Judaeo-Romance languages

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Judaeo-Romance languages are Jewish languages derived from Romance languages, spoken by various Jewish communities (and their descendants) originating in regions where Romance languages predominate, and altered to such an extent to gain recognition as languages in their own right. The status of many Judaeo-Romance languages is controversial as, despite manuscripts preserving transcriptions of Romance languages using the Hebrew alphabet, there is often little-to-no evidence that these "dialects" were actually spoken by Jews living in the various European nations.

Contents

Languages

Judaeo-Aragonese

Judaeo-Aragonese was spoken in north-central Spain from the around the mid-8th century to around the time of the Alhambra Decree, which expelled Jews from Spain. Later, it either merged with the various Judeo-Spanish dialects or fell out of use, to be replaced by the far more influential Judeo-Spanish dialects from Southern Spain, especially in the areas occupied by the modern lands of Valencia, Murcia and Andalucia.

Jewish Brazilian Portuguese

Jewish Brazilian Portuguese is a variety of Brazilian Portuguese incorporates Hebrew and Yiddish phrases. Sephardi communities also borrow from Ladino. [1]

Judaeo-Catalan

Judaeo-Catalan also known as Catalanic, was a Catalan dialect in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands that was spoken before the 1492 expulsion of the Alhambra Decree. It is unknown when Jews abandoned the language. While numerous Catalan texts written in the Hebrew alphabet survive, whether or not they truly represent a dialect is debated. Some scholars, while conceding that the evidence for the language is scarce, still defend Judaeo-Catalan's status as a language, [2] whereas other scholars deny such a language ever truly existed, [3] or, contend that the evidence is too limited to take any position on the matter at all. [4]

Jewish French

Jewish French is an ethnolect of French spoken by 200-300 thousand French Jews. It unlike most Judeo-Romance language is considered not in decline but instead is doing well. [5] It contains some influence from Yiddish, Israeli Hebrew as well as Judeo-Arabic from Mizrahi Jews who moved to France after being expelled from North Africa. Today there is media, both digital and physical in Jewish French. [5] It is not descendent from Zarphatic.

Southern Jewish French

This is a dialect of French spoken by 50-100 Jews in southern France. It contains influence from all three of the Judeo-Occitan languages particularly Judeo-Gascon. [6]

Judaeo-Italian

Judaeo-Italian, sometimes called "Italkian", a term coined by Solomon Birnbaum in 1942, has gone extinct except for one variety, now spoken fluently by fewer than 200 people. They speak the last remnant of the widely variant Judaeo-Italian languages spoken throughout Italy and Corfu and along the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. The language may have had some influence on the development of Yiddish. [7] The language is not as well preserved as larger Jewish languages like Ladino and much of what is documented was made to preserve the language. [8] It had several varieties which were:

Judaeo-Latin

Judaeo-Latin is a hypothetical language covering a range of geographical and register varieties of Latin. It is postulated to have been spoken in specific Jewish communities of the Roman Empire. A small corpus of Latin texts from the Middle Ages written in the Hebrew alphabet exist, but they are insufficient to indicate a commonly spoken ethnolect, and thus the existence of a veritable Jewish Latin language is pure conjecture. [9]

Judaeo-Piedmontese

Judaeo-Piedmontese was a language spoken by Jews in Piedmont, in North Western Italy from around the 16th century to the Second World War. It was based on Piedmontese, a Gallo-Italian language close to Provençal, with many loanwords from Classical Hebrew. Italian author Primo Levi, born within the Piedmontese Jewish community, described the language briefly in the opening chapter of his book The Periodic Table . [10] It went extinct circa 2015 [10]

Bagitto

Bagitto also known as Judeo-Livornese was a dialect or slang used by the Jews of Livorno. [11] Though extinct many works in it were written by Guido Bedarida. [12] It contained many loanwords from Spanish, Portuguese, and Ladino. [12]

Judeo-Salentinian

A now extinct dialect of Salentino used by Jews in Salento and Corfu. The oldest text in Salentino is in the margin notes of a copy of the Mishnah from 1072 to 1073 known as Parma A which is in Judeo-Salentinian. [12]

Judeo-Roman

Judeo-Roman is the only variety of Judeo-Italian which is not extinct. It is moribund, and is spoken by 250 elderly people 200 of which are in Italy. [12] There are groups trying to preserve the language. There is a theater groups called Chaimme 'a sore 'o sediaro e 'a moje (Chaim, the sister, the chairmaker and the wife) makes plays in Judeo-Roman, some which are available on YouTube. [13] There are also poems in Judeo-Roman by Crescenzo del Monte. [12]

Judeo-Mantuan

Judeo-Mantuan was a dialect of Judeo-Italian spoken in and around the Italian city of Mantua. It dropped the Italian e at the end of words (far instead of fare). It is attested through several poems by a Jewish physician Annibale Gallico, made from 1876 to 1935. [14]

Other varieties [12]

Other varieties of Judeo-Italian are

There are few samples of these languages. [12]

Jewish Latin American Spanish

Jewish Latin America Spanish is variety of Spanish spoken by the by 300,000 members of the Jewish community of Latin America. It contains laonwords from Aramaic, Modern Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. Though older varieties have more Aramaic, Ladino, and Yiddish loanwords while the version spoken by younger generations has more Modern Hebrew loanwords. [15]

Judaeo-Occitan

There exists three distinct, now extinct varieties of the Occitan language spoken by Jews.

