70 Heritage Language Journal, 17(1) April, 2020

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

70 Heritage Language Journal, 17(1) April, 2020 70 Heritage Language Journal, 17(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.17.1.3 April, 2020 Language Socialization and Intergenerational Transmission of Ladino: Three Generations of Speakers in the Twenty-First Century Bryan Kirschen Binghamton University ABSTRACT This study examines language socialization among five women of a single family who all speak Ladino, an endangered language spoken by Sephardic Jews. These women, ranging from 32-88 years of age, represent three generations raised in different countries and exposed to a number of languages, including Turkish, Hebrew, Ladino, Spanish, and English. Given the rarity of intergenerational transmission of Ladino over the past century, this study asks the following research questions: 1) how the women in this study have been able to preserve their heritage language, Ladino, in spite of contact with other languages, and 2) how said contact with other languages has affected their production of Ladino. To address these questions, each informant participated in a sociolinguistic interview and a lexical elicitation task. An analysis of data reveals the unique circumstances that have allowed for the grandmother’s relative monolingualism in Ladino, and the different trajectories the language has taken among subsequent generations. Despite relative stability vis-à-vis proficiency in Ladino, data indicate points of contact between Spanish and Ladino among the youngest informants who acquired both varieties simultaneously during childhood. This research was conducted in 2018 among informants in both (Florida) United States and (Bat Yam) Israel. KEYWORDS: Language Socialization; Intergenerational Transmission; Lexical Elicitation; Contact; Ladino; Spanish 1. INTRODUCTION This study explores language socialization and practice among three generations of Jewish women, each born in a different country at a different period throughout the twentieth century. This triad (grandmother-daughter-granddaughter) is not only united by blood but also by language: Ladino.1 Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, is both a Romance language and a Jewish language; it is also an endangered language. By carrying out an apparent time study, this article seeks to understand the ways in which language socialization has allowed for intergenerational transmission of Ladino, while also providing for linguistic variation from one generation to the next. The article will begin with a review of the language and population in question, followed by a general overview of language socialization. After describing the participants, research questions, and methodologies, the study will examine the distribution of languages among informants as well as production in Ladino. The subsequent discussion will consider how language socialization has affected the ways in which informants in this study, particularly those of the youngest generation, negotiate and produce the multiple linguistic codes that they speak. 2. LANGUAGE AND POPULATION IN QUESTION: LADINO AND THE SEPHARDIM Ladino refers to the Castilian-based variety of Spanish that developed among the Jews who settled predominantly into the Ottoman Empire following their expulsion from Spain and Portugal at the end of the fifteenth century. In a matter of a few generations, linguistic koinés formed among the Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 01:57:44PM via free access 71 Heritage Language Journal, 17(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.17.1.3 April, 2020 communities where Iberian Jews, known as Sephardim, resided. The two principal communities where koinés formed among Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire were in the cities of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul, Turkey) and Salonica (today’s Thessaloniki, Greece) (Quintana Rodríguez, 2006, p. 276). The Spanish of the Sephardim continued to develop in a way unparalleled to that of the Spanish of Spain and the Americas. In contrast to those varieties, Ladino incorporated elements from Hebrew as well as contiguous languages to the Sephardim’s surroundings (e.g. Turkish, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, etc.). Ladino thrived for centuries in the regions where it was spoken among the Sephardim. One reason for the vitality of Ladino was due to the millet system in place in the Ottoman Empire. Under this system, religious minority groups had autonomous governance. Such self-governance allowed the Sephardim to remain in their own milieu, despite contact with other religious, linguistic, and cultural groups (Benbassa & Rodrigue, 2000). As such, Sephardim were able to maintain their ways of life, including intergenerational transmission of Ladino. Today, Ladino is an endangered language. The shift in status began over a century ago with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. With the rise of nation states, Sephardim began to assimilate and acculturate to the linguistic ideologies and practices of their surroundings. This trend would continue for Sephardim who made their way to North and South America in the early part of the twentieth century and for the waves of Sephardim that migrated to Israel in the years following World War II.2 Aside from general forces of assimilation, the Holocaust is also a main reason for the endangerment of Ladino. During the first half of the 1940s, cities throughout what is now Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to name a few, witnessed the mass decimation of their centuries-old Sephardic communities (Rodrigue, 2005). Today, most speakers of the language are septuagenarians or older; however, as this article will demonstrate, younger speakers exist. Given bilingual/multilingual proficiency in a number of languages and the limited domains to which Ladino often pertains, speakers of Ladino are considered heritage speakers of the language. The women in this study have maintained Ladino in their family for generations outside of the Iberian Peninsula, from Turkey to Israel to the United States. 3. LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION Given the endangered status of Ladino, the hybrid nature of Ladino as a Judeo-Spanish language, and the rarity of its intergenerational transmission, language socialization serves as an opportune framework to understand the multiplicity of layers that must be considered in accounting for the language’s preservation among the informants in this study. Language socialization refers to the diverse ways humans acquire social and linguistic competencies and activate them within a given social setting or group (Schieffelin & Oaks, 1986, p.163). As a field of research, language socialization has served as a focus of exploration in Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, and Sociology, thus demonstrating its interdisciplinarity (Duff 2017, p. x). While language socialization occurs alongside language acquisition throughout infancy and childhood, it is a process that continues throughout one’s lifespan. Apart from documenting practices of socialization in and about language, as a theoretical and methodological construct, language socialization also considers the linguistic properties of a language and variation among speakers. What is more, language socialization can serve as a framework to analyze multilingual sites, where various codes are present (Pahl, 2017). Attention Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 01:57:44PM via free access 72 Heritage Language Journal, 17(1) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.17.1.3 April, 2020 to multilingualism is pertinent to this study, as Ladino competes with a number of different languages. In particular, Ladino serves as a heritage language for nearly all speakers today, thus presenting an additional dimension to the ways in which one can examine language socialization through practice and ideology. An examination of language socialization and the indexicality of a particular code, as Ochs and Schiefflin (2017, p. 10) and Howard (2017, p. 170) suggest, will elucidate the reasons for which a community experiences language shift or maintenance. Studies that have examined language socialization in the United States among Latino populations (Potowski, 2011; Villarreal, 2014; Zentella, 1997) as well as Jewish populations (Avineri, 2012; Benor 2012; Fader, 2009) will also demonstrate the panoply of ways that children and adults become socialized in and through language in their respective communities; these studies are particularly beneficial to this article as we examine the intertwined nature of a language that has been explored as both a Jewish language and a variety of Spanish. While language socialization has been explored across communities that utilize Jewish languages or varieties of Spanish, this study aims to explore the intersection of these ethnolinguistic groups through Ladino. Avineri and Avni (2017, p.2) report that, within Jewish communities, familiarity with more than one language has always been the norm. That is, bi/multilingualism is a common characteristic across Jewish communities around the globe. Research on language socialization in and through a Jewish language has been explored by a number of scholars, ranging from the use of language among Orthodox communities (Fader, 2009), secular metalinguistic communities (Avineri, 2012), and those who are seeking to become Orthodox and utilize language as a tool for socialization and acceptance (Benor, 2012). While the previous studies focus on Yiddish and Hebrew, studies on Ladino are relatively few. Kushner-Bishop (2004) reports on efforts to preserve and revitalize Ladino in Israel. In her research, she considers performativity in and through Ladino, much in the way that the previously-cited studies seek to
Recommended publications
  • The Sephardi Berberisca Dress, Tradition and Symbology
    37 OPEN SOURCE LANGUAGE VERSION > ESPAÑOL The Sephardi Berberisca Dress, Tradition and Symbology by José Luís Sánchez Sánchez , Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid 1 This is an Arab tradition When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs, that was adopted by the many of them crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and put themselves under the Jews. Arabs and Berbers attribute a power of healing protection of the Sultan of Morocco, who at the time held court in Fez. This and protection to the henna meant that the Jewish people already living in North Africa, who were either plant and its leaves are used Arabic or Berber in their language and culture, were now joined by Sephardi for aesthetic and healing purposes. On the henna night, Jews from the Iberian Peninsula who held onto Spanish as their language of women paint their hands daily life and kept many of the customs and traditions developed over centuries following an Arab practice back in their beloved Sepharad. The clothing of the Sephardim, too, had its that is supposed to bring luck. own character, which was based on their pre-expulsion Spanish roots and now GOLDENBERG, André. Les Juifs du Maroc: images et changed slowly under the influence of their new Arab surroundings. textes. Paris, 1992, p. 114. The Sephardi berberisca dress, which is also known as el-keswa el-kbira in Arabic and grande robe in French (both meaning “great dress” in English), forms part of the traditional costume of Sephardi brides in northern Morocco.
