Language "Knowledge" and Attitudes among Speakers of Judeo-Spanish in Istanbul and Northern Africa

The present paper, part of my PhD project, will compare and contrast two endangered language varieties, the Judaeo-Spanish in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Haketía variety in Ceuta, Spain. The focus of this paper is related to the language attitudes and level of knowledge about language of speakers and non-speakers of two Judeo-Spanish varieties at a time when these languages are at the edge of extinction.

Firstly, I will deal with the conceptual implication of the term “language awareness” which is often used to express both conscious and unconscious representations and attitudes about language(s) and varieties and has – due to this apparent terminological contradiction – turned into an intensively discussed concept in sociolinguistics.

Secondly, I will propose a converged methodological approach - quantitative and qualitative constructivist - by which the researcher can access exhaustive research data about language representations and language attitudes that reflect both the language habitus and the language representations.

Field research examples will reflect the convergences and divergences between the two named groups. Particular consideration will be paid, on the one hand, to the development of linguistic competence and performance within different generations of speakers in the endangered language and the majority language and, on the other hand, to the analysis of the impact of their linguistic behavior on their group identity. My examples represent results of my research data that I collected in Istanbul in the last 3 years and complemented with field research examples from Ceuta.