On the paleography of Spanish texts in the Hebrew script: Designation of sibilants

The purpose of this article is to analyze the specific features of sibilant designation in Spanish texts of the XVII–XVIII centuries rendered in the Jewish script. The material used includes: Ms. Heb. I 308 (XVII — early XVIII centuries), a manuscript housed at RNB, St. Petersburg, A. S. Firkovich Foundation; Biblia de Viena (1816), and Biblia de Constanstinopla (1873) rendered in the Hebrew (Ladino or Judesmo) script. The system of sibilants shows difference in the representation in the printed books and in the manuscripts addressed. The manuscript Ms. Heb. I 308 uses different Hebrew letters to represent the same Spanish sounds which otherwise are invariably denoted by only one Latin letter. The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: 1. Printed Spanish texts rendered in the Hebrew script demonstrate higher regularity in the selection of Hebrew letters to denote sibilants in the Spanish (Sephardic) language as a reflection of a general difference between printed and handwritten texts overall. 2. The Hebrew script orthography represents the “southern” variant of Spanish sibilants’ development from the XV century. In particular, this is evident in the designation of voiced and voiceless fricative phonemes by samech <s> and zayin <z>. This is a reflection of the process of fricativization of the affricates /t͡s/ (in the letter ç, c(e/i)) and /d͡z/ (in the letter z) with their subsequent merger with the fricatives /s/ (in the letter s, ss) and /z/ (in the letter -s- in intervocalic positions), characteristic of the “southern” variant. The article includes: a table with different variants of paleography in Sefardic manuscripts and the solitreo grafics.