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==Development of Jewish varieties of languages==
Jewish communities were dispersed around the world in the diaspora which followed the Jewish-Roman wars. Some adopted the languages of their neighbors, but many developed new varieties of these languages, collectively termed "Jewish languages".<ref name=Handbook/> Various reasons led to the development of distinctive Jewish varieties of the languages of their non-Jewish host populations. Jews have often had limited exposure to non-Jewish society for various reasons, including imposed [[ghettoization]] (whether self-imposed separation or the forced creation of the ghetto by the host city) and strict [[endogamy]], and as a result, Jewish languages diverged and developed separately from non-Jewish varieties in the territories they settled in. Due to frequent [[Expulsions of Jews|expulsions]] and migrations, single Jewish communities were often influenced by multiple distinct regional languages via [[language contact]]. For example, [[Yiddish]], while based on [[Middle High German]], has elements of [[Judeo-Latin|Romance]] and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]].<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/yiddish.html YIDDISH: History and Development]</ref> Jewish languages belong to a variety of genealogical language families, but these languages have common characteristics, making their study a distinct field of comparative linguistics known as [[Jewish linguistics]]. The common feature between the Jewish languages is the presence of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Judeo-Aramaic]] lexical components, stemming from the shared use of these languages in writing and liturgy. Many Jewish languages also display phonological, morphological, and syntactic features distinct from their non-Jewish counterparts. Most written Jewish languages are ''Hebraized'', meaning they use a modified version of the Hebrew alphabet. These languages, unless they already have an accepted name (i.e. Yiddish, [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]]), are prefixed with "Judeo" (e.g. [[Judeo-Italian]], [[Judeo-Arabic]], [[Judeo-Persian]], [[Judeo-Aramaic]], [[Judeo-Marathi]], [[Judeo-Malayalam]], etc).<ref name=Handbook>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sG3sCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PR1&focus=viewport&dq= Handbook of Jewish Languages]</ref> Bukharan Jews spoke [[Bukhori]], a dialect of Tajik, and Mountain Jews spoke [[Judeo-Tat]].
In the early 20th century, secularism among Jews and large population shifts prompted the beginning of a shift from Jewish to non-Jewish languages. Even so, the majority of Jews in [[Eurasia]] and [[Jews in Africa|Africa]], and many immigrants in [[North America]] and [[Palestinian Jews|Palestine]], still spoke Jewish languages. However, the [[Holocaust]] brought about a significant drop in the use of Jewish languages, especially [[Yiddish]]. Later, especially since the [[COVID-19]] pandemic, learning Yiddish has begun to see a significant increase in popularity and interest,<ref>{{cite web|title=Yiddish on the Rise|url =https://lifeandletters.la.utexas.edu/2019/11/yiddish-on-the-rise/|access-date=Nov 4, 2023|first=Tori|last=Miller|publisher=University of Texas|date=November 18, 2019}}</ref> with studies revealing a surge in registration to online Yiddish language learning resources such as [[Duolingo]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The pandemic and apps are fueling a surge of interest in Yiddish|url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/09/30/yiddish-pandemic-dua-lingo/|access-date=Nov 4, 2023|first=Noah|last=Smith|publisher=Washington Post|date=September 30, 2022}}</ref>
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