Ladino

Ladino, Romance language derived from 15th-century Spanish (Castilian), spoken (generally as a second or third language) primarily in Israel but also in Turkey (European) as well as by emigrants of the ethnic group in some other parts of the world (primarily in territories that comprised the ancient Ottoman Empire). Most linguists refer to the language as Judaeo-Spanish and it is spoken by about 110,000 people worldwide, many of whom are Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain by the Catholic kings in 1492. They took their language with them which then underwent different changes to the language that remained in Spain and so evolved into a separate language. Judaeo-Spanish is noteworthy not only for the Turkish, Greek, Arabic, and French influences that have modified it but also for its archaic character and near-perfect preservation of the main features of pre-Castilian Spanish, which was standardized around the time of the Jewish expulsion. Judaeo-Spanish also preserves many old words, proverbs, songs, legends, and romances.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of speakers of Judaeo-Spanish worldwide has diminished considerably. This is due in particular to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the mass killings of Jews by the Germans in occupied Europe during World War II (see Holocaust). Countries containing populations of speakers of Judaeo-Spanish speakers include Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria (Sofia), the former Yugoslavia, Greece (Salonica), the United States, and Puerto Rico. The language used to be spoken in Morocco (hence the Arabic and French influences), but has since died out in that country.

Selected statistical data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International.