Basque language

Basque
euskara
Pronunciation	IPA:[eus̺ˈkaɾa]
Native to	Spain,France
Region	Basque Country
Ethnicity	Basque
Native speakers	806,000 (2021) 434,000passive speakersand 6,000monoglots
Language family	Language isolate
Early forms	Proto-Basque Aquitanian
Dialects	Biscayan Gipuzkoan Upper Navarrese Navarro-Lapurdian Eastern Navarrese† Souletin (Zuberoan) Alavese† Salazarese†
Writing system	Basque Alpha bet Basque Braille
Official status
Official language in	Spain Basque Autonomous Community Navarre(co-official in theBasque-speaking areaof Navarre)
Recognised minority language in	France Pyrénées-Atlantiques,Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Regulated by	Euskaltzaindia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	eu
ISO 639-2	baq(B) eus(T)
ISO 639-3	eus
Glottolog	basq1248
Linguasphere	40-AAA-a
Dialect areas of Basque. Light-coloured dialects are extinct. See§ Dialects
Basque speakers, including second-language speakers 80–100% 50–80% 20–50% 0–20%

Person	Basque (Euskaldun)
People	Basques(Euskaldunak)
Language	Basque (Euskara)

Family transmission of Basque language (Basque as initial language)

Percentage of students registered in Basque language schools (2000–2005)

Location of the Basque-language provinces within Spain and France

Basque(/ˈbæsk,ˈbɑːsk/;euskara[eus̺ˈkaɾa]) is the only survivingPaleo-European languagespoken in Europe, predating the arrival of speakers of theIndo-European languagesthat dominate the continent today. Basque is spoken by theBasquesand other residents of theBasque Country,a region that straddles the westernmostPyreneesin adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque is classified as alanguage isolate.The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country.The Basque language is spoken by 806,000 Basques in all territories. Of these, 93.7% (756,000) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.3% (50,000) are in the French portion.Basque is considered the most spoken language isolate in the world.

Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish provinces and thethree "ancient provinces"in France.Gipuzkoa,most ofBiscay,a few municipalities on the northern border ofÁlavaand the northern area ofNavarreformed the core of the remaining Basque-speaking area before measures were introduced in the 1980s to strengthen Basque fluency. By contrast, most of Álava, the westernmost part of Biscay, and central and southern Navarre are predominantly populated by native speakers ofSpanish,either because Basquewas replacedby Spanish over the centuries (as in most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it may never have been spoken there (as in parts ofEnkarterriand south-eastern Navarre).

InFrancoist Spain,Basque language use was discouraged by the government'srepressive policies.In the Basque Country, "Francoist repression was not only political, but also linguistic and cultural."Franco'sregime suppressed Basque from official discourse, education, and publishing,making it illegal to register newborn babies under Basque names,and even requiring tombstone engravings in Basque to be removed.In some provinces the public use of Basque was suppressed, with people fined for speaking it.Public use of Basque was frowned upon by supporters of the regime, often regarded as a sign of anti-Francoism orseparatism.Overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish.As a part of this process, a standardised form of the Basque language, calledEuskara Batua,was developed by theEuskaltzaindiain the late 1960s.

Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects areBiscayan,Gipuzkoan,andUpper Navarresein Spain andNavarrese–LapurdianandSouletinin France. They take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that the Basque language could be used—and easily understood by all Basque speakers—in formal situations (education, mass media, literature), and this is its main use today. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region and from school to school.

Basque is the only survivinglanguage isolateinEurope.The current mainstream scientific view on theorigin of the Basquesand of their language is that early forms of Basque developed before the arrival ofIndo-European languagesin the area, i.e. before the arrival ofCelticandRomance languagesin particular, as the latter today geographically surround the Basque-speaking region. Typologically, with itsagglutinative morphologyandergative–absolutive alignment,Basque grammarremains markedly different from that ofStandard Average Europeanlanguages. Nevertheless, Basque has borrowed up to 40 percent of its vocabulary from Romance languages,and theLatin scriptis used for theBasque Alpha bet.

Names of the language

See also:Basques § Etymology of the word Basque

In Basque, the name of the language is officiallyeuskara(alongside variousdialectforms).

In French, the language is normally calledbasque,thougheuskarahas become common in recent times. Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to asvasco,lengua vasca,oreuskera.Both terms,vascoandbasque,are inherited from the LatinethnonymVascones,which in turn goes back to the Greek termΟὐάσκωνες(ouaskōnes), an ethnonym used byStraboin hisGeographica(23 CE, Book III).

The Spanish termVascuence,derived from Latinvasconĭce,has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally. Its use is documented at least as far back as the 14th century when a law passed inHuescain 1349 stated thatItem nuyl corridor nonsia usado que faga mercadería ninguna que compre nin venda entre ningunas personas, faulando en algaravia nin en abraych nin enbasquenç:et qui lo fara pague por coto XXX sol—essentially penalising the use of Arabic, Hebrew, or Basque in marketplaces with a fine of 30sols(the equivalent of 30 sheep).

History and classification

Main article:History of the Basque language

Basque is geographically surrounded byRomance languagesbut is a language isolate unrelated to them, and indeed, to any other language in the world. It is the last remaining descendant of one of thepre-Indo-European languagesofPrehistoric Europe.Consequently, the prehistory of the Basque language may not be reconstructible by means of the traditionalcomparative methodexcept by applying it to differences between dialects within the language. Little is known of its origins, but it is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in and around the area of modern Basque Country before the arrival of the Indo-European languages in western Europe.