Judaeo-Provençal

was the language that developed in Provence and in the rest of medieval southern France. Judaeo-Occitan had several unique phonemic changes in Hebrew loanwords. Use of Judaeo-Provençal began to decline following the explusion of the Jews from France in 1498 [16] and continued with the spread of French language in the southern parts of the country. This decline accelerated with the emancipation of the Jews during the French Revolution which enabled Provençal Jews to migrate and settle outside of Provence. [17] it finally died when the last speaker Armand Lunel, died in 1977. But Lunel only remembered a few words of the language. [16]

Judeo-Niçard

A subdialect of the Niçard subdialect of Provençal spoken by he Jewish community in and around Nice. The least attested of the Judeo Occitan dialects, Judeo Niçard was spoken by the community of Jews living in Nice, descendants of local Jewish immigrants from Provence, Piedmont, and other Mediterranean communities. It is attested from a few documents from the 19th century. It contained significant influence in both vocabulary and grammar from Hebrew. [6]

Judeo-Gascon

Judeo-Gascon was a sociolect of the Gascon dialect of Occitan spoken in Gascony it was spoken until the early 20th century. [18] It had influence on Southern Jewish French with about 850 words a some morphological and grammatical changes from various languages being transferred to Southern Jewish French through Judeo-Gascon. [6]

Judaeo-Portuguese

Judeo-Portuguese was the language spoken by the secret Jewish population of Portugal until the 16th century when it was extinct. A few vestigial archaism forms survived in secret religious rituals through small, unique Crypto-Jewish communities in the Belmonte municipality. While it is extinct as a spoken language it is still used in a limited liturgical sense.

Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish or Ladino is known by a number of other names. It is found in many varied regional dialects and is the modern descendant of the Spanish that was spoken by the Sephardi Jews, the descendants of Spain's large and influential Jewish population. After the 1492 Alhambra Decree mandated the expulsion of Spain's Jewish population of 300,000, Judaeo-Spanish spread throughout Europe and the Ottoman Empire, becoming the lingua franca of the Adriatic Sea. In 2017, it was formally recognized by the Royal Spanish Academy. [19] It is mainly spoken by Sephardic Jews by only 133,000 of 1,000,000 Sephardic Jews speak it and it is classified as Definitely Endangered. [20] [21] Many of its speakers were killed during the Holocaust and most others would switch into the main languages of their countries. [22] The largest Ladino speaking communities are in Israel (125K) and Turkey (8K) though tiny communities in Greece and Bosnia Herzegovina also exist with 12 and 4 speakers respectively. [21]

Haketia

Haketia is an endangered dialect of Ladino spoken by 1000 North Africa Sephardim down from 30,000 in 1900, historically spoken in several Moroccan cities. [23] [24] It is differentiated by other dialects by its presence of Arabic influence. Unlike other Ladino dialects, Haketia does not have a literary tradition. [25] Teutani is a subdialect of Haketia historically spoken in the Algerian city of Oran. [26]

Zarphatic

Zarphatic also known as Judeo-French was a Jewish language of Northern France, Norman England, the Low Countries and western Germany. It was used in a limited sense by Rashi. [27] There is a debate over how different Judaeo French was from Old French, some believe it was a sociolect, dialect, or separate language. [27] The term Zarphatic, coined by Solomon Birnbaum, [28] comes from the Hebrew name for France, Tzarfat (צרפת)

History and development

The exact development of the Judeo-Romance languages is unclear. The two predominant theories are that they are either descended from Judeo-Latin, and that their development paralleled that of Latin's daughter languages or that they are independent outgrowths of each individual language community. Another theory adopts parts of both, proposing that certain of the Judeo-Romance languages (variously, Zarphatic, Shuadit, Italkian and Catalanic) are descended from Judeo-Latin, but that others (variously, Zarphatic, Catalanic, Ladino, Judeo-Portuguese) are the product of independent development.

Present status

Most Judaeo-Romance languages are extinct or facing serious risks of extinction. Assuming they actually existed, Judaeo-Latin died in ancient times, while Judaeo-French and Judeo-Aragonese died in the Middle Ages. Judeo-Portuguese ceased being used in Portugal in the 16th century, but survived in the Jewish diaspora until the late 18th century. [29] Judaeo-Catalan died sometime between the Middle Ages and the Second World War, when most of its speakers would have been exterminated in the Holocaust. [30] Judaeo-Occitan became extinct when its last native speaker, Armand Lunel, died in 1977. [29] Judaeo-Italian is critically endangered, with all of its dialects except 1 being extinct. And the on the last remaining dialect Judeo-Roman being spoken by around 250 individuals in 2022. [31] Judaeo-Spanish is spoken by the remaining Sephardic communities of the Maghreb in northern Africa, in the Middle East, especially in Turkey and Israel, which accounts for as many as 160,000 people; however, nearly all of this number speak at least one other language. While Judeo-French and Jewish Latin America Spanish break the trend and are described as "Vibrant" and are facing no threat of extinction. [27] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occitan language</span> Romance language of Western Europe

Occitan, also known as lenga d'òc by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. It is also spoken in Calabria in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.

