当然,政治和语言学一样受到了意第绪语是一种方言而非语言这一长期广泛流传的看法的影响。一个有名的例子是馬克斯·魏因賴希在他关于这一问题的讲话中所引用的一位听众的观点:"אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט" (A shprakh iz a diyalekt mit an armey un a flot),这句名言就是意第绪语(此处引用的拉丁转写),意思是“語言就是擁有陸軍和海軍的方言”。中欧和东欧犹太人没有自己单独的民族国家,缺少政治、经济、军事力量作为后盾,语言的地位也被人看低。
Melamed, S.M., "The Yiddish Stage", 《纽约时报》, Sep 27, 1925 (X2)
Weinreich, Max, "Der yivo un di problemen fun undzer tsayt" ("'Yivo' and the problems of our time"), Yivo-bleter 25.1.13. (1945), facsimile excerpt at [1].
书籍
Cohen, David (Rabbi), Yiddish: A Holy Language, Mesorah Publications, New York, 2004 (in Hebrew).
Fishman, Joshua A. (ed.), Never Say Die: A Thousand Years of Yiddish in Jewish Life and Letters, Mouton Publishers, The Hague, 1981, ISBN90-279-7978-2 (in Yiddish and English).
Jacobs, Neil G., Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2005, ISBN0-521-77215-X.
Katz, Dovid, Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish, Basic Books, New York, 2004, ISBN0-465-03728-3.
Kriwaczek, Paul, Yiddish Civilization: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2005, ISBN0-297-82941-6.
Lansky, Aaron, Outwitting History: How a Young Man Rescued a Million Books and Saved a Vanishing Civilisation, Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, 2004, ISBN1-56512-429-4.
Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, ISBN0-8246-0124-6.