Yiddish phonology

There is significant phonological variation among the various Yiddish dialects. The description that follows is of a modern Standard Yiddish that was devised during the early 20th century and is frequently encountered in pedagogical contexts.

Consonants

Yiddish consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Postalveolar		Dorsal	Glottal
			soft	hard	soft	hard
Nasal		m	nʲ	n			(ŋ)
Plosive	voiceless	p		t			k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b		d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		tsʲ	ts	tʃʲ	tʃ
	voiced		dzʲ	dz	dʒʲ	dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	sʲ	s		ʃ	χ	h
	voiced	v	zʲ	z		ʒ	ɣ
Rhotic				r
Approximant	central						j
	lateral			l			ʎ

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Standard Yiddish are:

Yiddish monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ɪ		ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ	ɜ	ɔ
Open	a

External links

• Yiddish phonology