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144 SHOFAR Spring 1996 Vol. 14, No.3 JUDEZMO PHILOLOGY IN FRANCE: THE CONTRIBUTION OF HAiM VIDAL SEPHIHA by Michael T. Ward Michael T. Ward, Associate Professor of Italian and Spanish at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, has published on the history of linguistics in Italica and Hispanic Review. Halm Vidal Sephiha is without doubt the most significant figure within current Judeo-Spanish studies in France. Despite the high quality and impressive quantity of his publications, however, he is not as well known within the United States as a scholar of his stature would merit. The present essay proposes to outline certain salient points of Sephiha's views as presented in two fundamental monographs, L'agonie des Judeo-Espagnols (appearing first in 1977) and Le judeo-espagnol (1986).1 These treatises incorporate material from numerous studies by the author and other researchers, data cited in both footnotes and bibliographies, which the reader is invited to consult for a fuller appreciation of Sephiha's contribution. Many individuals have devoted themselves to the topics he addresses, and it is not my intent to add to the body of knowledge thus far compiled. Sephiha refers modestly to Le judeo-espagnol as a "petit essai de vulgarisation"2; the following remarks aspire to a similar goal of promoting an increased familiarity with the theories of this eminent investigator. L'agonie des Judeo-Espagnols, the first volume of the diptych, was designed specifically (we are told) to function as "a wake-up call to my fellow Judeo-Spaniards who have become complacent" [une provocaIRai 'm Vidal SCphiha, L'agorzie desjudeo-Espagrzols, 3d ed. (Paris: Entente, 1991); Ie judeo-espagrzol (paris: Entente, 1986). 2SCphiha, Ie judeo-espagrlOl, pp. 85-86; cr. p. 83 n. 63. ]udezmo Philology in France 145 tion a l'adresse de mes co-judeo-Espagnols quelque peu assoupisV It traces the history of Spanish Jews beginning with their expulsion at the . hands of the Catholic Kings, presenting in detail the various migrations which took place in subsequent centuries. Sephiha furnishes a wealth of information concerning developments in those territories to which Judeo-Spanish groups traveled, focusing especially 'on occurrences within the Ottoman Empire and-during the period following the Shoah-on the decline in Jewish population which affected much of Europe. Also included in this work are a survey of the vicissitudes of the Judeo-Spanish press and an appendix supplying fascinating testimonies regarding institutions and individuals intimately involved with the struggle for survival on the part ofJudezmo speakers. Composed nearly a decade after L'agonie des ]udeo-Espagnols, Le judeo-espagnol is more concerned with the evolution and structure of the language itself, thus providing a perfect complement to the more sociological concerns manifest in the first volume. In addition to distinguishing two kinds ofJudeo-Spanish, separated by syntactic characteristics (as will be discussed below), Le judeo-espagnol is careful to give attention to both principal geographic varieties of the vernacular medium , Judezmo (prominent in the East) and Haketiya (spoken in northern Morocco and, in the form of Tetuani, in the region of Oranie). Following a survey of Judeo-Spanish written and oral literature of a ~iversity of classes, we are offered a rich anthology-parallel to that furnished in L'agonie des ]udeo-Espagnols-constructed to be "as evocative as possible " and to "show how much accumulation of data has been undertaken and how much remains to be done."4 Despite their clear and objective presentation of factual information , L'agonie des ]udeo-Espagnols and Le judeo-espagnol constitute as well overwhelmingly personal works. Indeed, it is this intimate dimension which adds significantly to the impact of Sephiha's exposition, making the volumes much more than treatises on sociological and linguistic events. Throughout his texts, the author strives successfully to convey with great poignancy the suffering to which so many have been subjected for so long a time. We read of such tragic matters as the agonizing and necessarily swift departure from Spain under pressure of the August 2, 1492 deadline (only one day before Columbus began his 'SCphiha, I.e judeo-espagnol, p. 37; cf. L'agoTlie des Judeo-EspagrlOls, p. i. (Translations throughout are mine.) 4SCphiha, I...

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