Este arroz arreyeva muncho kaldo. Understandings and Misunderstandings: confounding differences between Spanish and Ladino.

Este arroz arreyeva muncho kaldo.

Understandings and Misunderstandings: confounding differences between Spanish and Ladino

DIFFERENT HISTORY

HISTORY

• Complete isolation from Spain• Non-hispanic environment• Multi-lingual environment• Jewish language

DIFFERENT evolutionDIFFERENT EVOLUTION

• Retention of Medieval Iberian forms

• Alteration over time

•Influence of other languages

•Dialects

DIFFERENCES DIFFERENCES FROM MODERN SPANISH

(CASTELLANO)

• Phonological (pronunciation, phonemes, stress, intonation)

• Lexical (words, word forms, meanings)

• Grammatical (verb conjugations, syntax, etc.)

Notes on spelling

• - Used to be in Hebrew letters, until the early XXth century.– Print - in standard meruba “square” letters or in Rashi type– Cursive - soletreo

• - Now in Latin alphabet, phonetically reproduced, for proper pronunciation.

• (use of k, j, dj, sh, h; no silent h)

Ladino in Hebrew typeEl

AKUZADO SİN KULPA--

ONZEN ROMANSOkompuesto por

ELİYA R. KARMONAEDITORES:

ARDITI I KASTRO≈

EMPRIMERIYA ARDİTİEstambol Marpucilar Salih Efendi Han

Numero 9,10,11,12KOSTANTİNOPLA

1909-5670

Soletreo

Phonological characteristics

Ladino retains certain archaic features of the Castilian-Andalusian language of the fifteenth century, on which it is based.

Among these features are the following four phonemes (sounds) no longer part of modern Spanish (Castellano):

j [ž or ʒ] (like the French j, as in je, juif, etc.)

Sh [š or ʃ] (“sh” as in English)

dj [dz, or  d ͡ʒ] (as j in English: jar, joke, etc.)

Z [z] (as “zoo” in English)

Also, a clear distinction between [b] and [v]

1. j [ž or ʒ](This is the French sound of j; in English it sounds like

the s in ‘measure’)

in words such as:

ajeno (alien, foreign) ajo (garlic)

Dirijir (manage; Sp. dirigir) espejo (mirror)

gajo (segment, as in orange) ija (daughter), ijo (son)

mujer (wife, woman) ojo (eye) relijion (Sp. Religión) viejo (old)

2. [š or ʃ] (“sh” as in English)

in words such as:

Castellano Ladino English bajar abashar go down buscar bushkar search cajon kashon drawer dejar deshar leave, let enjugar enshugar dry, wipe jabon shavon soap mosca moshka fly (n.) pajaro pasharó * bird Pescar, pescador peshkar, peshkador fish (v.), fisherman

Castellano Ladino English berenjena berendjena eggplant jugar djugar play jarro djarro jug, pitcher jueves djugeves Thursday Judía djudia Jew, Jewish (f.) judío djudió * Jew, Jewish (m.) general djeneral/jeneral general gente djente people girar djirar turn

* note different placement of stress

3. dj [dz, or  d- ʒ]

in words such as

[z] z as in the English ‘zoo’.There is a clear distinction between the pronunciation of

s and z in Ladino

Castellano Ladino Castellano Ladino beso bezo reposo repozo casa kaza cosa koza hacer azer cocina kuzina cocer kuzir religioso relijiozo vaciar vaziar doncella donzeya

The z sound usually comes between two vowels

There’s also a clear distinction between b and v

Castellano Ladino Castellano Ladino abrir avrir volar bolar alabar alavar voz boz arriba ariva/arriva viuda bivda baranda varanda vivir bivir Bautizar vaftizar vivo bivo barba barva vuelta buelta beber bever bobo bovo cabeza kavesa caballo kavayo hablar avlar

subir suvir

V in initial position often becomes b in Ladino.

Most other times a v in Castellano, is a v in ladino as well.

b to v: v to b:

There is no hard and fast rule for converting the pronunciation of words in Castellano to their counterparts in

Ladino.

For example, the the j (jota) or g of Castellano may not only be pronounced as j, sh, or dj, but also sometimes as another sound altogether.

Castellano Ladino English

embajada Embasada/ambasada/embashada embassy ejemplo egzemplo, enshemplo example

Also, sometimes the s in Castellano may be pronounced as j or sh in Ladino, as well as z or s.

cascara kashka peel (of a fruit) casi Kaji, kuaji almost visita vijita visit

Condlusion: the two languages have evolved so differently that the pronunciation of Ladino words (as well as their meanings, as we shall see) must simply be learned as if they were unrelated to Castellano.

