MPhil Dissertation at the University of Oxford, awarded Distinction
What does Istanbul Judeo-Spa... more MPhil Dissertation at the University of Oxford, awarded Distinction
What does Istanbul Judeo-Spanish do when it borrows words from Turkish and French? This thesis represents the first in-depth linguistic study of the Ladino Database Project (LDP), which was conceived in 2008 as the ultimate document of what may be the last generation of native Judeo-Spanish speakers, in the last major community of Sephardic Jews in the former Ottoman Empire. In spite of these “lasts”, this project attempts to join those in Istanbul resisting the diagnoses of imminent language death by focusing on an oft-overlooked aspect of language contact: loanword integration. By analyzing a 10-speaker sample of the LDP corpus and nearly 1500 tokens of loanwords used in fluid speech, this thesis seeks to describe how – and how much – native grammatical systems continue to be used in the borrowing process. The analysis addresses the morphosyntactic integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings of four form classes (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs), with reference throughout to the possible social and linguistic factors affecting integration patterns. What emerges is a picture of the diverse Istanbul speaker community in contact — borrowing, adapting, and preserving Judeo-Spanish all at once.
In 2008, an extensive document of contemporary Judeo-Spanish was recorded at the Ottoman Turkish ... more In 2008, an extensive document of contemporary Judeo-Spanish was recorded at the Ottoman Turkish Sephardic Cultural Research Center, capturing simultaneously the speech and oral histories of 69 fluent speakers of the Istanbul variety. “Es todo karışık”, a line from one of the recordings, translates to “it’s all mixed” in a blend of Turkish and Judeo-Spanish characteristic of the speech of many participants. This presentation uses that corpus, the Ladino Database Project, to explore loanword usage and the integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings into the morphosyntactic systems native to Judeo-Spanish. In other words, when speakers use words of foreign origin, in what ways do they make them part of Judeo-Spanish grammar — or not? Analysis will cover strategies by which speakers assign borrowed nouns grammatical gender, inflect loaned nouns and adjectives for agreement, and transform borrowed verbs to fit Judeo-Spanish verb paradigms. Because contact-induced change is as sociocultural a phenomenon as it is linguistic, I will trace the effects of language attitudes and educational histories of individual speakers on these borrowing patterns. What will emerge is a picture of the diverse Istanbul Judeo-Spanish speaker community in contact — adapting, borrowing, and preserving Ladino all at once.
Understanding one's sense of belonging is a central part of identity formation and self-awareness... more Understanding one's sense of belonging is a central part of identity formation and self-awareness; feeling safe somewhere, with specific people is identified as a basic human need. This paper explores the ideas of children from three age groups in five different European as they discussed the concepts of 'home' and 'belonging'. Findings showed that the children's ideas could be organised into six interrelated aspects: Spatiality, Materiality, Multiplicity, Social Relations, Affect, and Dislocation. Whilst there were differences in the ways that the children conceptualised home across the classes, even the youngest children were able to describe their ideas using metaphors and abstract concepts, and they agreed that a home was more than just a building.
MPhil Dissertation at the University of Oxford, awarded Distinction
What does Istanbul Judeo-Spa... more MPhil Dissertation at the University of Oxford, awarded Distinction
What does Istanbul Judeo-Spanish do when it borrows words from Turkish and French? This thesis represents the first in-depth linguistic study of the Ladino Database Project (LDP), which was conceived in 2008 as the ultimate document of what may be the last generation of native Judeo-Spanish speakers, in the last major community of Sephardic Jews in the former Ottoman Empire. In spite of these “lasts”, this project attempts to join those in Istanbul resisting the diagnoses of imminent language death by focusing on an oft-overlooked aspect of language contact: loanword integration. By analyzing a 10-speaker sample of the LDP corpus and nearly 1500 tokens of loanwords used in fluid speech, this thesis seeks to describe how – and how much – native grammatical systems continue to be used in the borrowing process. The analysis addresses the morphosyntactic integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings of four form classes (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs), with reference throughout to the possible social and linguistic factors affecting integration patterns. What emerges is a picture of the diverse Istanbul speaker community in contact — borrowing, adapting, and preserving Judeo-Spanish all at once.
