Sabesdiker losn

{{short description|Linguistic merger of certain consonants in a dialect of Yiddish}}

{{Lang|yi-latn|Der sabesdiker-losn}} (Yiddish: {{lang|yi|{{script/Hebrew|דער סאַבעסדיקער לשון (לאָסן)}}|rtl=yes}}) is a dialectal feature characteristic of the Northeastern dialect of the Yiddish language (NEY, {{lang|yi-latn|Litvisher-vaysrusisher dialekt}}, {{lang|yi|{{Script/Hebrew|צפֿון ייִדיש}}|rtl=yes}} {{lang|yi-latn|Tsofn-yidish}}), which is the replacement, or merger of the "hushing" (post-alveolar) consonants "ch", "sh" (IPA: {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, {{IPAslink|ʃ}}), with the "hissing" (alveolar) ones, "ts", "s" (IPA: {{IPAslink|ts}}, {{IPAslink|s}}). The name of the term is a shibboleth: the phrase "{{lang|yi|{{Script/Hebrew|דאָס שבתֿדיקע לשון}}|rtl=yes}}" {{lang|yi-latn|dos shabesdike loshn}} (in standard Yiddish) means 'Sabbath speech', hinting at the perception that this feature is substandard. {{Cite book |last=Weinreich |first=Max |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNpXzP8z040C&dq=%22sabesdiker+losn%22&pg=PA534 |title=History of the Yiddish Language |date= |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-300-10887-3 |location=New Haven |pages=534 |author-link=Max Weinreich}} In addition to the shibboleth, the use of the masculine article {{lang|yi-latn|der}} indicates NEY's tendency to use either the masculine or the feminine gender for nouns where Standard Yiddish uses the neuter.

It is similar to the dialectical feature of Polish called {{lang|pl|mazurzenie}}, and there has been a hypothesis on the influence of {{lang|pl|mazurzenie}} on the development of {{lang|yi-latn|sabesdiker losn}}.