Editing Yiddish (section)

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Yiddish consonants<ref name=kleine>{{Cite journal |last=Kleine |first=Ane |date=December 2003 |title=Standard Yiddish |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=261–265 |doi=10.1017/S0025100303001385 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |s2cid=232346563 |issn=1475-3502|doi-access=free }}</ref>
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]/
[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!{{small|hard}}
!{{small|[[Palatalization (phonetics)|soft]]}}
!{{small|hard}}
!{{small|soft}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|nʲ}})
| colspan="2" |
|
|({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|({{IPA link|ʔ}})
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|ts}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|tsʲ}})
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|tʃʲ}})
|
|
|
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|dz}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|dzʲ}})
|{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|dʒʲ}})
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|sʲ}})
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|χ}}
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|v}}
|{{IPA link|z}}
|({{IPAplink|ʲ|zʲ}})
|({{IPA link|ʒ}})
|
|
|[[Voiced uvular fricative|ʁ]]
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| colspan="6" |{{IPA|r}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
!{{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
|
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|-
!{{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|({{IPA link|ʎ}})
|
|
|}

* {{IPA|/m, p, b/}} are [[Bilabial consonant|bilabial]], whereas {{IPA|/f, v/}} are [[Labiodental consonant|labiodental]].<ref name=kleine/>
* The {{IPA|/l – ʎ/}} contrast has collapsed in some speakers.<ref name=kleine/>
* The palatalized coronals {{IPA|/nʲ, tsʲ, dzʲ, tʃʲ, dʒʲ, sʲ, zʲ/}} appear only in Slavic loanwords.<ref name=kleine/> The phonemic status of these palatalised consonants, as well as any other affricates, is unclear.
* {{IPA|/k, ɡ/}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} are [[Velar consonant|velar]], whereas {{IPA|/j, ʎ/}} are [[Palatal consonant|palatal.]]<ref name=kleine/>
** {{IPA|[ŋ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/n/}} after {{IPA|/k, ɡ/}}, and it can only be syllabic {{IPA|[ŋ̍]}}.<ref name=kleine/>
** {{IPA|[ɣ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/χ/}} before {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʒ/}}.<ref name=katz1987>{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Dovid |title=Grammar of the Yiddish Language |url=https://archive.org/details/grammarofyiddish0000katz |url-access=registration |publisher=Duckworth |location= London |year=1987 |isbn=0-7156-2162-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2022}}
* The phonetic realization of {{IPA|/χ/}} and {{IPA|/nʲ/}} is unclear:
** In the case of {{IPA|/χ/}},<ref name=kleine/> puts it in the "velar" column, but consistently uses a symbol denoting a voiceless ''uvular'' fricative {{angbr IPA|χ}} to transcribe it. It is thus safe to assume that {{IPA|/χ/}} is phonetically uvular {{IPAblink|χ}}.
** In the case of {{IPA|/nʲ/}},<ref name=kleine/> puts it in the "palatalized" column. This can mean that it is either palatalized alveolar {{IPA|[nʲ]}} or alveolo-palatal {{IPAblink|ɲ̟}}. {{IPA|/ʎ/}} may actually also be alveolo-palatal {{IPAblink|ʎ̟}}, rather than just palatal.
* The rhotic {{IPA|/r/}} can be either alveolar or uvular, either a trill {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|r}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʀ}}]}} or, more commonly, a flap/tap {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɾ}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʀ̆}}]}}.<ref name=kleine/>
* The glottal stop {{IPA|[ʔ]}} appears only as an intervocalic separator.<ref name=kleine/>

As in the [[Slavic languages]] with which Yiddish was long in [[Language contact|contact]] (Russian, [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), but unlike German, [[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]] stops have little to no [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]]; unlike many such languages, voiced stops are not devoiced in final position.<ref name=kleine/> Moreover, Yiddish has regressive [[Phonation|voicing]] [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]], so that, for example, {{lang|yi|זאָגט}} {{IPA|/zɔɡt/}} ('says') is pronounced {{IPA|[zɔkt]}} and {{lang|yi|הקדמה}} {{IPA|/hakˈdɔmɜ/}} ('foreword') is pronounced {{IPA|[haɡˈdɔmɜ]}}.