Castilian-Catalan Linguistic Contacts and the Emergence of Judeo-Spanish: A Study of a Hebrew Manuscript from the Time of the Expulsion

A previously unpublished fragment in Hebrew characters from the end of the fifteenth century, or early sixteenth century, sheds light on linguistic contact phenomena among Sephardic Jews. The excerpt contains a mixed Castilian-Catalan translation (probably from Latin) of philosophical definitions written in Hebrew script.

In this presentation, I will first expose the manifestations of hybridization and code-switching between Catalan and Castilian in this Hebrew source. The findings will serve as the basis for describing the linguistic identity of the Jews before the Expulsion, in view of the linguistic processes in the Iberian Peninsula and the predominance of Castilian as the language of culture and prestige.

Moreover, a close examination of the entire manuscript give rise to the hypothesis that this Catalan-Castilian hybrid is actually a post-Expulsion product. While this is of the latest records for the use of Catalan among Jews (in Hebrew script), the use of Castilian could be explained by the large number of Castilian Jews who flooded out of the Iberian Peninsula. The number of exiled Catalan-speaking Jews was clearly far smaller.

Our understanding of the mechanisms of the koineization and the emergence of Judeo-Spanish has greatly expanded thanks to studies such as that of Quintana (2006). However, this manuscript might very well be of the earliest testimonies for the emergence of such a post-Expulsion Jewish interlanguage, which would crystallize into Judeo-Spanish. The analysis of this curious fragment illuminates various aspects of the processes of linguistic accommodation among Sephardic Jews in and outside of the Iberian Peninsula.