Judeo-Spanish

History

The spoken language preserved the features of the 15th century, which gave him its specificity: it remained similar to the Castillan of 1492, at the moment when the Décret of Alhambra, published the March 31st 1492 and ratified by the Kings Catholiques of Spain Isabelle de Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, sign the expulsion of the Juif S of Spain. In particular, the Judeo-Spanish does not know the Jota , this letter which is posterior for him. The djudezmo returns thus the J by CH (ex: in djudezmo : kacha ; in current Spanish: caja ). The J is always pronounced as in French.

Nearly 200.000 Jews Séfarades after 1492 in all the Mediterranean basin disperses. The Jewish Diaspora Spanish E adopts the language of its host country, but preserves the Judeo-Spanish like language of the businesses, in particular in North Africa (Fès, Tangier, Tetouan, Oran, Reduction-Salted, Meknes, Taza, ksar to kébir, Marrakech, Oujda, Tlemçen, Algiers, Bejaïa, Tunis, Sphax, Kaïrouan) and the Ottoman Empire.

At the 17th century, the Spanish-speaking Jewish communities of the Atlantic facade, cities of the west of the France like Bordeaux and of Holland like Amsterdam, know the ladino, this literal translation of the Hebrew reserved for the crowned texts; but these Juif S what is called does not speak on the other hand from now on the djudezmo or vernacular Judeo-Spanish.

Still spoken by important communities before the Second world war, mainly in the Balkans, the Judeo-Spanish is today a language threatened of disappearance, following the example Yiddish, mainly because of the Shoah which decimated the communities Greek of Yugoslav Salonique, , Rumanian or Bulgarian, but also because, at the time of the Décolonisation and especially of the Israeli-Arab wars, a majority of the community Morocco groin left the North Africa. In 1948 one estimated at close to 35000juifs speakers of the Judeo-Spanish in Tangier-Tétouan

Following the example Yiddish, the Judeo-Spanish lost part of its speakers today. The National authority of Ladino (ANL), Israeli organization International created in 1997, on the basis of law adopted by the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament ) the March 17th 1996, defends the Langue and the Judeo-Spanish Culture by encouraging creation in this language and by publishing the philosopher's stones of the Judeo-Spanish Littérature. She plays also a part of transmission and Commémoration while taking part in the safeguard of the heritage of the communities Séfarades disappeared in the Shoah.

Orthography

The Judeo-Spanish presents important differences with the modern Castillan:

the Tilde (sign ~ ) does not exist.
the following Spanish letters do not exist: C , Q , X , W , ñ , L . One finds other forms in the place:

the C ( Ca , Co , Cu ) is written ka , KB , ku ; the this , Ci is written and if . Example: silencio > silensio .
the Q ( that , which ) is written ke , ki . Example: quién sabe > ken save .
the X is written ks or gz according to the direction of the sentence. Example: exilio > egzilyo .
the ñ is written ny . Example: señor > sinyor .
the L is written there . Example: gallina > gayina .
the B is written B or v . Examples: boca, sober > boka, sovre .
the J (Jota) is written CH . Example: lejano > lechano or leshano . The J in a Judeo-Spanish text always decides as in French.

the characters Turkish C , ş frequently meet in the Turkish publications in judesmo.
Alphabet S. the Latin alphabet is employed the most today, particularly in Turkey. One finds sometimes the Hebrew alphabet (and in particular the characters Rachi), practical which one names Aljamiado in reference to the Arab use. The Greek alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet were employed in the past but meet very seldom today. The orthography of Aki Yerushalayim would tend to be spread.

Publications in Judeo-Spanish

One deducts 105 newspapers in Judeo-Spanish with Salonique, 25 with Istanbul and 23 with Izmir over the period 1860-1930. The publications in Judeo-Spanish add up approximately 300 titles between the years 1860 and the end of the twentieth century. There remains about it a negligible part today. The weekly magazine Şalom is a Turkish periodical writes partly in Judeo-Spanish (with height of a sixth today). The cultural review Aki Yerushalayim is completely published in the Judeo-Spanish language.

Authors of Judeo-Spanish expression

Writers, poets like Margalit Matitiahu and Myriam Moscona; musicians like the singer Turkish-Israeli in ladino SuZy or Yasmin Levy, or Judy Frankel, from Rhodos, which attempted to find traditional Chanson S in ladino, fed contemporary creation in this language.

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