Ladino

Ladino (lingua ladina [lingwa latina'], ladino [ladino]) is a romance language and the most spoken in Kamany. Ladino is written with the latin alphabet with few additions to the basic script (é, è, â, û, î, ó, á). Ladino is very close to spanish, catalan and italian languages.

Dialects

The inhabitants of different regions of Kamany still speak Ladino somewhat differently, although the differences between modern-day vernacular varieties and standard Ladino (Ladino Klasico) are relatively light. Most of the middle aged and young speak vernaculars close to standard Ladino, while the traditional dialects are preserved among older people in rural areas.

First-language speakers of Ladino have no trouble understanding each other. The modern standard dialect, often termed as "central Ladino",is spoken or at least understood throughout the entire country except Galicia.

There are four main Ladino dialects

• Kamaian Ladino, spoken around Kama and in the north
• Carozian Ladino, spoken in the east of Kamany
• Southern Ladino, spoken in the south of Kamany and in some places of Bosnia
• Campanian Ladino, spoken in the west of Kamany

Orthography

Vowels

Grapheme	Usual value	Name
a	/a/	/a/
â	/ɔ̃/	/ɔ̃/
á	/a:/	/a doble/
ae	/e/	/e plural/
e	/e/	/e/
é	/ɛ/	/e lore/
è	/ɛ/, /e/	/e alore/
i	/i/, /j/ before a vowel	/i/
î	/ɛ̃/	/ɛ̃/
í	/i:/	/ i doble/
o	/ɔ/, /o/, /u/ at the end of a word	/o/
ó	/o:/,	/o doble/
u	/u/	/u/
û	/ʊ/	/ u liɣanu/
ou	/u:/	/u doble/

Consonants

Grapheme	Usual value	Name
b	/b/	/ba/
c	/k/ before u, a, o /tʃ/before i, e	/ka/
ci	/tʃ/ before a, u, o /t͡ɕ/ before e, i	/tʃa/
ch	/tʃ/, /k/	/Kja/
d	/d/, /t/ sometimes	/da/
f	/f/	/fa/
g	/j/ before e, i /g/ before a, o, u	/ja/
gi	/d̠ʒ/	/d̠ʒa/
h	/ɣ/	/ɣa/
j	/j/	/je/
k	/g/, /k/sometimes and in eastern dialect	/ga/
l	/l/, /w/ at the end of a word	/la/
m	/m/	/ma/
n	/n/	/na/
nh	/ɲ/	/ɲa/
p	/b/, /p/ sometimes and in eastern dialect	/be/
q	/k/, /g/	/ke/
r	/r/, /ɹ/ sometimes and in western dialect	/ra/
s	/ɣ/, /ʃ/ (never in Kamaian dialect)	/ɣe/
si	/ɕ/	/ɕa/
t	/t/	/ta/
v	/w/ at the begining of a word, /v/ at the end of a word and in eastern dialect	/va/
x	/ʃ/	/ʃa/
z	/s/, /z/ in eastern dialect	/sa/

The letters w and y are rarely used and pronounced as in English.