Authors such asMiguel de UnamunoandLouis Lucien Bonapartehave noted that the words for "knife" (aizto), "axe" (aizkora), and "hoe" (aitzur) appear to derive from the word for "stone" (haitz), and have therefore concluded that the language dates toprehistoric Europewhen those tools were made of stone.Others find this unlikely: seetheaizkoracontroversy.

Latin inscriptions inGallia Aquitaniapreserve a number of words withcognatesin the reconstructedproto-Basque language,for instance, the personal namesNescatoandCison(neskatoandgizonmean 'young girl' and 'man', respectively in modern Basque). This language is generally referred to asAquitanianand is assumed to have been spoken in the area before theRoman Republic's conquests in the westernPyrenees.Some authors even argue forlate Basquisation,that the language moved westward duringLate Antiquityafter thefall of the Western Roman Empireinto the northern part ofHispaniainto what is nowBasque Country.

Roman neglect of this area allowed Aquitanian to survive while theIberianandTartessian languagesbecame extinct. Through the long contact with Romance languages, Basque adopted a sizeable number of Romance words. Initially the source was Latin, laterGascon(a branch ofOccitan) in the north-east,Navarro-Aragonesein the south-east andSpanishin the south-west.

Since 1968, Basque has been immersed in a revitalisation process, facing formidable obstacles. However, significant progress has been made in numerous areas. Six main factors have been identified to explain its relative success:

1. implementation and acceptance ofUnified Basque(Batua),
2. integration of Basque in the education system
3. creation of media in Basque (radio, newspapers, and television)
4. the established new legal framework
5. collaboration between public institutions and people's organisations, and
6. campaigns for Basque language literacy.

While those six factors influenced the revitalisation process, the extensive development and use oflanguage technologiesis also considered a significant additional factor.

Hypotheses concerning Basque's connections to other languages

While accepted by a majority of linguists as a non-Indo-European language, many attempts have been made to link the Basque language with more geographically distant languages. Apart frompseudoscientific comparisons,the appearance of long-range linguistics gave rise to several attempts to connect Basque with geographically very distant language families. Historical work on Basque is challenging since written material and documentation only is available for some few hundred years. Almost all hypotheses concerning the origin of Basque are controversial, and the suggested evidence is not generally accepted by mainstream linguists. Some of these hypothetical connections are:

Inscription with Basque-like lexical forms identified as "UME ZAHAR",Lerga(Navarre)

• Liguriansubstrate: this hypothesis, proposed in the 19th century by d'Arbois de Jubainville, J. Pokorny, P. Kretschmer and several other linguists, encompasses the Basco-Iberian hypothesis.
• Iberian:another ancient language once spoken in theIberian Peninsula,shows several similarities withAquitanianand Basque. However, not enough evidence exists to distinguish geographical connections from linguistic ones. Iberian itself remainsunclassified.Eduardo Orduña Aznar claims to have established correspondences between Basque and Iberian numeralsand noun case markers.
• Vasconic substratum theory:this proposal, made by the German linguistTheo Vennemann,claims that enoughtoponymicalevidence exists to conclude that Basque is the only survivor of a larger family that once extended throughout most of western Europe, and has also left its mark in modern Indo-European languages spoken in Europe.
• Georgian:linking Basque to theKartvelian languagesis now widely discredited. The hypothesis was inspired by the existence of the ancientKingdom of Iberiain theCaucasusand some similarities in societal practices and agriculture between the two populations. Historical comparisons are difficult due to the dearth of historical material for Basque and several of the Kartvelian languages. Typological similarities have been proposed for some of the phonological characteristics and most importantly for some of the details of the ergative constructions, but these alone cannot prove historical relatedness between languages since such characteristics are found in other languages across the world, even if not in Indo-European.According toJ. P. Mallory,the hypothesis was also inspired by a Basque place-name ending in-dzewhich is common in Kartvelian.The theory suggested that Basque and Georgian were remnants of a pre-Indo-European group.
• Northeast Caucasian languages,such asChechen,are seen by some linguists as more likely candidates for a very distant connection.
• Dené–Caucasian:based on the possible Caucasian link, some linguists, for exampleJohn BengtsonandMerritt Ruhlen,have proposed including Basque in the Dené–Caucasian superfamily of languages, but this proposed superfamily includes languages from North America and Eurasia, and its existence is highly controversial.
• Indo-European:a genetic link between Basque and the Indo-European languages has been proposed by Forni (2013).This proposal is rejected by most reviewers,both including scholars adhering to the mainstream view of Basque as a language isolate (Gorrochategui, Lakarra), as well as proponents of wide-range genetic relations (Bengtson).

Geographic distribution

Geographical traces of the Basque language. Blue dots: place names; red dots: epigraphic traces (gravestones...) in Roman times; blue patch: maximum extension.

Percentage of fluent speakers of Basque (areas where Basque is not spoken are included within the 0–4% interval)

Percentage of people fluent in Basque language in Navarre (2001), including second-language speakers

The region where Basque is spoken has become smaller over centuries, especially at the northern, southern, and eastern borders. Nothing is known about the limits of this region in ancient times, but on the basis of toponyms and epigraphs, it seems that in the beginning of theCommon Erait stretched to the riverGaronnein the north (including the south-western part of present-day France); at least to theVal d'Aranin the east (now aGascon-speaking part ofCatalonia), including lands on both sides of thePyrenees;the southern and western boundaries are not clear at all.

