Tradition et innovation dans le codage de langues en contact dans l’idiolecte d’un marchand juif du XVIII e siècle

Abstract

The encrypted language of a tradesman at the end of the xviiith century.After going bankrupt in 1776, Solomon Hyman gave to the French court his pocket-book, written in Hebrew characters, which had been travelling with him between Paris and London since 1764. He wrote in it several kinds of lists : the toyware he bought in England, the snuffboxes he had painted in Paris, the bills of exchange he received and the debts he had to pay. The language he uses is near of German, but with specific Yiddish words. The names are from English, the decoration from French and the numbers in Hebrew. Their spelling is often mistaken, because of lack of knowledge, but mainly because of his German accent. Only a few lines are in latin characters.