Semiotics of Djudeo-Espanyol in Recent Works by Myriam Moscona

Abstract

The present essay examines the semiotics of Djudeo-Espanyol in the novel Tela de sevoya (2012) and the poetry collection Ansina (2015) by Myriam Moscona. While in some of her previous volumes of poetry Moscona explores her Sephardic identity—in part through language—in these two recent works Djudeo-Espanyol takes center stage not only as a marker of identity, but as integral to the process of liteary creation. In both the autobiographical novel and the volumen of poetry, the use and function of Djudeo-Espanyol in conjunction with Spanish, or as the sole language (as is the case with Ansina), communicates and indeed performs language in unique ways. The objective of the essay is to explore the mulitple ways in which Djudeo-Espanyol, as a language of creation and as affective linguistic register, transfers meaning to the reader.

Keywords

• Djudeo-Espanyol
• Myriam Moscona
• Sephardic identity
• Tela de sevoya
• Ansina