ABSTRACT
Judaeo-Arabic (JA) language-variety designates also the Jewish literary and non-literary production, in addition to the Jewish cultural and socio-religious ‘space’ or domain. It is a modern concept that seeks to describe and systematize the whole culture and mentality of the Jewish communities in its contact with the Arabo-Islamic culture and languages. JA is a Semitic language with the following linguistic characteristics: Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew lexica and Arabic morpho-syntax. JA has been spoken and written in various forms by Jews throughout the Arabic speaking world; its literature is concerned for the most part with Jewish topics and is written by Jewish authors for Jewish readers. JA literature was considered inferior to the linguistic and literary models as defined by Arab grammarians. JA variety-language’s non-linguistic definitional parameters are: the Jewish-ness of the JA users, and the subject matter it channels.
