Judeo-Gascon is a

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...

of the

Gascon language Gascon ( , , ) is the vernacular Romance variety spoken mainly in the region of Gascony, France. It is often considered a variety of larger Occitan macrolanguage, although some authors consider it a separate language due to hindered mutual ...

, formerly spoken among the

Spanish and Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...

who settled during the 16th century in the cities of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

and in the south-west part of

Landes of Gascony The Landes de Gascogne (; in Gascon, classic spelling ''las Lanas de Gasconha'', Fébusienne spelling ''leus Lanes de Gascougne''), or Gascony Moors, is a natural region of France of nearly 14000 km². It extends over three departments: Gironde, ...

(most notably in

Peyrehorade Peyrehorade (; ) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Peyrehorade station has rail connections to Bayonne, Pau and Tarbes. Population See also *Communes of the Landes department The followi ...

and

Bidache Bidache (; ; )BIDAXUNE

). ''Judeo-Gascon'', as

Judeo-Provençal Judeo-Provençal, Judæo-Occitan or Judæo-Comtadin, are the names given to the varieties of Occitan or Provençal languages historically spoken and/or written by Jews in the South of France, and more specifically in the Comtat Venaissin area. ...

, the other major Jewish sociolect of

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

, is now practically extinct. Until recently, Judeo-Gascon was probably one of the least known dialects of Gascon and

and the least studied from a linguistic point of view. Its first coverage in scholarship has been in ; its linguistic characteristics have been investigated in depth in , alongside comprehensive critical editions of the surviving Judeo-Gascon texts.

History

After the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, some Iberian Jews, who were originally speakers of Portuguese and/or Spanish, settled in the South-West of France in Gascon-speaking areas. In the course of time, these Jews were linguistically assimilated to their Gascon-speaking environment, though Spanish was kept, alongside Hebrew, as a written language for administrative, liturgical, and literary purposes. The variety of Gascon spoken by the Jews, in a situation of diglossia with these languages, received a strong linguistic imprint that caused it to diverge from the Gascon dialects spoken by the coterritorial Christian populations. Additional influences of

Judeo-Italian Judeo-Italian (or Judaeo-Italian, Judæo-Italian, and other names including Italkian) is a group of endangered and extinct Jewish dialects, with only about 200 speakers in Italy and 250 total speakers today. The dialects are one of the Italia ...

and

Western Yiddish Yiddish dialects are varieties of the Yiddish language and are divided according to the region in Europe where each developed its distinctiveness. Linguistically, Yiddish is divided in distinct Eastern and Western dialects. While the Western dia ...

occurred too, due to immigration of Jews from other communities to Gascony. Judeo-Gascon was still spoken in the early 20th century but disappeared quickly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was superseded by a variety of French that retains a large number of lexical and morphological influences from Judeo-Gascon. This variety of French with Judeo-Gascon substrate is still spoken nowadays by a few dozens of speakers, some of which still know a few sentences in Judeo-Gascon.

Phonetics

The main phonetic feature of Judeo-Gascon, especially its Bayonne variety, is the realization as of stressed and unstressed /e/, in contrast with its �realization in the surrounding Western Gascon (also called ''gascon negue''). This has been attributed by Nahon as an influence from the inland dialects or

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...

with Spanish.

Lexical features

The most prominent feature of Judeo-Gascon is the high influx of loanwords from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, adapted to the phonology of Gascon. Hebrew loanwords include ''cheman Israël'' 'goodness!' (Hebr. ''šema yisrael''), ''haroche'' or ''harocho'' ‘disgusting, unpleasant’ (Hebr. ''ḥaroset'' ''

charoset ''Charoset'' is a sweet, dark-colored mixture of finely chopped fruits and nuts eaten at the Passover Seder. According to the Talmud, its color and texture are meant to recall mortar (or mud used to make adobe bricks), which the Israelites ...

''), ''vécimento'' ‘blessed!’ (Hebr. ''besiman ṭob'' ‘in a good omen’), ''sabbat'' ‘Saturday’ (Hebr. ''šabbat''). Ibero-Romance loanwords include ''enridou'' ‘tangle’ (Sp./Port. ''enredo''), ''bobou'' ‘stupid’, ''amoundeguille'' 'meat ball' (Sp. ''albondiguilla''), and many others.

Works

Most texts written in Judeo-Gascon date from the 19th and early 20th century. The only known earlier material are a few 18th-century Gascon nicknames borne by Jews in Gascony. All the other documents have been published and commented by Nahon. They include: *three pieces of para-liturgical poetry, sang at the occasion of the

Purim Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...

holiday. Two of them have been collected orally by Nahon in the 2010s, and are the last surviving specimens of Judeo-Gascon oral literature. *several satirical works in verse and prose, including an important satire composed in 1837 for the inauguration of the main synagogue of Bayonne *a Jewish holiday calendar (''Calende yudiu'') dated 1928, the last printed work in Judeo-Gascon. *private correspondence.

Sources

*
Link to full-text
*. *. *.
Link to full-text

References

Gascon dialect

Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

Jewish languages Extinct Romance languages

Languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

Judeo-Romance languages Sephardi Jewish culture in France {{romance-lang-stub