TheReconquistatemporarily counteracted this contracting tendency when the Christian lords called on northern Iberian peoples — Basques,Asturians,and "Franks"— to colonise the new conquests. The Basque language became the main everyday language,while other languages likeSpanish,Gascon,French,orLatinwere preferred for the administration and high education.

By the 16th century, the Basque-speaking area was reduced basically to the present-day seven provinces of the Basque Country, excluding the southern part of Navarre, the south-western part ofÁlava,and the western part of Biscay, and including some parts ofBéarn.

In 1807, Basque was still spoken in the northern half of Álava—including its capital cityVitoria-Gasteiz—and a vast area in central Navarre, but in these two provinces, Basque experienced a rapid decline that pushed its border northwards. In theFrench Basque Country,Basque was still spoken in all the territory except inBayonneand some villages around, and including some bordering towns inBéarn.

In the 20th century, however, the rise ofBasque nationalismspurred increased interest in the language as a sign of ethnic identity, and with the establishment of autonomous governments in theSouthern Basque Country,it has recently made a modest comeback. In the Spanish part, Basque-language schools for children and Basque-teaching centres for adults have brought the language to areas such as westernEnkarterriand the Ribera del Ebro in southern Navarre, where it is not known to ever have been widely spoken; and in the French Basque Country, these schools and centres have almost stopped the decline of the language.

Official status

Official status of the Basque language in Navarre

Historically, Latin or Romance languages have been the official languages in this region. However, Basque was explicitly recognised in some areas. For instance, thefueroor charter of the Basque-colonisedOjacastro(now inLa Rioja) allowed the inhabitants to use Basque in legal processes in the 13th and 14th centuries. Basque was allowed in telegraph messages in Spain thanks to the royal decree of 1904.

TheSpanish Constitution of 1978states in Article 3 that theSpanish languageis the official language of the nation, but allows autonomous communities to provide a co-official language status for the otherlanguages of Spain.Consequently, the Statute of Autonomy of theBasque Autonomous Communityestablishes Basque as the co-official language of the autonomous community. The Statute of Navarre establishes Spanish as the official language of Navarre, but grants co-official status to the Basque language in the Basque-speaking areas of northern Navarre. Basque has no official status in the French Basque Country and French citizens are barred from officially using Basque in a French court of law. However, the use of Basque by Spanish nationals in French courts is permitted (with translation), as Basque is officially recognised on the other side of the border.

The positions of the various existing governments differ with regard to the promotion of Basque in areas where Basque is commonly spoken. The language has official status in those territories that are within the Basque Autonomous Community, where it is spoken and promoted heavily, but only partially in Navarre. TheLey del Vascuence( "Law of Basque" ), seen as contentious by many Basques, but considered fitting Navarra's linguistic and cultural diversity by some of the main political parties of Navarre,divides Navarre into three language areas: Basque-speaking, non-Basque-speaking, and mixed. Support for the language and the linguistic rights of citizens vary, depending on the area. Others consider it unfair, since the rights of Basque speakers differ greatly depending on the place they live.

Demographics

Map showing the historical retreat and expansion of Basque within the context of its linguistic neighbours between the years 1000 and 2000

Testimonies of Basque sociolinguistic dynamics (French Basque Country)

Linesin an exercise book given as punishment duringFranco's regime.The line is "En la escuela no tengo que hablar vasco"(transl.  "I must not speak in Basque at school").

The 2021 sociolinguistic survey of all Basque-speaking territories showed that, of all people aged 16 and above:

• In theBasque Autonomous Community,36.2% were fluent Basque speakers, 18.5%passive speakersand 45.3% did not speak Basque. The percentage was highest inGipuzkoa(51.8% speakers) andBizkaia(30.6%) and lowest in Álava (22.4%). These results represent an increase from previous years (33.9% in 2016, 30.1% in 2006, 29.5% in 2001, 27.7% in 1996 and 24.1% in 1991). The highest percentage of speakers can now be found in the 16–24 age range (74.5%) vs. 22.0% in the 65+ age range.
• In theFrench Basque Country,in 2021, 20.0% were fluent Basque speakers. Because the French Basque Country is not under the influence of the Basque Autonomous Country government, the region has fewer incentives to learn the language by government authorities. As such, these results represent another decrease from previous years (22.5% in 2006, 24.8% in 2001 and 26.4 in 1996 or 56,146 in 1996 to 51,197 in 2016). However, for those in the 16-24 age range, the proportion of Basque speakers increased to 21.5%, from 12.2% 20 years earlier.

• InNavarre,14.1 were fluent Basque speakers, 10.5% passive speakers, and 75.4% did not speak Basque. The percentage was highest in the Basque-speaking zone in the north (62.3% speakers, including 85.9% of youth) and lowest in the non-Basque-speaking zone in the south (1.6%). The overall proportion of 14.1% represented a slight increase from previous years (12.9% in 2016, 11.1% in 2006,10.3% in 2001, 9.6% in 1996 and 9.5% in 1991). Among age groups, the highest percentage of speakers can now be found in the 16–24 age range (28%) vs. 8.3% in the 65+ age range.