    [Show full text]
  • The Languages of the Jews: a Sociolinguistic History Bernard Spolsky Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-05544-5 - The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History Bernard Spolsky Index More information Index Abu El-Haj, Nadia, 178 Alliance Israélite Universelle, 128, 195, 197, Afrikaans, 15, 243 238, 239, 242, 256 learned by Jews, 229 Almohads, 115 Afrikaaners forced conversions, 115 attitude to Jews, 229 Granada, 139 Afro-Asiatic persecution, 115, 135, 138 language family, 23 alphabet Agudath Israel, 252 Hebrew, 30 Yiddish, 209 Alsace, 144 Ahaz, 26, 27 became French, 196 Akkadian, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 36, 37, expulsion, 125 39, 52 Alsace and Lorraine borrowings, 60 Jews from East, 196 Aksum, 91 al-Yahūdiyya, 85 al-Andalus, 105, 132, 133 Amarna, 19 emigration, 135 American English Jews a minority, 133 Yiddish influence, 225 Jews’ languages, 133 Amharic, 5, 8, 9, 90, 92 languages, 136 Amoraim, 60 Aleppo, 102 Amsterdam emigration, 225 Jewish publishing, 169 Jewish Diasporas, 243 Jewish settlement, 198 Jewish settlement, 243 multilingualism, 31 Alexander the Great, 46 Anglo-Israelite beliefs, 93 Alexandria, 47, 59, 103 anti-language, 44 Hebrew continuity, 48 Antiochus, 47, 56 Jews, 103 Antipas, 119 Alfonso X, 137 Antwerp Algeria, 115 Anusim, 199 consistories, 236 multilingualism, 199 emigration, 197, 236, 237 Yiddish maintained, 199 French rule, 234 Antwerpian Brabantic, 18 French schools, 236 Anusim, 132, 139, 232 Jews acquire French, 236 Algeria, 115 Vichy policy, 236 Belgium, 199 342 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-05544-5 -
    [Show full text]
  • The Hebrew-Jewish Disconnection
    Bridgewater State University Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Master’s Theses and Projects College of Graduate Studies 5-2016 The eH brew-Jewish Disconnection Jacey Peers Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/theses Part of the Reading and Language Commons Recommended Citation Peers, Jacey. (2016). The eH brew-Jewish Disconnection. In BSU Master’s Theses and Projects. Item 32. Available at http://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/32 Copyright © 2016 Jacey Peers This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. THE HEBREW-JEWISH DISCONNECTION Submitted by Jacey Peers Department of Graduate Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Bridgewater State University Spring 2016 Content and Style Approved By: ___________________________________________ _______________ Dr. Joyce Rain Anderson, Chair of Thesis Committee Date ___________________________________________ _______________ Dr. Anne Doyle, Committee Member Date ___________________________________________ _______________ Dr. Julia (Yulia) Stakhnevich, Committee Member Date 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my mom for her support throughout all of my academic endeavors; even when she was only half listening, she was always there for me. I truly could not have done any of this without you. To my dad, who converted to Judaism at 56, thank you for showing me that being Jewish is more than having a certain blood that runs through your veins, and that there is hope for me to feel like I belong in the community I was born into, but have always felt next to.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature of the Sephardic Mediterranean David Wacks Professor of Spanish University of Oregon
    Wacks 1 Mediterranean Networks: Literature of the Sephardic Mediterranean David Wacks Professor of Spanish University of Oregon NEH Summer Institute for College Instructors Thresholds of Change: Modernity and Transformation in the Mediterranean 1400-1700 Email: [email protected] Twitter: @davidwacks Web: davidwacks.uoregon.edu Mediterranean Studies At this point in the Institute you all have a pretty good idea of what Mediterranean studies is all about, but today I’d like to zoom in on one particular corner of the field at the intersection of literary studies and Iberian/Sephardic studies. I am going to speak about Sephardic literature as a Mediterranean cultural phenomenon, and in particular as a network of cultural production. I am coming at the question of the Mediterranean from Hispanic Studies, and to a lesser extent, as I will explain, from Jewish studies, but primarily as a scholar of language and literature, and in particular as a scholar employed in a department of Romance Languages. In these remarks, I’d like to touch on the question of Mediterranean Literature as a category of scholarly inquiry, then focus on the history of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula and in diaspora from it during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with particular attention to language and literary practice. Finally, we’ll have a look at a few examples of works of literature written, translated and printed by Sephardic Jews throughout the Mediterranean and think about how this literary activity is the product of a social network. Mediterranean studies has been dominated by Classicists and historians of the medieval and early modern periods.