The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages are a group of Romance languages that developed on the Iberian Peninsula, an area consisting primarily of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Andorra and southern France. They are today more commonly separated into West Iberian and Occitano-Romance language groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piedmontese language</span> Gallo-Italic language spoken in Piedmont, Italy

Piedmontese is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian dialect. It is linguistically included in the Gallo-Italic languages group of Northern Italy, which would make it part of the wider western group of Romance languages, which also includes French, Occitan, and Catalan. It is spoken in the core of Piedmont, in northwestern Liguria, and in Lombardy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish languages</span> Languages and dialects developed in the Jewish diaspora

Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities in the diaspora. The original Jewish language is Hebrew, supplanted as the primary vernacular by Aramaic following the Babylonian exile. Jewish languages feature a syncretism of Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic with the languages of the local non-Jewish population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judeo-Arabic dialects</span> Jewish varieties of Arabic

Judeo-Arabic dialects are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arab world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encompassing four languages: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju), Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye), Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (yhd), and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).

Judeo-Italian is an endangered Jewish language, with only about 200 speakers in Italy and 250 total speakers today. The language is one of the Italian languages and one of the Jewish Romance Languages. Some words have Italian prefixes and suffixes added to Hebrew words as well as Aramaic, roots. All of the language's dialects except one are now extinct.

Judeo-Provençal, Judæo-Occitan or Judæo-Comtadin, are the names given to the varieties of Occitan or Provençal languages historically spoken and/or written by Jews in the South of France, and more specifically in the Comtat Venaissin area.

Judaeo-Portuguese, Jewish-Portuguese or Judaeo-Lusitanic, is an extinct Jewish language or a dialect of Galician-Portuguese written in the Hebrew alphabet that was used by the Jews of Portugal.

Judaeo-Catalan, also called Catalanic or Qatalanit, was a presumed Jewish language spoken by the Jews in Northern Catalonia and what is today Northeastern Spain, especially in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italo-Western languages</span> Romance language branch

Italo-Western is, in some classifications, the largest branch of the Romance languages. It comprises two of the branches of Romance languages: Italo-Dalmatian and Western Romance. It excludes the Sardinian language and Eastern Romance.

There have been many languages spoken in the Iberian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haketia</span> Romance language

Haketia is an endangered Jewish Romance language also known as Djudeo Spañol, Ladino Occidental, or Western Judaeo-Spanish. It was historically spoken by the North African Sephardim in the Moroccan cities of Tétouan, Tangier, Asilah, Larache, Chefchaouen, Ksar el-Kebir, and the Spanish towns of Ceuta and Melilla. Tetuani Ladino was also spoken in Oran, Algeria. One of the distinctions between Ladino and Haketia (Haquetia) is that the latter incorporates Arabic.

Judaeo-Aragonese was a Judaeo-Romance language, a Jewish language that was derived from Aragonese. It was used by Spanish Jews in north-central Spain from the mid-8th century to the 1492 Alhambra Decree, which expelled Jews from Spain. Later, it either merged with the various Judaeo-Spanish dialects or fell out of use because of the far more influential Judaeo-Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judaeo-Spanish</span> Language derived from Medieval Spanish spoken by Sephardic Jews

Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish, also known as Djudio and only recently Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Romance languages</span> Subdivision of the Romance languages

Western Romance languages are one of the two subdivisions of a proposed subdivision of the Romance languages based on the La Spezia–Rimini Line. They include the Gallo-Romance and Iberian Romance branches. Gallo-Italic may also be included. The subdivision is based mainly on the use of the "s" for pluralization, the weakening of some consonants and the pronunciation of “Soft C” as /t͡s/ rather than /t͡ʃ/ as in Italian and Romanian.

Eastern Sephardim are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews mostly descended from Jewish families which were exiled from Iberia in the 15th century, following the Alhambra Decree of 1492 in Spain and a similar decree in Portugal five years later. This branch of descendants of Iberian Jews settled across the Eastern Mediterranean.

The various regional and minority languages in Europe encompass four categories:

Judeo-Gascon is a sociolect of the Gascon language, formerly spoken among the Spanish and Portuguese Jews who settled during the 16th century in the cities of Bordeaux, Bayonne and in the south-west part of Landes of Gascony (most notably in Peyrehorade and Bidache. Judeo-Gascon, as Judeo-Provençal, the other major Jewish sociolect of Occitan, is now practically extinct.

References

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