In 2021, out of a population of 2,634,800 over 16 years of age (1,838,800 in the Autonomous community, 546,000 in Navarre and 250,000 in the Northern Basque Country), 806,000 spoke Basque, which amounted to 30.6% of the population. Compared to the 1991 figures, this represents an overall increase of 266,000, from 539,110 speakers 30 years previously (430,000 in the BAC, 40,110 in FCN, and 69,000 in the Northern provinces). This number has tended to increase, as in all regions the age group most likely to speak Basque was those between 16 and 24 years old. In the BAC, the proportion in this age group who spoke the language (74.5%) was nearly triple the comparable figure from 1991, when barely a quarter of the population spoke Basque.

While there is a general increase in the number of Basque-speaking during this period, this is mainly because ofbilingualism.Basque transmission as a sole mother tongue has decreased from 19% in 1991 to 15.1% in 2016, while Basque and another language being used as mother language increased from 3% to 5.4% in the same time period. General public attitude towards efforts to promote the Basque language have also been more positive, with the share of people against these efforts falling from 20.9% in 1991 to 16% in 2016.

In 2021, the study found that in the BAC, when both parents were Basque speakers, 98% of children were only communicated to in Basque, while 2% were communicated to in both Basque and Spanish. When only one parent was a Basque speaker and their first language was Basque, 84% used Basque and Spanish and 16% only Spanish. In Navarre, the family language of 94.3% of the youngest respondents with both Basque parents was Basque. In the Northern Basque Country, however, when both parents were Basque speaking, just two-thirds transmitted only Basque to their offspring, and as age decreased, the transmission rate also decreased.

Basque speakers (as a % of each region's population), gains/losses compared to previous survey

	Across all	BAC	Navarre	FBC
1991	22.3%	24.1%	9.5%	-
1996	24.4% (2.1%)	27.7% (3.6%)	9.6% (0.1%)	26.4%
2001	25.4% (1%)	29.4% (1.7%)	10.3% (0.7%)	24.8% (1.6%)
2006	25.7% (0.3%)	30.1% (0.7%)	11.1% (0.8%)	22.5% (2.3%)
2011	27.0% (1.3%)	32.0% (1.9%)	11.7% (0.6%)	21.4% (1.1%)
2016	28.4% (1.4%)	33.9% (1.9%)	12.9% (1.2%)	20.5% (0.9%)
2021	30.6% (2.2%)	36.2% (2.3%)	14.1% (1.2%)	20.0% (0.5%)

Basque is used as a language of commerce both in the Basque Country and in locations around the world where Basques immigrated throughout history.

Dialects

Main article:Basque dialects

The modern dialects of Basque according to 21st-century dialectology.

Western (Biscayan)

Central (Gipuzkoan)

Upper Navarrese

Lower Navarrese–Lapurdian

Souletin (Zuberoan)

other Basque areasca1850 (Bonaparte)

The modern Basque dialects show a high degree of dialectal divergence, sometimes making cross-dialect communication difficult. This is especially true in the case of Biscayan and Souletin, which are regarded as the most divergent Basque dialects.

Modern Basque dialectology distinguishes five dialects:

• Biscayan or "Western"
• Gipuzkoan or "Central"
• Upper Navarrese
• Navarro-Lapurdian
• Souletin (Zuberoan)

These dialects are divided in 11 subdialects, and 24 minor varieties among them. According toKoldo Zuazo,the Biscayan dialect or "Western" is the most widespread dialect, with around 300,000 speakers out of a total of around 660,000 speakers. This dialect is divided in two minor subdialects: the Western Biscayan and Eastern Biscayan, plus transitional dialects.

Influence on other languages

See also:List of Spanish words of Basque origin

Although the influence of the neighbouringRomance languageson the Basque language (especially the lexicon, but also to some degree Basque phonology and grammar) has been much more extensive, it is usually assumed that there has been some feedback from Basque into these languages as well. In particularGasconandAragonese,and to a lesser degreeSpanishare thought to have received this influence in the past. In the case of Aragonese and Gascon, this would have been throughsubstrateinterference followinglanguage shiftfromAquitanianor Basque to a Romance language, affecting all levels of the language, including place names around the Pyrenees.

Although a number of words of alleged Basque origin in the Spanish language are circulated (e.g.anchoa'anchovies',bizarro'dashing, gallant, spirited',cachorro'puppy', etc.), most of these have more easily explicable Romance etymologies or not particularly convincing derivations from Basque.Ignoring cultural terms, there is one strongloanwordcandidate,ezker,long considered the source of the Pyrenean andIberian Romancewords for "left (side)" (izquierdo,esquerdo,esquerre).The lack of initial/r/in Gascon could arguably be due to a Basque influence but this issue is under-researched.

The other most commonly claimed substrate influences:

• theOld Spanishmerger of/v/and/b/.
• the simple five vowel system.
• change of initial/f/into/h/(e.g.fablar→hablar,with Old Basque lacking/f/but having/h/).
• voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant[s̺],a sound transitional betweenlaminodental[s]andpalatal[ʃ];this sound also influenced otherIbero-Romance languagesandCatalan.

