How to transcribe Judeo-Spanish written in Hebrew letters into Latin script? The example of Alexander Thomson (1820-1899)

This short presentation deals with El catecismo menor, o una corta declaración de lo que creen los protestantes cristianos (Constantinople, 1854), translated from English and published by the Scottish Protestant mission led by Alexander Thomson. This text, partially studied by Aitor García Moreno, is really interesting in terms of linguistics and sociology.

After describing the structure of contents of Alexander Thomson's work, I will deal with the historical and literary importance of El catecismo. 

From a purely linguistic point of view, we will comment on the spelling of the work in order to understand how Thomson understood Ladino in his early stages learning Judeo-Spanish by comparing his production in Ladino in Hebrew letters to what can be transcribed into Judeo-Spanish in Latin script: what does the Ladino alphabet look like? How to transcribe it? How are Ladino vowels represented in El catecismo? How to form dipthongs and hiatus in this language according to what we read in this work? How do the consonants appearing on the book should be pronounced like?

Speaker: Daniel Martín González, RCC Fellow

Sponsor: RCC