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovering the Other Judeo-Spanish Vernacular
    ḤAKETÍA: DISCOVERING THE OTHER JUDEO-SPANISH VERNACULAR ALICIA SISSO RAZ VOCES DE ḤAKETÍA “You speak Spanish very well, but why are there so many archaic Cervantes-like words in your vocabulary?” This is a question often heard from native Spanish speakers regarding Ḥaketía, the lesser known of the Judeo-Spanish vernacular dialects (also spelled Ḥakitía, Ḥaquetía, or Jaquetía). Although Judeo-Spanish vernacular is presently associated only with the communities of northern Morocco, in the past it has also been spoken in other Moroccan regions, Algeria, and Gibraltar. Similar to the Djudezmo of the Eastern Mediterranean, Ḥaketía has its roots in Spain, and likewise, it is composed of predominantly medieval Castilian as well as vocabulary adopted from other linguistic sources. The proximity to Spain, coupled with other prominent factors, has contributed to the constant modification and adaptation of Ḥaketía to contemporary Spanish. The impact of this “hispanization” is especially manifested in Haketía’s lexicon while it is less apparent in the expressions and aphorisms with which Ḥaketía is so richly infused.1 Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish calque language of Hebrew, has been common among all Sephardic communities, including the Moroccan one, and differs from the spoken ones.2 The Jews of Spain were in full command of the spoken Iberian dialects throughout their linguistic evolutionary stages; they also became well versed in the official Spanish dialect, Castilian, since its formation. They, however, have continually employed rabbinical Hebrew and Aramaic 1 Isaac B. Benharroch, Diccionario de Haquetía (Caracas: Centro de Estudios Sefardíes de Caracas, 2004), 49. 2 Haїm Vidal Séphiha, “Judeo-Spanish, Birth, Death and Re-birth,” in Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish, A European Heritage, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Bill Granting Spanish Citizenship to Sephardic Jews
    In force from October 1, 2015 BILL GRANTING SPANISH CITIZENSHIP TO SEPHARDIC JEWS The Law makes the acquisition of Spanish citizenship possible for the Sephardic Jews that are descendents of those expelled from Spain in the 15th Century without renouncing their current citizenship and without requiring residency in Spain. Read this page carefully. If you still have any doubts about this Bill, please contact the Ministry of Justice. 1. REQUIREMENTS The granting of citizenship requires the fulfillment of two requirements: first, the proof of Sephardic status and second, the proof of special connection to Spain. 1.1 How to proof the Sephardic status? Proof can be confirmed by the following possible evidentiary means, assessed as a whole (it’s not necessary to fulfill them all): a) Certificate of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE). Visit the FCJE website b) Certificate by the President of the Jewish community of the zone of residence or birth. c) Certificate from the rabbinical authority, recognized legally in the country of residence. d) Proof of the use of ladino or “haketia”, certified by an Israeli competent entity. e) Birth certificate or marriage certificate “ketubah” that proves celebration in the Castilian tradition, including a certificate of validity of a Community leader or Rabbi. f) Report produced by the appropriate entity that proves the applicant’s membership of the family names to the Sephardic lineage of Spanish origin. g) Any other circumstance that clearly demonstrates the status as a Sephardic Jew of Spanish origin. 1.2 How to proof the special connection to Spain? Proof can be confirmed by the following possible evidentiary means, assessed as a whole (it’s not necessary to fulfill them all): a) Certificates of the study of Spanish history and culture issued by an accredited public or private institution.