The first two features are common, widespread developments in many Romance (and non-Romance) languages.The change of/f/to/h/occurred historically only in a limited area (GasconyandOld Castile) that corresponds almost exactly to areas where heavy Basque bilingualism is assumed, and as a result has been widely postulated (and equally strongly disputed). Substrate theories are often difficult to prove (especially in the case of phonetically plausible changes like/f/to/h/). As a result, although many arguments have been made on both sides, the debate largely comes down to the a priori tendency on the part of particular linguists to accept or reject substrate arguments.

Examples of arguments against the substrate theory,and possible responses:

1. Spanish did not fully shift/f/to/h/,instead, it has preserved/f/before consonants such as/w/and/ɾ/(cffuerte,frente). (On the other hand, the occurrence of[f]in these words might be a secondary development from an earlier sound such as[h]or[ɸ]and learned words (or words influenced by written Latin form). Gascon does have/h/in these words, which might reflect the original situation.)
2. Evidence of Arabic loanwords in Spanish points to/f/continuing to exist long after a Basque substrate might have had any effect on Spanish. (On the other hand, the occurrence of/f/in these words might be a late development. Many languages have come to accept new phonemes from other languages after a period of significant influence. For example, French lost/h/but later regained it as a result of Germanic influence, and has recently gained/ŋ/as a result of English influence.)
3. Basque regularly developed Latin/f/into/b/or/p/.
4. The same change also occurs in parts of Sardinia, Italy and the Romance languages of the Balkans where no Basque substrate can be reasonably argued for. (On the other hand, the fact that the same change might have occurred elsewhere independently does not disprove substrate influence. Furthermore, parts ofSardiniaalso have prothetic/a/or/e/before initial/r/,just as in Basque and Gascon, which may actually argue for some type of influence between both areas.)

Beyond these arguments, a number ofnomadicgroups of Castile are also said to use or have used Basque words in their jargon, such as thegaceríainSegovia,themingaña,the Galicianfala dos arxinasand theAsturianXíriga.

Part of theRomanicommunity in the Basque Country speaksErromintxela,which is a raremixed language,with aKalderashRomanivocabulary and Basque grammar.

Basque pidgins

A number of Basque-based or Basque-influencedpidginshave existed. In the 16th century, Basque sailors used aBasque–Icelandic pidginin their contacts with Iceland.TheAlgonquian–Basque pidginarose from contact between Basquewhalersand theAlgonquian peoplesin theGulf of Saint LawrenceandStrait of Belle Isle.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	e /e/		o /o/
Open		a /a/

The Basque language features five vowels:/a/,/e/,/i/,/o/and/u/(the same that are found inSpanish,AsturianandAragonese). In theZuberoandialect, extra phonemes are featured:

• theclose front rounded vowel/y/,graphically represented as⟨ü⟩;
• a set of contrastingnasal vowels.

There is no distinctive vowel length in Basque, although vowels can be lengthened for emphasis. The mid vowels/e/and/o/are raised before nasal consonants.

Basque has an a-Elision Rule, according to which the vowel/a/is elided before any following vowel.This does not prevent the existence of diphthongs with/a/present.

Basque diphthongs

IPA	Example	Meaning	IPA	Example	Meaning
/ai̯/	bai	yes	/au̯/	gau	night
/ei̯/	sei	six	/eu̯/	euri	rain
/oi̯/	oin	foot
/ui̯/	fruitu	fruit

There are sixdiphthongsin Basque, all falling and with/i̯/or/u̯/as the second element.

Consonants

Table of consonant phonemes of Standard Basque

		Labial	Lamino- dental	Apico- alveolar	Palatalor postalveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/	ñ, -in- /ɲ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/		tt, -it- /c/	k /k/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/		dd, -id- /ɟ/	g /ɡ/
Affricate			tz /t̻s̻/	ts /t̺s̺/	tx /tʃ/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	z /s̻/	s /s̺/	x /ʃ/		h /∅/,/h/
	(mostly)1voiced				j /j/~/x/
Lateral				l /l/	ll, -il- /ʎ/
Rhotic	Trill			r-, -rr-, -r /r/
	Tap			-r-, -r /ɾ/

In syllable-final position, all plosives aredevoicedand are spelled accordingly in Standard Basque. When between vowels, and often when after/r/or/l/,the voiced plosives/b/,/d/,and/ɡ/,are pronounced as the correspondingfricatives[β],[ð],and[ɣ].

Basque has a distinction betweenlaminalandapicalarticulation for the alveolar fricatives and affricates. With the laminal alveolar fricative[s̻],the friction occurs across the blade of the tongue, the tongue tip pointing toward the lower teeth. This is the usual/s/in most European languages. It is written with an orthographic⟨z⟩.By contrast, thevoiceless apicoalveolar fricative[s̺]is written⟨s⟩;the tip of the tongue points toward the upper teeth and friction occurs at the tip (apex). For example,zu"you" (singular, respectful) is distinguished fromsu"fire". The affricate counterparts are written⟨tz⟩and⟨ts⟩.So,etzi"the day after tomorrow" is distinguished frometsi"to give up";atzo"yesterday" is distinguished fromatso"old woman".

In the westernmost parts of the Basque country, only the apical⟨s⟩and the alveolar affricate⟨tz⟩are used.

Basque also features postalveolar sibilants (/ʃ/,written⟨x⟩,and/tʃ/,written⟨tx⟩), sounding like Englishshandch.

