Towards a typological classification of Judeo-Spanish
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Susann Fischer
Abstract
Judeoespanyol (Judeo-Spanish) is one of the names given to those varieties of Spanish spoken by descendants of the Jews that were expelled from Spain in 1492. There is neither a common designation nor is it spoken in one specific area, nor is there any agreement on how to classify it. By some linguists Judeo- Spanish has been considered a dialect of (Balkan) Spanish, by some a contact language different from Spanish, and by others again, it has been discussed whether it represented medieval Spanish, preserved unchanged for the last five centuries. In this chapter, we argue that the Judeo-Spanish spoken in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia is indeed a contact language, showing on the phonetic side a puzzling similarity with Modern Bulgarian and on the syntactic side a similarity with Modern European Spanish, although at the same time exhibiting some archaisms of Old Spanish. It thus supports the idea that both divergence and stability frequently occur together in situations of linguistic contact.
Abstract
Judeoespanyol (Judeo-Spanish) is one of the names given to those varieties of Spanish spoken by descendants of the Jews that were expelled from Spain in 1492. There is neither a common designation nor is it spoken in one specific area, nor is there any agreement on how to classify it. By some linguists Judeo- Spanish has been considered a dialect of (Balkan) Spanish, by some a contact language different from Spanish, and by others again, it has been discussed whether it represented medieval Spanish, preserved unchanged for the last five centuries. In this chapter, we argue that the Judeo-Spanish spoken in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia is indeed a contact language, showing on the phonetic side a puzzling similarity with Modern Bulgarian and on the syntactic side a similarity with Modern European Spanish, although at the same time exhibiting some archaisms of Old Spanish. It thus supports the idea that both divergence and stability frequently occur together in situations of linguistic contact.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Theoretical aspects
- Linguistic stability and divergence 13
- Convergence vs. divergence from a diasystematic perspective 39
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Part II: Empirical studies
- Stability and convergence in case marking 63
- Towards a typological classification of Judeo-Spanish 77
- Despite or because of intensive contact? 109
- Stability in Chinese and Malay heritage languages as a source of divergence 141
- Does convergence generate stability? 163
- Gender and noun inflection 179
- Dialect stability and divergence in southern Spain 207
- The Bergen dialect splits in two 239
- Diachronic convergence and divergence in differential object marking between Spanish and Portuguese 265
- Person index 291
- Subject index 295
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Theoretical aspects
- Linguistic stability and divergence 13
- Convergence vs. divergence from a diasystematic perspective 39
-
Part II: Empirical studies
- Stability and convergence in case marking 63
- Towards a typological classification of Judeo-Spanish 77
- Despite or because of intensive contact? 109
- Stability in Chinese and Malay heritage languages as a source of divergence 141
- Does convergence generate stability? 163
- Gender and noun inflection 179
- Dialect stability and divergence in southern Spain 207
- The Bergen dialect splits in two 239
- Diachronic convergence and divergence in differential object marking between Spanish and Portuguese 265
- Person index 291
- Subject index 295
