This article sheds new light on the linguistic identity of the so-called ‘Portuguese Jews’ of Gascony. According to the currently-accepted historical reconstruction, after being Spanish-speaking during the first centuries of their settlement in France, these communities all adopted standard French towards the end of the 18th century. However, their linguistic legacy has been misinterpreted: Spanish was a mere written tongue, used by learned members of the communities until the 18th century, whereas Gascon, the local vernacular, was spoken. This situation of diglossia, paralleling that of the local Christian inhabitants, who wrote in French yet spoke Gascon, resulted in differentiation of the common language of both communities, with the emergence of a distinctive Jewish variety. Now mostly obsolescent, this ‘Jewish’ language is being recovered through intensive study of textual evidence – samples of which are provided here along with some of our theories.

本文为所谓的加斯科尼“葡萄牙犹太人”的语言身份提供了新的启示。根据目前接受的历史重建，在其在法国定居的第一个世纪中讲西班牙语之后，这些社区在18世纪末都采用了标准的法语。但是，他们的语言遗产被误解了：西班牙语只是一种书面语言，直到18世纪，该社区的学识渊博的成员都使用西班牙语，而当地人则用加斯康语说。这种食欲不振的情况与当地用法语写的，但会说加斯康语的基督教徒的情况类似，导致两个社区共同语言的差异，并出现了独特的犹太人品种。现在大都过时了