{"id":57784,"date":"2023-01-30T22:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T03:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=57784"},"modified":"2023-01-30T23:06:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T04:06:42","slug":"ashkenazi-click-sounds-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=57784","title":{"rendered":"Ashkenazi click sounds, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following up on their query which formed the basis for \"Ashkenazi click sounds\" (1\/27\/23), Dana F. appends this additional valuable information:<\/p>\r\n

I have been searching for a while and have not been able to find anything on Youtube (my theory is that it is used in casual speech only, and people might not do it as often when being filmed for that reason). However, I did find this article<\/a> that discusses it and describes it as a \"hesitation click.\" By googling \"hesitation click,\" I also found this article<\/a> and this relevant, and really interesting, quote:<\/div>\r\n
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Benor lists several features that make all Orthodox speech special, such as a high number of loanwords from Hebrew and Yiddish, far more than are found in the vocabulary of non-Orthodox American Jews; Yiddish-influenced phrasing, as in English sentences like \u201cI want you should come right away\u201d or \u201cWe\u2019re staying by my in-laws on Shabbos,\u201d and Yiddish-influenced phonetic deviations, such as a full \u201ct\u201d-sound at the end of words and syllables. (An example of this would be saying \u201cright\u201d with the same \u201ct\u201d as is heard in \u201ctoday,\u201d as opposed to the partially swallowed or glottalized final \u201ct\u201d of American English.)<\/p>\r\n

Two other peculiarities complete Benor\u2019s list. One is a singsong \u201ctalmudic\u201d intonation, particularly in sentences with logical reasoning expressed in dependent clauses like, \u201cIf you were going to the grocery anyway, why didn\u2019t you buy some bread?\u201d The other is what Benor calls a \u201chesitation click\u201d \u2014 a \u201ctsk\u201d-sound used, like \u201cum,\u201d to give the speaker time to think of what to say next. (Although she is no doubt correct in ascribing this to Israeli influence, she errs in thinking that it is used this way in Israeli Hebrew. The Israeli \u201ctsk\u201d simply means \u201cNo,\u201d although when occurring in midsentence in what Binor rightly calls a \u201ccorrective click,\u201d this \u201cno\u201d can have the sense of, \u201cOn second thought, that isn\u2019t what I really wanted to say, so I\u2019ll try to say it again.\u201d This is probably how, misinterpreted by Orthodox American Jews exposed to Israeli speech, it became an American Jewish \u201chesitation click.\u201d)<\/p>\r\nThis gives some context to the origin, although it does not explain how the meaning of the click evolved from Hebrew (\"no\") to simply a filler word that is used, in my experience, multiple times per sentence.<\/div>\r\n

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Serendipitously, Sarah Bunin Benor<\/a>, the author referred to in the passage quoted three paragraphs above, submitted a comment to the first post of this pair. The comment has been posted there, but I'm also including it here because it straightens out a lot of lingering misconceptions and uncertainties:<\/div>\r\n

I did write about this in my dissertation and then my first book, Becoming Frum (p. 106):<\/p>\r\n

At the other end of the spectrum of salience is a linguistic feature I refer to as a hesitation click. It is used for self- repair, to express a negative reaction to the previous or current statement, or as a general hesitation marker. The click derives from Israeli Hebrew and is similar to the practice called \u201csuckteeth\u201d or \u201ckiss- teeth\u201d in African diaspora communities.53 I heard this click in all the Orthodox communities where I conducted research, as well as among some non- Orthodox Jews who have spent significant time in Israel. Here are some examples:<\/p>\r\n

Self- repair:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not common, but it\u2019s\u2014 [click] there are other subjects.\u201d
\u201cBut sometimes it\u2019s more\u2014 [click] I don\u2019t know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Disapproval:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo, but it\u2019s not\u2014 [click] no, you don\u2019t understand.\u201d
\u201cWe just do. [click] It\u2019s not that girls can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Hesitation:<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhat if there were\u2014 [click] If there were snakes and scorpions, they would have
found them.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s not as, [click] you know, as choshuv.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

I believe that the click is picked up by Americans who spend time in Israeli yeshivas, and when they return to the United States their friends and relatives pick it up from them. The click seems to be a very \u201ccontagious\u201d linguistic feature, as many Orthodox Jews who have never spent time in Israel use it frequently. Aside from loanwords, this was the feature that I heard from the most speakers, FFBs and BTs.<\/p>\r\n

Finally, MYL dug up some relevant YouTube videos, from among which Dana F. chose this one (at 1:36) as representing most nearly what they were referring to:<\/p>\r\n

\"Shtick Yeshivish People Say At Shivas POV<\/a>\"<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/strong><\/p>\r\n