LL-L "Language contacts" 2003.03.27 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: James Ward <jamesward at earthlink.net>
Subject: Language contacts

Fascinating!  I don't know why I should be so surprised that there are
Sephardim living in the Netherlands and northern Germany, but I found
myself to be almost as intrigued by this as when I learned that there
had been Yiddish theater in Egypt.  (I say "almost" because one does
begin to get gradually used to the fact that these curious new facts are
abounding all around!)

I tend to consider Ladino to be a language in its own right, before and
after the expulsion, for several reasons.  When one says "This food is
kosher," it's true that we can consider this to be English, but the
Hebrew component in Ladino is really rather large, in a way that is
similar to Yiddish.  David M. Bunis has compiled a very good dictionary
concentrating solely on this component of the language, _A Lexicon of
the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Modern Judezmo_, The Magnes Press of
the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1993.

I'll add a couple of resource-links to those already mentioned.  One is
the Jewish Language Research Website, which has a link to its discussion
list, The Jewish-Languages Mailing List.

http://www.jewish-languages.org/

This is an excellent resource.  There is a growing directory of scholars
and their specific interests, and I can attest to the fact that the
discussion list is an excellent place to ask questions and discuss
theories.

Also there is Ladinokomunita, which is a list dedicated to
correspondence in Ladino.  Even if you don't know enough to actively
participate in the conversations (like me), it provides an excellent
opportunity to see the words of others from many different locations
around the globe.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ladinokomunita/

When the restrictions on the Jews' interactions with the emerging
national societies within which they lived began to be lifted in the
later 18th and 19th (and 20th, sigh) centuries, the cultural pressures
to assimilate began to reduce the uniqueness of the Jewish language
varieties that were still spoken among closely related national
languages.  I think it was the very fact that Ladino and Yiddish had
expanded into communities whose languages were significantly different
from these that allowed them to survive into the age of mass media and
maintain newspapers, films and radio in addition to the thriving
book-trade.  Perhaps the different circumstances for Jewish communities
in the Islamic countries made it possible for (e.g.) Judeo-Arabic
newspapers to be published among Arabic speakers without total
assimilation.  In this regard I quote a response from Norman Stillman to
a related question I posted to the Jewish-languages list:

"Books, periodicals,and individual printed sheeted [sic] in Judeo-Arabic
were pubished in the 19th and 20th centuries throughout the
Arabic-speaking world and as far east as Calcutta.  These texts were
published in both Rashi and square typeset.  The largest number of
Judeo-Arabic publications were printed in Tunisia. See the Harvard
catalogue of Hebrew publications in the subsection on Judeo-Arabic.  See
also Eusebe Vassel, <<La litterature populaire des Israelites
tunisiens,>> in Revue Tunisienne (1904-1907), and Robert Attal,
Periodique juifs d'Afrique du Nord (Jerusalem:  Ben-Zvi Institute, 1980."

Needless to say, this is getting rather far afield from direct
connection to Lowlands languages, but perhaps such observations have
some pertinence to inquiry into the status of Jewish languages among
Lowlands speakers.

I am under the impression that Judeo-Persian has mostly assimilated in
the twentieth century.  I have seen one multilingual phrase book with an
introduction in Judeo-Persian in Hebrew letters, which was either from
the late 19th or early 20th centuries, made for the use of immigrants to
Palestine.  Apparently Judeo-Persian speakers were a significant portion
of the immigrants in the 19th century, and established newspapers there,
presumably in Hebrew script.  I'd love to see some examples of these.

To bring this a little more firmly back into the Lowlands sphere (via
English), scholars will differ in just what constitutes a Jewish
language, or even whether the word "language" (in contrast to "dialect")
is entirely appropriate as a category of analysis.  Here is an
interesting response I received to one of my questions from Sarah Bunin
Benor:

"...Orthodox Jewish English is not the only variety of Jewish English.
Non-Orthodox Jews also use Hebrew loan words and influences from Yiddish
in their everyday speech. For many Jews, Jewish English is an important
aspect of their identity. However, Orthodox Jewish English differs more
from general American English than non-Orthodox Jewish English does. I
do not tend to use the terms dialect and language, as the boundaries
between them are too fuzzy (note the famous quote, attributed to Max
Weinreich: "A language is a dialect with an army or navy.") I tend to
use the terms "variety" and "style," which indicate the possibility of a
spectrum. Yes, I would say there is a "continuous spectrum" of Jewish
English, even just within Orthodox Jewish English. Speakers certainly
use more Jewish influences when speaking with other Orthodox Jews, in
learning situations, about halachic topics. And many Orthodox Jews have
little or no discernable Jewish influences when speaking to non-Jews
about secular issues."

Anyway, apologies for making this e-mail so lengthy.

Best wishes,

James Ward

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language contacts

Thanks a lot for your input, your interesting questions and the links
(above), James!  I had known about the Jewish Languages List, which is one
of the better lists around.

Granted: Amsterdam had and still has by far the most important Sephardic
community of the Continental Lowlands (and Hamburg's community tended to get
its rabbis and cantors from there and regularly sent people to Amsterdam to
study).  However, the Sephardi history of Hamburg is nothing to sneeze at
either, and it has the interesting twist of considerable Sephardi-Ashkenazi
mixing in later decades (which is rare elsewhere).  Too bad that so little
is known about this, both in Hamburg and elsewhere!  Therefore, it was with
delight that I discovered this fascinating online exhibition
(http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/sefardenp/).  The more I
looked at the details ("Tafeln") the more fascinating I found it.  I only
wish that, besides German and Portuguese, this wonderful presentation were
available in English, which would make it accessible for far more people all
over the world.  (Of course, given the connection, it would be nice to have
it in Dutch too, but that might be icing on the cake.)   I have written to
Michael Studemund-Halévy <mihalevy at aol.com>, the creator of the exhibition,
to express my delight and to say that, given the current level of ignorance
in this regard, an English version would be advantageous and that I would be
happy to be of help if this is an option.  Should he take me up on this,
perhaps a couple of you might like to volunteer as proofreaders.

Friendly regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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