Regional realisations of⟨j⟩

The letter⟨j⟩has a variety of realisations according to the regional dialect:[j,dʒ,x,ʃ,ɟ,ʝ],as pronounced from west to east in south Bizkaia and coastal Lapurdi, central Bizkaia, east Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, south Navarre, inland Lapurdi and Low Navarre, and Zuberoa, respectively.

The⟨h⟩is only pronounced in the north-east, as the isoglosses here show.

The letter⟨h⟩is pronounced in the northern dialects, but not pronounced in the southern ones. Unified Basque spells it except when it is predictable, in a position following a consonant.

Unless they are recent loanwords (e.g.Ruanda"Rwanda",radar,robot... ), words may not have initial⟨r⟩.In older loans, initialr-took aprostheticvowel, resulting inerr-(Erroma"Rome",Errusia"Russia" ), more rarelyirr-(for exampleirratia"radio",irrisa"rice" ) andarr-(for examplearrazional"rational" ).

Basque does not have/m/in syllable final position, and syllable-final/n/assimilates to the place of articulation of following plosives. As a result,/nb/is pronounced like[mb],and/nɡ/is realized as[ŋɡ].

Palatalization

Basque has two types ofpalatalization,automatic palatalization and expressive palatalization. Automatic palatalization occurs in westernLabourd,much ofNavarre,all ofGipuzkoa,and nearly all ofBiscay.As a result of automatic palatalization,/n/and/l/become thepalatal nasal[ɲ]and thepalatal lateral[ʎ]respectively after the vowel/i/and before another vowel. An exception is the loanwordlili'lily'. The same palatalization occurs after thesemivowel[j]of the diphthongsai, ei, oi, ui.This palatalization occurs in a wider area, includingSoule,all of Gipuzkoa and Biscay, and almost all of Navarre. In a few regions,/n/and/l/can be palatalized even in the absence of a following vowel. After palatalization, the semivowel[j]is usually absorbed by the palatal consonant. This can be seen in older spellings, such asmallainstead of modernmaila'degree'. That said, the modern orthography for Standard Basque ignores automatic palatalization.

In certain regions of Gipuzkoa and Biscay, intervocalic/t/is often palatalized after/i/and especially[j].It may become indistinguishable from the affricate/tʃ/,spelled⟨tx⟩,soaita'father' may sound like it were spelledatxaoratta.This type of palatalization is far from general, and is often viewed as substandard.

InGoizuetaBasque, there are a few examples of/nt/being palatalized after/i/,and optional palatalization of/ld/.For example,mintegi'seedbed' becomes[mincei],andbildots'lamb' can be/biʎots̺/.

Basque nouns, adjectives, and adverbs can be expressively palatalized. These express 'smallness', rarely literal and often showing affection, in nouns, and mitigation in adjectives and adverbs. This is often used in the formation of pet names and nicknames. In words containing one or more sibilant, these sibilants are palatalized in order to form the palatalized form. That is,sandzbecomex,andtsandtzbecometx.As a result,gizon'man' becomesgixon'little fellow',zoro'crazy, insane' becomesxoro'silly, foolish', andbildots'lamb' becomesbildotx'lambkin, young lamb'. In words without sibilants,/t/,/d/,/n/,and/l/can become palatalized. This palatalization is indicated in writing with a double consonant, except in the case of palatalized/n/which is written⟨ñ⟩.Thus,tanta'drop' becomesttantta'droplet', andnabar'grey' becomesñabar'grey and pretty, greyish'.

The pronunciation ofttanddd,and the existence ofdd,differ by dialect. In the Gipuzkoan and Biscayan dialectsttis often pronounced the same astx,that is, as[tʃ],anddddoes not exist.Likewise, in Goizueta Basque,ttis avoiceless palatal stop[c]and the corresponding voiced palatal stop,[ɟ],is absent except as an allophone of/j/.In Goizueta Basque,/j/is sometimes the result of an affectionate palatalization of/d/.

Palatalization of the rhotics is rare and only occurs in the eastern dialects. When palatalized, the rhotics become the palatal lateral[ʎ].Likewise, palatalization of velars, resulting inttortx,is quite rare.

A few common words, such astxakur'dog', pronounced/tʃakur/,use palatal sounds even though in current usage they have lost the diminutive sense, the corresponding non-palatal forms now acquiring an augmentative or pejorative sense:zakur'big dog'.

Sandhi

There are some rules which govern the behavior of consonants in contact with each other. These apply both within and between words. When two plosives meet, the first one is dropped, and the second must become voiceless. If a sibilant follows a plosive, the plosive is dropped, and the sibilant becomes the corresponding affricate. When a plosive follows an affricate, the affricate becomes a sibilant, and a voiced plosive is devoiced. When a voiced plosive follows a sibilant, it is devoiced except in very slow and careful speech. In the central dialects of Basque, a sibilant turns into an affricate when it follows a liquid or a nasal. When a plosive follows a nasal, there is a strong tendency for it to become voiced.

Stress and pitch

Main article:Pitch-accent language § Basque

Basque features great dialectal variation in accentuation, from a weakpitch accentin the western dialects to a marked stress in central and eastern dialects, with varying patterns of stress placement.Stress is in general not distinctive (and for historical comparisons not very useful); there are, however, a few instances where stress is phonemic, serving to distinguish between a few pairs of stress-marked words and between some grammatical forms (mainly plurals from other forms), e.g.basóà( "the forest", absolutive case) vs.básoà( "the glass", absolutive case; an adoption from Spanishvaso);basóàk( "the forest", ergative case) vs.básoàk( "the glass", ergative case) vs.básoak( "the forests" or "the glasses", absolutive case).