In 2008, an extensive document of contemporary Judeo-Spanish was recorded at the Ottoman Turkish ... more In 2008, an extensive document of contemporary Judeo-Spanish was recorded at the Ottoman Turkish Sephardic Cultural Research Center, capturing simultaneously the speech and oral histories of 69 fluent speakers of the Istanbul variety. “Es todo karışık”, a line from one of the recordings, translates to “it’s all mixed” in a blend of Turkish and Judeo-Spanish characteristic of the speech of many participants. This presentation uses that corpus, the Ladino Database Project, to explore loanword usage and the integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings into the morphosyntactic systems native to Judeo-Spanish. In other words, when speakers use words of foreign origin, in what ways do they make them part of Judeo-Spanish grammar — or not? Analysis will cover strategies by which speakers assign borrowed nouns grammatical gender, inflect loaned nouns and adjectives for agreement, and transform borrowed verbs to fit Judeo-Spanish verb paradigms. Because contact-induced change is as sociocultural a phenomenon as it is linguistic, I will trace the effects of language attitudes and educational histories of individual speakers on these borrowing patterns. What will emerge is a picture of the diverse Istanbul Judeo-Spanish speaker community in contact — adapting, borrowing, and preserving Ladino all at once.
Understanding one's sense of belonging is a central part of identity formation and self-awareness... more Understanding one's sense of belonging is a central part of identity formation and self-awareness; feeling safe somewhere, with specific people is identified as a basic human need. This paper explores the ideas of children from three age groups in five different European as they discussed the concepts of 'home' and 'belonging'. Findings showed that the children's ideas could be organised into six interrelated aspects: Spatiality, Materiality, Multiplicity, Social Relations, Affect, and Dislocation. Whilst there were differences in the ways that the children conceptualised home across the classes, even the youngest children were able to describe their ideas using metaphors and abstract concepts, and they agreed that a home was more than just a building.
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What does Istanbul Judeo-Spanish do when it borrows words from Turkish and French? This thesis represents the first in-depth linguistic study of the Ladino Database Project (LDP), which was conceived in 2008 as the ultimate document of what may be the last generation of native Judeo-Spanish speakers, in the last major community of Sephardic Jews in the former Ottoman Empire. In spite of these “lasts”, this project attempts to join those in Istanbul resisting the diagnoses of imminent language death by focusing on an oft-overlooked aspect of language contact: loanword integration. By analyzing a 10-speaker sample of the LDP corpus and nearly 1500 tokens of loanwords used in fluid speech, this thesis seeks to describe how – and how much – native grammatical systems continue to be used in the borrowing process. The analysis addresses the morphosyntactic integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings of four form classes (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs), with reference throughout to the possible social and linguistic factors affecting integration patterns. What emerges is a picture of the diverse Istanbul speaker community in contact — borrowing, adapting, and preserving Judeo-Spanish all at once.
What will emerge is a picture of the diverse Istanbul Judeo-Spanish speaker community in contact — adapting, borrowing, and preserving Ladino all at once.
What does Istanbul Judeo-Spanish do when it borrows words from Turkish and French? This thesis represents the first in-depth linguistic study of the Ladino Database Project (LDP), which was conceived in 2008 as the ultimate document of what may be the last generation of native Judeo-Spanish speakers, in the last major community of Sephardic Jews in the former Ottoman Empire. In spite of these “lasts”, this project attempts to join those in Istanbul resisting the diagnoses of imminent language death by focusing on an oft-overlooked aspect of language contact: loanword integration. By analyzing a 10-speaker sample of the LDP corpus and nearly 1500 tokens of loanwords used in fluid speech, this thesis seeks to describe how – and how much – native grammatical systems continue to be used in the borrowing process. The analysis addresses the morphosyntactic integration of Turkish and French lexical borrowings of four form classes (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs), with reference throughout to the possible social and linguistic factors affecting integration patterns. What emerges is a picture of the diverse Istanbul speaker community in contact — borrowing, adapting, and preserving Judeo-Spanish all at once.
What will emerge is a picture of the diverse Istanbul Judeo-Spanish speaker community in contact — adapting, borrowing, and preserving Ladino all at once.