OTHER PHONOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES

- u changes to v in the diphthongs of au, eu, and iu of Castellano. (This makes sense since the u is the modern evolution from the v, as in Lat in there is no u, only v.)

kavza (cause), devda (debt) , sivdad (city), etc. - The initial hue of Castellano gue in most Ladino dialects. Thus hueso, huerfano, huevo are gueso, guerfanó, guevo in Ladino. (Also: oler, olor, and huele are goler, guezmo or golor and gole in Ladino.) - Many words in Ladino spelled with an initial f, instead of h. Thus, fierro /hierro (iron) ; fuyir /huyir (to flee .) - The initial sue may change to esfue or es.hue (depending on the regional dialect) in Ladino. Examples are: esfuegra ‘mother- in- law’ and esfuenyo ‘dream’, or es.huegra... - Metathesis, or transposition, of letters rd: vedre, vedrura, pedrer, guadrar, etc. Similarly, prove =pobre, or dizilde (tell him/her) = decidle. - The initial n to m as in mozotros, muestro, mueve, etc. (This is not universal, and such words are spelled with n in many Ladino printed texts.)

Some Lexical Peculiarities of Ladino

Ladino affixes an a at the beginning of many Castellano-rooted words: abashar, alevantar, amanyana, amostrar, apegar, arrasgar, arrovar, asentar, asoltar, averguensar, etc.

Sometimes, the initial a changes the meaning of the word: matar ‘to kill’, amatar is ‘to put out’ or ‘to turn off’, as in amatar la luz, amatar el fuego (to turn off the light, to put out the fire.) Yet: Aprestar in Ladino means ‘to be of use’ and has nothing to do with the Castellano prestar, to loan, which in Ladino is emprestar. apegar = to stick or to glue

The diminutive ending …ita/..ito of Castellano is …ika/..iko in Ladino: Rachelika, Avramiko, biskochiko, ijiko, komidika avagariko etc. However, if the last syllable of the root word has a k, then the diminutive remains as ita/ito: burekita, Bekita, burakito, turkita, etc.) Chiko (small, not boy) in its diminutive becomes further diminished to chikitiko.

Medieval Forms

Agora, avagar, merkar, trokar, …

Kovdo, sivdad, bivda, ….

So, vo, esto, ….

Vocabulary differences

“Eighty percent of Ladino words are Spanish-based.”

Yet, many of these are different from modern Spanish, in form and/or meaning.

Of the other 20 percent, most are from Turkish, Hebrew, and French.

Some Spanish-based Ladino words that have different meanings:

Ladino English Castellano English

apokar to reduce (in number) apocar to humiliate, to belittle

embarasado/a messy, disorderly; embarrassed

embarazada pregnant

embelekar entertain embelecar deceive eskapar to finish escapar escape haber news haber* to have pronto ready pronto quick, fast pujar increase pujar struggle

Mos kontan por una mujer de espanya (o sera de sud amerika) ke le disho a una amiga sefaradita: - "Te veo ke estas embarazada"... La muestra le respondio: - "No. Has ve-shalom! No esto embarasada de nada. Al kontraryo. Yo esto prenyada, i muy muy alegre!" (Yehuda nov 07) asi ke mi marido la primera vez ke disho a un amigo de aki mira me embarasa si no vyenes esta noche a mi kaza el ombre avryo los ojos i disho ke ke ke??????????????(kualo kualo kualo) kon karinyo ayten levi meksiko Jun 04 ---

“embarasada

(taken from Ladinokomunita messages)”

Ordinal numbers

PrimerSegundoTreserKuartenSinkenSeshen/sejenSietenOchenMuevenDiezenOnzenDodjen

Some Grammatical Peculiarities of Ladino

Congjugations

Ser Estar

yo so (or yo se) yo esto tu sos tu estas el/eya es el/eya esta mozotros semos/somos mozotros estamos vozotros sosh vozotros estash eyos/eyas son eyos/eyas estan

...ar verbs, differences in past tense, as in:

Hablar (Castellano) Avlar (Ladino) hablé avlí hablaste avlates habló avló hablamos avlimos hablasteis avlatesh hablaron avlaron

Many Ladino words are non-Hispanic, entirely or in derivation

Can you find the non-Spanish words?

• Mete asukar al chay ma no lo karishtreyes.• Ke haber?• Son tres haveres en la butika.• Le agrada azer benadamlikes.• El ke se kema en la chorva asopla en el yogurt.• Si te dan, toma; si te aharvan, fuye.

Some messages from Ladinokomunitaabout confusion with Castellano

“Ainda konfuzo muy frekuentemente el espanyol i el sefaradi ya ke son linguas tan similares.” Alfred Ratz, Viena (07)-------------ŅPerdone mi observasion ma en ladino no se dize "me esta gustando" ke es en espanyol. Deve ser: me esta agradando". Joseph de Herzeliya ISRAELÓ --- ŅJoseph, Tyenes razon se dize AGRADAR. Agora a ken ke eche la kulpa? Yo vo a dizir ke la kulpa esta en el puevlo de aki del sur de Florida de tanto oyir en espanyol ke entra a mi oyido É Ó

Rabbi Isaac Jerusalmi, in his Introduction to his book “From Ottoman Turkish to Ladino” writes: “The warning sign should read, ‘Spanish can be dangerous to your good understanding of Ladino’! Certainly, the hispanization of Ladino is the obvious temptation to avoid, before any meaningful study of this language can take place.” (p. 23)

“Spanish can be dangerous”