    [Show full text]
  • The Memory of North African Jews in the Diaspora by Mechtild Gilzmer
    The Memory of North African Jews in the Diaspora by Mechtild Gilzmer Abstract In the following contribution, I will approach in three steps the construction of memory by North-African Jews in the Diaspora. I will first trace the history and historiography of Jews in Arab countries and point out their characteristics. This will lead me to look more precisely at the concept of “Sephardic Jews,” its meaning and application as a key-notion in the memory building for Jews from Arab countries in the Diaspora nowadays. As literature and filmmaking hold a crucial role in the perception and transmission of memory,1 I will then present the works of two Jewish women artists, one living in France and the other living in Quebec, both with North African origins. I will try to show how they use the past for identity (de-)construction and compare their approaches. I choose the two examples because they illustrate two extremely opposed positions concerning the role of cultural identity. Standing in the intersection of history and literary studies, my interdisciplinary work considers literary and film as memory archives and subjective representations of the past not as historical sources. In referring to Jews in Arab countries this means in my article more precisely to look at the North-African Jews. That is why my article treats the following aspects: 1. Jews in Arab lands. A Historiographical Overview 2. A Special Case: “Sephardic Jews” 3. Jews from Arab Lands in the Diaspora - Literature as “lieu de mémoire” of Sephardic Identity in France. - The Example of Eliette Abécassis’ Novel “Sépharade” (2009).
    [Show full text]
  • The Jews of the Maghreb and Sepharad: A
    El Presente Estudios sobre la cultura sefardí La cultura Judeo-Española del Norte de Marruecos Editores: Tamar Alexander • Yaakov Bentolila El Presente, vol. 2, diciembre de 2008 Universidad Ben-Gurion del Negev Sentro Moshe David Gaon de Kultura Djudeo-Espanyola i Índice Prólogo 1 Historia: 9 Yom Tov Assis The Jews of the Maghreb and Sepharad: A Case Study of Inter-Communal Cultural Relations through the Ages 11 María José Cano, Beatriz Molina y Elena Mironesko La visión de la alteridad entre judíos, cristianos y musulmanes en los libros de viajes y las crónicas: El caso de Marruecos según las Crónicas de Expulsión hispano-hebreas 31 Gérard Nahon Tetuán, Alcázar y Mequines frente al “Mesías” José ben Sur: la opción entre Turkya y Frankya (1675) 53 Pablo Martín Asuero El encuentro de los españoles con los sefardíes de Marruecos a la luz de Pedro de Alarcón 67 Aldina Quintana El Mellah de Tetuán (1860) en Aita Tettauen (1905) de Benito Pérez Galdós: Cambios de actitud frente a los estereotipos antisemitas en la España de la Restauración 81 Alisa Meyuhas Ginio El encuentro del senador español Dr. Ángel Pulido Fernández con los judíos del Norte de Marruecos 111 Rena Molho The Moral Values of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and their Impact on the Jewish School World of Salonika and Morocco 127 Gila Hadar Gender Representation on the Dark Side of Qidushin: Between North Morocco and the Balkans (Monastir) 139 iii Lingüística: 157 Yaakov Bentolila La lengua común (coiné) judeo-española entre el Este y el Oeste 159 David Bunis The Differential
    [Show full text]
  • Bill Granting the Spanish Citizenship to Sephardic Jews with Spanish Origins
    BILL GRANTING THE SPANISH CITIZENSHIP TO SEPHARDIC JEWS WITH SPANISH ORIGINS On June 11 th 2015 the Spanish Parliament approved an Act concerning the granting of the Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews with Spanish origins. The Law enables Sephardic Jews who are descendents of those expelled from Spain in the 15 th century to obtain the Spanish citizenship without renouncing their current citizenship and without requiring residency in Spain. The law will come into effect on October 1 st , 2015. Should you have any doubts related to this Law, please contact the General Consulate in Jerusalem through e-mail: [email protected] REQUIREMENTS The granting of citizenship requires proof of the fulfillment of two requirements: 1. Proof of Sephardic status Proof can be confirmed by the following possible evidentiary means, assessed as a whole: a) Certificate of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain. b) Certificate by the President of the Jewish community of the zone of residence or birth. c) Certificate from the rabbinical authority, recognized legally in the country of residence. In the case of the certificates in parts b) and c) the applicant may include a certificate by the President of the Permanent Commission of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain that endorses the authority status of the Rabbi or the Jewish Community Leader. Alternatively, to prove the suitability of such documents, the applicant must provide: 1) Copy of the original statutes of the foreign religious organization. 2) Certificate of the foreign entity that contains the names of those who have been designated legal representatives.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power of Song Q
    Q & A with Rita ROTH Author of The Power of Song Q. Why do you think that people are drawn to folktales? A. I believe it is their simple, direct approach to meaningful life experience. Born of the oral tradition, they address issues that are common to all cultures, yet are wrapped in a particular world-view. Jewish folktales are unique in that the Diaspora placed Jews within diverse cultures where their secular tales, tempered with the sounds of the cultures they inhabited, maintain a strong Jewish voice. This could not be more evident than in Sephardic tales. Q. Could you give an example of how these tales reflect Spanish culture? A. In one tale with a strong Spanish feel, a rabbi in training hears that el Cid, Alfonso VI’s famous general, has conquered Valencia. He takes el Cid a gift to assure that Jews, who had been living peacefully with Muslims, would not be harmed by Christian rule. But you need to remember Sephardic Jews are Jews from Spain, but not only Spain. They were expelled during the Inquisition in 1492 and they scattered throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. As a result, their tales not only reflect a Spanish heritage, but also the various new cultures where they settled. For example, while preserving Hebrew as the language of their faith, they developed secular languages of their own—Judeo-Spanish (Ladino), Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Greek, Haketia. Q. How did the tales in The Power of Song come together? Where did you find them, what cultures do they represent? A.
