“I Was the Only Goyim There”

Linguistic Imitation and Socialization among Sephardic New Mexicans

Bibliographic Data

ID17823932
AuthorsSarah Leiter (0000-0002-7154-3403, University of New Mexico, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume11
Issue2
Pages262-291
Publication date2023-11-20
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Jewish Languages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2213-4387 • E-ISSN: 2213-4638
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/22134638-bja10038
OpenAlexW4388901226
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited21

This article explores linguistic imitation as a strategy of socialization. It focuses on the ethnographic context of New Mexico’s Jewish community, which some Hispanic New Mexicans are beginning to join after discovering their Sephardic, or Iberian Jewish, ancestry. Although several are choosing to formally ‘return,’ or convert, to Judaism, they often feel unwelcome in the community and, therefore, do not always have interlocutors who might help to linguistically integrate them. In this context, they adopt various strategies for learning community language norms, including imitating the speech of veteran community members and reproducing Jewish English as learned from books and internet resources, even if doing so results in non-normative usages. They may also use elements of Yiddish to mirror language used within the local Jewish community, positioning themselves as Sephardic through the use of an Ashkenazi language

Epistemology · Ethnography · Imitation · Judaism · Linguistics · Normative · Social science · Socialization · Sociology · Speech community · Anthropology · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Psychology · Social Psychology

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