The formation and development of Judaeo-Spanish

The chapter presents the social and cultural history of the Judaeo-Spanish varieties that took shape in the Ottoman Empire and in Morocco from the 16th to the 19th century. It also provides an overview of their most significant linguistic features at all levels – phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. Finally, it points to a marginal area of research, that of the Spanish (and Portuguese) varieties used by the Jews of Livorno, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and other cities of the Western Sephardic diaspora.