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Spanish and Ladino in Contact in the United States

  • Bryan Kirschen EMAIL logo

Abstract

This study explores contact between Ladino-speaking Sephardim and Spanish-speaking Latinos in New York City and Los Angeles, home to two of the largest factions of each population in the United States. While the retention of postalveolar sibilants [ʒ, dʒ, ʃ] in Ladino, corresponding to velar [x] in Spanish, helps distinguish these varieties, research has demonstrated cases where Sephardim implement the latter phone in lieu of one of the former. That such contact-induced change is a result of interaction between Sephardim and Latinos is further examined in this research. Twenty-five speakers of Ladino participated in two oral-production tasks: within-group and between-group testing. In the former, informants were paired with another speaker of Ladino; in the latter, they were paired with a speaker of Spanish. Data reveal that informants replace postalveolar sibilants with velar [x] at a rate of 18.2% within group and 76.5% between group, when direct equivalencies exist. Statistical analysis demonstrates that production of velar [x], the dependent variable, is conditioned by several independent variables, both social (age, gender, city of residence, interlocutor) and linguistic (type of lexical correspondence and origin of lexicon). Subsequent discussion considers the role of accommodation in determining the ways in which speakers select and implement variation in their speech.


Corresponding author: Bryan Kirschen, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA, E-mail:

Appendix A: Within-group conversations[8]

Lexemes containing velar [x] Lexemes containing postalveolar [ʒ], [dʒ], or [ʃ]
[x] [ʒ] [dʒ] [ʃ]
abudar[x]o a[ʒ]o a[dʒ]idear a[ʃ ]kenaz
alme[x]a anto[ʒ]o a[dʒ]ustar bu[ʃ]kar
al[x]ad estran[ʒ]ero beren[dʒ]ena de[ʃ]ar
baru[x] fi[ʒ]ón [dʒ]enitor di[ʃ]o
e[x]emplo gara[ʒ] [dʒ]ente e[ʃ]kapar
fri[x]ol i[ʒ]o [dʒ]udió i[ʃ]alá
i[x]o [ʒ]eneral [dʒ]ueves kado[ʃ]
ke[x]ilá [ʒ]enerasión [dʒ]ugar ka[ʃ]er
ko[x]er [ʒ]enesú en[dʒ]unto ka[ʃ]ka
le[x]lí ka[ʒ]i in[dʒ]inara ka[ʃ]karika
le[x]os konse[ʒ]o pan[dʒ]ar ke[ʃ]ar
mane[x]ar kua[ʒ]ado kidu[ʃ]
ma[x]azike lente[ʒ]a konse[ʃ]o
mi[x]ayá me[ʒ]or le[ʃ]os
me[x]or mu[ʒ]er mo[ʃ]ka
mizra[x]i o[ʒ]a pe[ʃ]e
pesa[x] reko[ʒ]er pe[ʃ]kado
trava[x]ar reli[ʒ]iozo pipiru[ʃ]ka
ve[x]et al. vie[ʒ]o podía[ʃ]
[x]aber vi[ʒ]itar ro[ʃ]aná
[x]amazón se[ʃ]
[x]aminado [ʃ]abat
[x]amsín [ʃ]alom
[x]anum [ʃ]emá
[x]azak ti[ʃ]abeav
[x]ente uzava[ʃ]
[x]oventud vie[ʃ]o
[x]ue
[x]uerte
[x]unto
[x]ustia

Appendix B: Between-group conversations[9]

Lexemes containing velar [x] Lexemes containing postalveolar [ʒ], [dʒ], or [ʃ]
[x] [ʒ] [dʒ] [ʃ]
aba[x]o ori[x]en a[ʒ]untar a[dʒ]untar aba[ʃ]ar
alér[x]iko o[x]alá fi[ʒ]ón beren[dʒ]ena a[ʃ]aná
al[x]ad o[x]o i[ʒ]o [dʒ]eneral a[ʃ]kenazi
a[x]o pare[x]a [ʒ]enerasión [dʒ]enerasión diezise[ʃ]
a[x]uera pesa[x] [ʒ]urnal [dʒ]ente di[ʃ]o
a[x]ustar pre[x]il [ʒ]uventud [dʒ]oven enba[ʃ]o
bera[x]á pro[x]ekto kaste[ʒ]ano [dʒ]udió e[ʃ]kavar
beren[x]ena rela[x]o kole[ʒ] [dʒ]ugar espani[ʃ]
de[x]ar reli[x]iozo konse[ʒ]o do[dʒ]e informa[ʃ]ión
dibu[x]ar relo[x] kua[ʒ]ado e[dʒ]ukasión ka[ʃ]er
di[x]e re[x]ional lente[ʒ]a en[dʒ]unto ka[ʃ]ka
ekstran[x]ero ro[x]o me[ʒ]or teknolo[dʒ]ía ka[ʃ]karika
ener[x]ía seme[x]ante mu[ʒ]er kidu[ʃ]
esko[x]er teknolo[x]ía reli[ʒ]iozo le[ʃ]os
e[x]emplo traba[x]ar ve[ʒ]etable ma[ʃ]ina
far[x]i tra[x]eron vie[ʒ]o mo[ʃ]ka
feste[x]ar venta[x]a vi[ʒ]itar nefe[ʃ]
fi[x]ar ve[x]etal pera[ʃ]á
fri[x]ol via[x]ar pe[ʃ]kado
ima[x]inar vie[x]o pu[ʃ]kar
introdu[x]o [x]aminado ro[ʃ]
i[x]o [x]amor ro[ʃ]aná
ke[x]arse [x]ardinero ro[ʃ]o
ke[x]ilá [x]asía se[ʃ]
kole[x]io [x]azán [ʃ]abat
konse[x]o [x]azinura [ʃ]iete
ko[x]er [x]ebreo [ʃ]ow
lente[x]a [x]eneral tupi[ʃ]tí
le[x]os [x]enerasión ventise[ʃ]
ló[x]iko [x]ente yeru[ʃ]almi
lu[x]o [x]ota
mane[x]ar [x]oven
mensa[x]e [x]udío
me[x]ikano [x]ue
me[x]or [x]ueves
mizra[x]i [x]ugar
mu[x]er [x]unto

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Published Online: 2021-09-16
Published in Print: 2021-09-27

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