Recordings › Zhytomyr

MDV 786 · Veniamin Iakovlevich Geller

Zhytomyr, Ukraine 9 July 2002 Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Dovid Katz, Anatolii Kerzhner Part 5 of 6 62 min · 7 passages
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Passages

0:00

Comparison of education.

Schooling · MCO
From the machine transcript

Kerler and Katz work with the informant on what the Yiddish word for 'state' or 'government' is and on how it relates to the similar word for 'trade' or 'craft'. They also discuss a phrase for a craftsman or owner and a reference to King David. The catalogue's 'comparison of education' does not appear in the transcript.

The passage is lexical elicitation about the words for state and craft, not a comparison of education.

2:33

Synagogues and expressions.

From the machine transcript

Elicitation of Yiddish equivalents for Russian words: ways of saying 'look' or 'take a look', 'catch one's breath', and a word the informant considers neither Yiddish nor Russian. Katz states in English that the aim is old local words rather than Soviet-era ones. Synagogues are not clearly discussed in the transcript.

The passage is questionnaire elicitation of words for looking and breathing; no discussion of synagogues is clear in the transcript.

6:13

Cultural terminology.

Questionnaire Cultural terminology · MCO
From the machine transcript

Continued elicitation of vocabulary: more on catching one's breath, spectacles (a Berdychiv rabbi's wife is quoted on the word), sleepy or sick, 'very handsome', 'ran away from the Germans', 'each', and words for an honest person and for someone who knows everything. The informant comments on what is and is not Yiddish, as against Ukrainian or Russian.

9:36

Childhood memories and cultural terminology.

Questionnaire ChildhoodCultural terminology · MCO
From the machine transcript

Elicitation of words and constructions: 'my head hurts', 'where from', a word for walking, and the prepositions in 'at a wedding' and 'on the street'. Kerler also asks for words for grandmother and for a midwife. The informant answers and comments on usage in his home speech.

The passage is lexical and grammatical questioning on head, grandmother, midwife and prepositions, not childhood memories.

14:10

Religious life today.

life today Religious life (general) · MCO
From the machine transcript

A brief stretch of questions about phrases for 'you are right' and 'you are young', and about a word for cooking butter or melted butter. It is questionnaire work rather than a discussion of religious life today.

The passage is short elicitation of words and phrases, not religious life today.

14:58

Cultural terminology.

Questionnaire Cultural terminology · MCO
From the machine transcript

Elicitation of everyday vocabulary: a small tree, 'thousand' and the rouble slang for it, vodka, 'I talk with my mother', bed, and a well or spring and the names used for it. It continues with a tail, a word meaning 'block' with an insult built on the word for oak, a shop, and the rag collectors who exchanged old rags for small goods in the villages. The informant often notes whether a word is Yiddish, Ukrainian or Belarusian.

21:45

Dialectology.

Questionnaire Yiddish language and dialect · MCO
From the machine transcript

A long run of questionnaire items: flowers, potato and the Belarusian word for it, 'everyone', at/by the table, 'on the street' versus other forms, a rich man, a fence, the face and its descriptive words, 'back', 'suddenly' and others. Kerler and Katz also probe prepositions and phrases such as 'on the road', and the informant remarks on which words are not pure Yiddish. From about 38:16 the informant says that he was born in a small town near Warsaw and that he was evacuated to the Urals, working on a kolkhoz in the Yelansky district. His brother was killed at the front, and he came to Zhytomyr in June 1944.

Beyond dialectological questions, the end of the passage carries biographical remarks on birthplace near Warsaw, evacuation and return to Zhytomyr.