Like Putting Mayo on a Bialy

A Discourse Analysis of Yiddish Functionality

Abstract

In a discourse analysis with regards to stance and social indexicality, representational language or “TV language” from the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel illuminates several functions of Yiddish loanwords as variables: stancetakers’ disproportionate stance acts, inter-generational usage of person/type terms to evoke prejudice, and younger speakers’ appropriation of conventional usages. It is suggested that because Yiddish terms often contain conventional associations with usages or users, situated meanings arise from a basis of conventionality. The following situated meanings of Yiddish loanwords and their functionality add to existing third wave variation theory, as variables construct speakers’ desired personae.