Lexical Availability in Contemporary Judeo-Spanish

Abstract

This chapter studies the linguistic preferences of Judeo-Spanish speakers living in Israel using the Lexical Availability methodology. Thanks to the use of this well-known procedure, the Judeo-Spanish lexicon is studied according to the different relationships between words and speakers’ minds. The focus is on the description and comparison of twelve surveys in relation to seventeen topics or centres of interest, such as “parts of the body,” “clothing,” and “food and drinks.” In quantity of words, the Sephardic informants show very low results compared to other studies within the Pan-Hispanic Project. This might be related to the age of the informants or a non-Judeo-Spanish speaking environment in Israel.