in Yiddish.

Bilingual Store Signs

English is more prominentthan Hebrew.Hebrew is not directlytranslated fromEnglish. The Hebrewreads “Minimarketplus.” Minimarket is not in Hebrew;it is phoneticallyspelled outin English.

Yiddish is More Prominent than English.

Yiddish Print is the blue text, and Yiddish Script is the white text on the red background

Hebrew says “Pesach Store” phonetically spelled out in English

Spillman’s Fish Storeis phoneticallyspelled out in Hebrew letters.If you didn’tspeak English andonly knew how to read and speakHebrew, it wouldbe gibberish; the Hebrew writing does not mean anythingin the language

The dominant language on this sign is English, and the Hebrew just spell’s out the owner’s name: Kaufman. The owner put an apostrophe in the Hebrew to give

possession to the name, but there is no such thing in Hebrew. There is a separate word to give possession in Hebrew. In Hebrew, it would say “Store shell Kaufman”

The sign is split in two: half in English and half in Hebrew. There was a shift in pronouncing the letter “ת.” The letter (tav)today is pronounced with a “t” sound, however it was shifted from pronouncing it with an “s.” It is used as an s in this case,which suggests the creator of the sign is of an older generation

Bilingual Fliers

• English and Yiddish are split in half. There is the same amount of text on each side, however the English “$25,000 Cash” sign is clearly more dominant in text-size.

Languages: Hebrew, Yiddish. Yiddish is more dominant in size. Some Yiddish is English in Yiddish letters.

Languages: Hebrew, English. Hebrew is clearly more dominant in terms of size and amount of text.

Williamsburgians

English is clearly used to promote sales.the only word in English on the signs is sale, nothing more. It is the most dominant in terms of text-size, but clearlynot in terms of important information.

These fliers were all on one store window.

MONOLINGUAL FLIERS

THE HOSPITAL BUS

The bus ALONE has 3 languagesOn it: English, Yiddish and Hebrew. Most of the English, However, is Hebrew/Yiddish written out in English. Some Hebrew and Yiddish spell outEnglish words, yet most of itis actual Yiddish and Hebrew.

THE TRILINGUAL STORE

All Bottom-Up Signs

English35%

Hebrew34%

Yiddish30%

Spanish1%

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Spanish

These are the results from every bottom up sign within the areawe have studied. These include store signs, fliers on the stores,billboards and walls, and other signs put up by local citizens.

Results of Bottom-Up signs that are monolingual.

Monolingual Fliers

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

English Hebrew Yiddish

Languages

Fli

ers

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Monolingual Stores

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Yiddish Hebrew

Languages

Sto

res Yiddish

Hebrew

Bilingual Flier Text-Size Dominance

40%

27%

13%

20%

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Same

Bilingual Fliers: Amount of Text Dominance

7%

33%

47%

13%

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Same

Clearly, Yiddish and Hebrewhave more text on the fliers. The English is only used to promote a sale or translatebriefly what the flier is about.

English may only be used to say, “Sale”, however it is themost dominant of almost all the bilingual fliers.

Bilingual Store Text-Size Dominance

65%

10%

10%

15%

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Same

Bilingual Store Text Amounts

26%

5%

16%

53%

English

Hebrew

Yiddish

Same

The store signs’ results unquestionably demonstrates English’s influence on thecommunity. They may promote their culture, however we still live in America and they know English comes first.

It is also to make a better profit;if the sign is in one language that an outside buyer may not know, they will not make any money. To make a better profit the store owners know English must be used so everyone will know exactly what the store has to offer.

RESULTS

After reviewing the data, it is concluded that English is the mostdominant language on store signs and on fliers. The English

may have the largest font, however it is certainly not the most dominant in terms of quantity. The English is only used to promote a sale and give a quick definition to the store/flier.

The Hasidim preserve their culture by spreading the Hebrew and Yiddish (a language very rarely used in today’s societies).