Transcript Phonological characteristics

Understandings and Misunderstandings:
confounding differences between Spanish and Ladino
Este arroz arreyeva muncho kaldo.
DIFFERENT HISTORY
• Complete isolation from Spain
• Non-hispanic environment
HISTORY
• Multi-lingual environment
• Jewish language
DIFFERENT
evolution
DIFFERENT 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 type
El
AKUZADO SİN KULPA
-ONZEN ROMANSO
kompuesto por
ELİYA R. KARMONA
EDITORES:
ARDITI I KASTRO
≈
EMPRIMERIYA ARDİTİ
Estambol Marpucilar Salih Efendi Han
Numero 9,10,11,12
KOSTANTİNOPLA
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]
Sh [š or ʃ]
dj [dz, or d͡ʒ]
Z [z]
(like the French j, as in je, juif, etc.)
(“sh” as in English)
(as j in English: jar, joke, etc.)
(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
bajar
buscar
cajon
dejar
enjugar
jabon
mosca
pajaro
Pescar, pescador
Ladino
abashar
bushkar
kashon
deshar
enshugar
shavon
moshka
pasharó *
peshkar, peshkador
English
go down
search
drawer
leave, let
dry, wipe
soap
fly (n.)
bird
fish (v.), fisherman
3.
dj [dz, or d͡ʒ]
in words such as
Castellano
Ladino
berenjena
berendjena
jugar
djugar
jarro
djarro
jueves
djugeves
Judía
djudia
judío
djudió *
general
djeneral/jeneral
gente
djente
girar
djirar
* note different placement of stress
English
eggplant
play
jug, pitcher
Thursday
Jew, Jewish (f.)
Jew, Jewish (m.)
general
people
turn
[z] z as in the English ‘zoo’.
There is a clear distinction between the pronunciation of
s and z in Ladino
The z sound usually comes between two vowels
Castellano
beso
casa
hacer
cocer
vaciar
Ladino
bezo
kaza
azer
kuzir
vaziar
Castellano
reposo
cosa
cocina
religioso
doncella
Ladino
repozo
koza
kuzina
relijiozo
donzeya
There’s also a clear distinction between b and v
b to v:
Castellano
abrir
alabar
arriba
baranda
Bautizar
barba
beber
bobo
cabeza
caballo
hablar
subir
v to b:
Ladino
avrir
alavar
ariva/arriva
varanda
vaftizar
barva
bever
bovo
kavesa
kavayo
avlar
suvir
Castellano
Ladino
volar
bolar
voz
boz
viuda
bivda
vivir
bivir
vivo
bivo
vuelta
buelta
V in initialposition often
becomes b in Ladi no.
Most other times a v in
C astel lano, i s a v in ladino
as well.
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 fro m 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
apokar
to reduce (in number)
embarasado/a
messy, disorderly;
embarrassed
entertain
to finish
news
ready
increase
embelekar
eskapar
haber
pronto
pujar
Castellano English
apocar to humiliate, to
belittle
embarazada pregnant
embelecar
escapar
haber*
pronto
pujar
deceive
escape
to have
quick, fast
struggl e
“
embarasada
(taken from Ladinokomunita messages)
”
Mos kon ta n por u n am u jerde espa ny a (o
ser a de su d a m er ika)
ke le dish o a u n aa m ig asefara dita :
- "Te veo ke esta s em bar a zada "...
La m u estr a le
r espon dio:
- "No. Has v e-shalom !No esto emba rasada de n a da .
A l kon tr a r y o.oYesto pr en y ada , i m u ym uy a leg r e!"
(Yehuda n ov 07 )
a si ke m i m a r ido
la pr im er av ezke dish o a u n a m ig ode a ki
m ir a m e em basa
r asi n o v y enes esta noche
a m i ka za elom br ea v r y olos ojos i
dish o
ke ke ke??????????????(ku a loalo
ku kua lo)
kon ka r iny o
a y ten lev i
m eksiko Ju n 04
---
Ordinal numbers
Primer
Segundo
Treser
Kuarten
Sinken
Seshen/sejen
Sieten
Ochen
Mueven
Diezen
Onzen
Dodjen
Some Grammatical Peculiarities of Ladino
Congjugations
Ser
yo so (or yo se)
tu sos
el/eya es
mozotros semos/somos
vozotros sosh
eyos/eyas son
Estar
yo esto
tu estas
el/eya esta
mozotros estamos
vozotros estash
eyos/eyas estan
...ar verbs, differences in past tense, as in:
Hablar (Castellano)
hablé
hablaste
habló
hablamos
hablasteis
hablaron
Avlar (Ladino)
avlí
avlates
avló
avlimos
avlatesh
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 Ladinokomunita
about 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
ISRAEL Ó
--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
“Spanish can be dangerous”
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)