Given its great deal of variation among dialects, stress is not marked in the standardorthographyandEuskaltzaindia(the Academy of the Basque Language) provides only general recommendations for a standard placement of stress, basically to place a high-pitched weak stress (weaker than that of Spanish, let alone that of English) on the second syllable of asyntagma,and a low-pitched even-weaker stress on its last syllable, except in plural forms where stress is moved to the first syllable.

This scheme provides Basque with a distinct musicality that differentiates its sound from theprosodicalpatterns of Spanish (which tends to stress the second-to-last syllable). SomeEuskaldun berriak( "new Basque-speakers", i.e. second-language Basque-speakers) with Spanish as their first language tend to carry the prosodical patterns of Spanish into their pronunciation of Basque, e.g. pronouncingnire ama( "my mum" ) asnire áma(– – ´ –), instead of asniré amà(– ´ – `).

Morphophonology

The combining forms of nominals in final/-u/vary across the regions of the Basque Country. The/u/can stay unchanged, be lowered to an/a/,or it can be lost. Loss is most common in the east, while lowering is most common in the west. For instance,buru,"head", has the combining formsburu-andbur-,as inburuko,"cap", andburko,"pillow", whereaskatu,"cat", has the combining formkata-,as inkatakume,"kitten". Michelena suggests that the lowering to/a/is generalised from cases of Romance borrowings in Basque that retained Romance stem alternations, such askantu,"song" with combining formkanta-,borrowed from Romancecanto,canta-.

Grammar

Main article:Basque grammar

Basque is anergative–absolutive language.The subject of anintransitive verbis in theabsolutive case(which is unmarked), and the same case is used for thedirect objectof atransitive verb.The subject of the transitive verb is marked differently, with theergative case(shown by the suffix-k). This also triggers main and auxiliary verbal agreement.

Theauxiliary verb,which accompanies most main verbs, agrees not only with the subject, but with any direct object and the indirect object present. Among European languages, thispolypersonal agreementis found only in Basque, somelanguages of the Caucasus(especially theKartvelian languages),Mordvinic languages,Hungarian,andMaltese(all non-Indo-European). The ergative–absolutive alignment is also rare among European languages—occurring only in some languages of the Caucasus—but not infrequent worldwide.

Consider the phrase:

Martin-ek

Martin-ERG

egunkari-ak

newspaper-PL.ABS

erosten

buy-GER

di-zki-t

AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO[3SG_SBJ]

Martin-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-t

Martin-ERG newspaper-PL.ABS buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO[3SG_SBJ]

"Martin buys the newspapers for me."

Martin-ekis the agent (transitive subject), so it is marked with the ergative case ending-k(with anepenthetic-e-).Egunkariakhas an-akending, which marks plural object (plural absolutive, direct object case). The verb iserosten dizkit,in whicherostenis a kind of gerund ( "buying" ) and the auxiliarydizkitmeans "he/she (does) them for me". Thisdizkitcan be split like this:

• di-is used in the present tense when the verb has a subject (ergative), a direct object (absolutive), and an indirect object, and the object is him/her/it/them.
• -zki-means the absolutive (in this case the newspapers) is plural; if it were singular there would be no infix; and
• -tor-da-means "to me/for me" (indirect object).
• in this instance there is no suffix after-t.A zero suffix in this position indicates that the ergative (the subject) is third person singular (he/she/it).

Zu-ek

you-ERG(PL)

egunkari-ak

newspaper-PL

erosten

buy-GER

di-zki-da-zue

AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO-you(PL).SBJ

Zu-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-da-zue

you-ERG(PL) newspaper-PL buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO-you(PL).SBJ

"You (plural) buy the newspapers for me."

The auxiliary verb is composed as di-zki-da-zue and means 'you pl. (do) them for me'

• di-indicates that the main verb is transitive and in the present tense
• -zki-indicates that the direct object is plural
• -da-indicates that the indirect object is me (to me/for me; -t becomes -da- when not final)
• -zueindicates that the subject is you (plural)

The pronounzuek'you (plural)' has the same form both in the nominative or absolutive case (the subject of an intransitive sentence or direct object of a transitive sentence) and in the ergative case (the subject of a transitive sentence). In spoken Basque, the auxiliary verb is never dropped even if it is redundant, e.g.dizkidazueinzuek niri egunkariak erosten dizkidazue'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. However, the pronouns are almost always dropped, e.g.zuekinegunkariak erosten dizkidazue'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. The pronouns are used only to show emphasis:egunkariak zuek erosten dizkidazue'it is you (pl.) who buys the newspapers for me', oregunkariak niri erosten dizkidazue'it is me for whom you buy the newspapers'.

Modern Basque dialects allow for the conjugation of about fifteen verbs, called synthetic verbs, some only in literary contexts. These can be put in the present and past tenses in the indicative and subjunctive moods, in three tenses in the conditional and potential moods, and in one tense in the imperative. Each verb that can be taken intransitively has anor(absolutive) paradigm and possibly anor-nori(absolutive–dative) paradigm, as in the sentenceAititeri txapela erori zaio( "The hat fell from grandfather['s head]" ).Each verb that can be taken transitively uses those two paradigms for antipassive-voice contexts in which no agent is mentioned (Basque lacks a passive voice, and displays instead anantipassive voiceparadigm), and also has anor-nork(absolutive–ergative) paradigm and possibly anor-nori-nork(absolutive–dative–ergative) paradigm. This last is exemplified bydizkidazueabove. In each paradigm, each constituent noun can take on any of eight persons, five singular and three plural, with the exception ofnor-nori-norkin which the absolutive can only be third person singular or plural. The most ubiquitous auxiliary,izan,can be used in any of these paradigms, depending on the nature of the main verb.

