The language of expulsion and acceptance: Ladino as a connection between Spanish and Turkish cultures

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the large-scale historical processes of the late 15th century and the contemporary linguistic and cultural realities that have survived within the Turkish Republic. First and foremost, it concerns the expulsion of the Jewish population from Spain as a result of the Alhambra Edict of 1492, which led to the mass migration of Sephardic Jews to the Ottoman Empire. This act of forced ethnocultural displacement was not only a traumatic break with the mother culture, but also the beginning of a new linguistic and cultural construction in the host environment. Particular attention is paid to Ladino (Judezmo) – a variant of Middle Spanish enriched with elements of Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Balkan languages and, later, Turkish. Ladino not only preserved the grammatical and lexical features of the Spanish of the Reconquista era, but also became a cultural code that ensured the collective memory, stability, and self-identification of the Sephardic community in new sociolinguistic conditions. The article analyses the mechanisms of Ladino adaptation in Ottoman and Turkish society, particularly in the spheres of education, religion, media, everyday communication and family tradition. It also examines the key factors in the decline of this language in the 20th century: assimilation processes, modernisation pressures, changes in language policy in Turkey, and globalisation trends. Special attention is paid to contemporary initiatives to revive and preserve Ladino as an instrument of intercultural dialogue and a bearer of a unique historical and cultural heritage. Examples are given of projects supported by UNESCO, academic institutions, and communities of Sephardic descendants. Thus, Ladino emerges not only as a language of exile, but also as a living symbol of memory, cultural continuity, and connection between Spanish and Turkish cultures. Its preservation opens up new perspectives for the study of linguistic hybridity, multilingualism, and cultural integration in a multicultural globalised world.