Vocalic Alternations in Istanbul Judeo-Spanish: A Pilot Study on Semi-Spontaneous Speech Data

Christoph Gabriel, Jonas Grünke, Aldina Quintana

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The vowel system of Bulgarian Judeo-Spanish shows strong influence from the local language in exhibiting raising of unstressed /o/ and /a/ to [u] and [ə], respectively. In Eastern varieties, this process also affects unstressed /e/, yielding [i]. The present contribution aims to answer the question as to whether comparable vocalic alternations also occur in the variety spoken Istanbul (Turkey). To that end, all instances of unstressed vowels were extracted from a small corpus of spontaneous speech, and their phonetic realizations were compared to the corresponding stressed vowels (by means of F1 and F2 measurements). Preliminary results show that alternations of unstressed vowels occur in Turkish Judeo-Spanish as well but cannot be explained by referring to regular raising patterns; they are rather triggered by transfer of vowel harmony from Turkish.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBrill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture
PublisherBrill Academic Publishers
Pages256-281
Number of pages26
ISBN (Print)9789004685024
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024

Publication series

NameBrill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture
Volume41

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Cultural Studies
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Anthropology
  • Linguistics and Language

RAMBI publications

  • rambi
  • Sephardim -- Turkey -- Languages
  • Ladino language -- Dialects -- Turkey -- Istanbul
  • Ladino language -- Vowels

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