    [Show full text]
  • Distant Relation Between Spanish and Arabic
    The (Not-So) Distant Relation between Spanish and Arabic Bryan Kirschen UCLA Abstract This paper reviews the outcomes of linguistic contact between the Spanish and Arabic lan- guages from the fifteenth century until the present day. While much is known about the relation between these two languages during the period 711–1492, the current scope of investigation explores the variants produced by such contact. This study reviews the distinct cases of language contact in Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the Moroccan Judeo-Spanish vernacular of the Sephardim, Haketia, which developed in cities such as Tetuan and Tangier. Keywords: Spanish, Arabic, Morocco, Ceuta, Melilla, Sephardim, Haketia 1. Introduction. While a great deal is known about the influence of Arabic on the Spanish language during the period of 711–1492, much less is known about how these two languages have been in contact throughout the centuries that follow. It has only been in recent years that researchers have started to advance this field (Tilmatine and García 2011). As such, this study explores the contemporary linguistic devel- opment of both of these languages in the geographical proximities of Spain and Morocco and addresses outcomes of contact between them. As a point of reference, we will use four cities in Northern Morocco: Ceuta, Melilla, Tetuan and Tangier. First we will take a look at the unique situation of bilingualism and languages in contact. Next, we will analyze their political nomenclatures. Finally, we will conclude with a discussion on how these linguistic factors have an effect on both the Spanish and Arabic languages. 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Intergenerational Memory, Language and Jewish Identification of the Sarajevo Sephardim
    INTERGENERATIONAL MEMORY, LANGUAGE AND JEWISH IDENTIFICATION OF THE SARAJEVO SEPHARDIM REFLECTIONS ON BELONGING IN BOSNIA- HERZEGOVINA/YUGOSLAVIA, ISRAEL AND SPAIN Jonna Rock Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät Institut für Slawistik und Hungarologie Gutachter: 1. Prof. Dr. Christian Voß 2. Prof. Dr. David L. Graizbord Datum der Verteidigung: 20.02.2019 Funding This work was supported by ERNST LUDWIG EHRLICH STUDIENWERK Acknowledgements Above all, I would like to thank my interviewees in Sarajevo – Matilda Finci, Erna Kaveson Debevec, Laura Papo Ostojić, Yehuda Kolonomos, Igor Kožemjakin, Tina Tauber, Vladimir Andrle, A.A. and Tea Abinun – for sharing their reflections with me. I moreover express gratitude for the consultation I have had with Jakob Finci, the president of the Sarajevo Jewish Community, Dr Eliezer Papo, its non-residential rabbi, Elma Softić Kaunitz, its secretary general, and Dr Eli Tauber, who is responsible for the Community’s cultural activities. Further, I am most grateful to my first PhD supervisor, Professor Christian Voß, for his patience with the working process and extremely helpful and encouraging feedback and inspiring suggestions. Professor Voß did not only offer constructive comments on my work but also provided a creative and stimulating academic environment within his Lehrstuhl. He introduced me to a number of experts in my field of study (Professor Ivana Vučina Simović, Professor Kateřina Králová, Professor Jolanta Sujecka, among others), and he gave me an opportunity to participate in and/or organize international conferences, workshops and research seminars. Without Professor Voß’ expertise and guidance throughout my doctoral research (2014-2018), this endeavour would not have been possible.
    [Show full text]