Editing Spanish language (section)

=== Judaeo-Spanish ===
{{Further|Judaeo-Spanish}}
[[File:Rashiscript.PNG|thumb|The [[Rashi script]], originally used to print Judaeo-Spanish]]
[[File:Delacroix letter.png|thumb|upright=0.85|An original letter in Haketia, written in 1832]]

Judaeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino,<ref name="Ladino">{{cite web |last=Alfassa |first=Shelomo |title=Ladinokomunita |url=http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html |date=December 1999 |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture |access-date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402055529/http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html |archive-date=2 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> is a variety of Spanish which preserves many features of medieval Spanish and some old Portuguese and is spoken by descendants of the [[Sephardi Jews]] who were [[Alhambra decree|expelled from Spain in the 15th century]].<ref name="Ladino" /> While in Portugal the conversion of Jews occurred earlier and the assimilation of [[New Christians]] was overwhelming, in Spain the Jews kept their language and identity. The relationship of Ladino and Spanish is therefore comparable with that of the [[Yiddish language]] to [[German language|German]]. Ladino speakers today are almost exclusively [[Sephardim|Sephardi]] Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece, or the Balkans, and living mostly in Israel, Turkey, and the United States, with a few communities in Hispanic America.<ref name="Ladino" /> Judaeo-Spanish lacks the [[Amerindian languages|Native American vocabulary]] which was acquired by standard Spanish during the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish colonial period]], and it retains many archaic features which have since been lost in standard Spanish. It contains, however, other vocabulary which is not found in standard Spanish, including vocabulary from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], French, Greek and [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and other languages spoken where the Sephardim settled.

Judaeo-Spanish is in serious danger of extinction because many native speakers today are elderly as well as elderly ''olim'' (immigrants to [[Israel]]) who have not transmitted the language to their children or grandchildren. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardi communities, especially in music. In Hispanic American communities, the danger of extinction is also due to assimilation by modern Spanish.

A related dialect is [[Haketia]], the Judaeo-Spanish of northern [[Morocco]]. This too, tended to assimilate with modern Spanish, during the Spanish occupation of the region.