Lexicon Valley

When Jews Adapted Spanish

Languages of the Ottoman Empire, inspired by historian Alan Mikhail’s new book God’s Shadow.

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Episode Notes

Having recently read Yale professor Alan Mikhail’s forthcoming God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World, John started thinking about some of the languages spoken around the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages. These include Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and the peculiar but widely popular Ladino.

Podcast production by Mike Vuolo.

About the Show

If you’ve ever had curious thoughts and questions about the ways we speak, read, and write, Lexicon Valley is the show for you. Hosted by linguist John McWhorter.

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