Judeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, was the language spoken by Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire following their arrival in the late fifteenth century. Mary Altabev’s study of Judeo-Spanish explores the use of the language in the modern Turkish Republic, where Jews have largely dropped it in favour of the Turkish language. Altabev’s anthropological approach relies on the collection of empirical data from Turkey’s Judeo-Spanish speakers. Altabev’s analysis of the data focuses on perceptions of the language with respect to certain factors as well as the multiple identities of Turkey’s Jews as manifested in linguistic strategies. Altabev moreover seeks to show how Judeo-Spanish is not merely a dying language but has taken on another role amongst the Jewish community in Turkey.
