Judaeo-Papiamento

Judeao-Papiamento is generally mutually intelligible with Papiamento, the main language of most Curaçaoans, locally known as Papiamentu. Papiamento is usually considered an originally Portuguese-based creole language that was subsequently partly relexified by Spanish, but some linguists argue the opposite, viewing it as a Spanish-based creole with a strong Portuguese influence.^[2]

Judeao-Papiamento differs from "general Papiamento" (papiamentu komun) as spoken by the non-Jewish population of Curaҫao in having a number of Hebrew loanwords as well as different pronunciation of many words common for all Papiamento varieties. Oftentimes, the Judeao-Papiamento versions of these words are closer to their Spanish or Portuguese counterparts, hinting at a possible process of decreolization. When speakers of any Papiamento variety talk in the more formal registers, they often use certain words from its lexifier languages almost unchanged. However, there is a difference in their choice of specific literary reference languages. Jewish speakers of Papiamento tend to prefer Portuguese and French, whereas non-Jewish Curaçaoans typically use Spanish words in the same settings.^[3]

In one of her books, May Henriquez provides a table that shows some of the lexical contrasts between the speech of Jewish and non-Jewish Curaҫaoans.^[4]

• Jacobs, Bart (2016). "A New Perspective on the Linguistic Profile of the Curaҫaoan Sephardim". Journal of Jewish Languages. 4: 141–165. doi:10.1163/22134638-12340069.
• Jacobs, Neil G. (2020). "Curaҫao Sephardic Jewish Papiamentu in the Context of Jewish Languages". In Sutcliffe, Patricia C. (ed.). The Polymath Intellectual: A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Robert D. King. Dripping Springs, Texas: Agarita Press. pp. 103‒128.
• Shabashewitz, Dor (2023). "A Jewish creole language in the Caribbean". Forverts (in Yiddish). Retrieved 2023-06-22.