Statement of Proposed Study or Research
Erica Shafran, Austria, Linguistics
The Effect of Yiddish on National Identity in Austria
I propose to study Yiddish in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Austria, at this time, contained a large variety of languages: German, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, and Yiddish (arguably a German dialect and not a separate language, but for my study I classify it as a language) were all everyday languages of the Empire. Yet, some argue that the Habsburger Empire dissolved because of the burden of too many languages, rendering effective communications impossible. Can a country be made to falter because of the undue weight of too many languages? I propose to explore this question at the University of Vienna, under the direction of Dr. Elisabeth Leinfellner, a linguist who specializes in political discourse and the works of Fritz Mauthner.
I believe firmly, along with linguist B.L. Whorf, that language influences the way we think and how we experience life. Language, therefore, can be closely linked with national identity; the way a country speaks (i.e., the languages it uses) will affect attitudes and emotions. I have noticed the influence of the Spanish language in the United States, and, even a few years ago, I would not have thought Spanish could become so widespread. Now Spanish is so common that directions and signs are bilingual. However, Spanish has and continues to spawn debates over its presence in the U.S.
How did Austria change from a country of multiple languages to a city where German became the primary language without altering its diverse atmosphere? By exploring one dialect in use in Austria, specifically fin-de-siècle Vienna, I can plot its influence on those who spoke it. While not spoken by the majority of Austrians, there were pockets in both Vienna and the Austrian Empire where Yiddish was the sole language. The Yiddish language allowed many Jews to preserve a sense of their Jewish identity in a culture where Germandom was the culture of the social elite. Vienna experienced a large influx of immigrants due to industialization at this time, including Jewish parents hoping to procure a brighter future for their children. These children easily grasped the German language spoken in the schools, while they conversed with their parents at home in Yiddish. With German replacing Yiddish for those who sought social and political success, did the national identity of the speakers suffer?
I plan to examine Austria’s response to the burden of multiple languages, and to do so according to the theories of Mauthner, a prominent Viennese linguistic philosopher. Mauthner’s work identified language as a tool for exploring reality. By focusing on one dialect—Yiddish—in Austria, I hope to better understand how language changed the climate of this city using the theories which both developed there by Mauthner and changed the face of continental linguistics forever. Multiply the impact of one language’s effect by the number of other languages spoken, and then we can truly see the effect such a configuration of languages had on the country.
I do not know the answer to this language question. I want to study how languages affect the attitudes of a country. Habsburger Vienna harbored anti-Semitic feelings at the time, and those who spoke Yiddish invariably suffered discrimination. These same negative feelings directed at speakers of certain languages are present in the United States today. Proposition 227 recently aimed to make California an “English only” state by eliminating bilingual education, much like the Jewish children were forced to speak German in the schools. Proposition 227 was overturned, but it is evident that Spanish speakers are growing in number and influence. By looking at one country’s approach to Vienna’s nineteenth-century “language problem,” I hope to gain insight into the way we approach languages in the United States.