There are more persons in the singular (5) than in theplural(3) for synthetic (or filamentous) verbs because of the two familiar persons—informalmasculine and feminine second person singular. The pronounhiis used for both of them, but where the masculine form of the verb uses a-k,the feminine uses an-n.This is a property rarely found in Indo-European languages. The entire paradigm of the verb is further augmented by inflecting for "listener" (theallocutive) even if the verb contains no second person constituent. If the situation calls for the familiar masculine, the form is augmented and modified accordingly. Likewise for the familiar feminine. (Gizon bat etorri da,"a man has come";gizon bat etorri duk,"a man has come [you are a male close friend]",gizon bat etorri dun,"a man has come [you are a female close friend]",gizon bat etorri duzu,"a man has come [I talk to you (Sir / Madam)]" )This multiplies the number of possible forms by nearly three. Still, the restriction on contexts in which these forms may be used is strong, since all participants in the conversation must be friends of the same sex, and not too far apart in age. Some dialects dispense with the familiar forms entirely. Note, however, that the formal second person singular conjugates in parallel to the other plural forms, perhaps indicating that it was originally the second person plural, later came to be used as a formal singular, and then later still the modern second person plural was formulated as an innovation.

All the other verbs in Basque are called periphrastic, behaving much like a participle would in English. These have only three forms in total, calledaspects:perfect (various suffixes), habitual(suffix-t[z]en), and future/potential (suffix.-ko/-go). Verbs of Latinate origin in Basque, as well as many other verbs, have a suffix-tuin the perfect, adapted from the Latin perfect passive-tussuffix. The synthetic verbs also have periphrastic forms, for use in perfects and in simple tenses in which they are deponent.

Within a verb phrase, the periphrastic verb comes first, followed by the auxiliary.

A Basque noun-phrase is inflected in 17 different ways for case, multiplied by four ways for its definiteness and number (indefinite, definite singular, definite plural, and definite close plural:euskaldun[Basque speaker],euskalduna[the Basque speaker, a Basque speaker],euskaldunak[Basque speakers, the Basque speakers], andeuskaldunok[we Basque speakers, those Basque speakers]). These first 68 forms are further modified based on other parts of the sentence, which in turn are inflected for the noun again. It has been estimated that, with two levels ofrecursion,a Basque noun may have 458,683 inflected forms.

Word	Case	Result	meaning
etxe	Ø	etxe	house
etxe	a	etxea	the house
etxe	ak	etxeak	the houses
etxe	a + ra	etxera	to the house
etxe	ak + ra	etxeetara	to the houses
etxe	a + tik	etxetik	from the house
etxe	ak + tik	etxeetatik	from the houses
etxe	a + (r)aino	etxeraino	until the house
etxe	ak + (r)aino	etxeetaraino	until the houses
etxe	a + n	etxean	in the house
etxe	ak + n	etxeetan	in the houses
etxe	a + ko	etxeko	of the house (belonging to)
etxe	ak + ko	etxeetako	of the houses (belonging to)

The common noun "liburu" (book) is declined as follows:

Case/Number	Singular	Plural	Undetermined
Absolutive	liburu-a-Ø	liburu-ak	liburu-Ø
Ergative	liburu-a-k	liburu-e-k	liburu-k
Dative	liburu-a-ri	liburu-e-i	liburu-ri
Localgenitive	liburu-ko	liburu-e-ta-ko	liburu-tako
Possessivegenitive	liburu-a-ren	liburu-e-n	liburu-ren
Comitative(with)	liburu-a-rekin	liburu-e-kin	liburu-rekin
Benefactive(for)	liburu-a-rentzat	liburu-e-ntzat	liburu-rentzat
Causal(because of)	liburu-a-rengatik	liburu-e-ngatik	liburu-rengatik
Instrumental	liburu-a-z	liburu-etaz	liburu-taz
Inessive(in, on)	liburu-a-n	liburu-e-ta-n	liburu-tan
Ablative(from)	liburu-tik	liburu-e-ta-tik	liburu-tatik
Allative(where to: 'to')	liburu-ra	liburu-e-ta-ra	liburu-tara
Directive('towards')	liburu-rantz	liburu-e-ta-rantz	liburu-tarantz
Terminative(up to)	liburu-raino	liburu-e-ta-raino	liburu-taraino
Prolative	liburu-tzat
Partitive	liburu-rik

The proper name "Mikel" (Michael) is declined as follows:

Word	Case	Result	meaning
Mikel	(r)en	Mikelen	of Mikel
Mikel	(r)engana	Mikelengana	to Mikel
Mikel	(r)ekin	Mikelekin	with Mikel

Within a noun phrase, modifying adjectives follow the noun. As an example of a Basque noun phrase,etxe zaharrean"in the old house" is morphologically analysed as follows by Agirre et al.

Word	Form	Meaning
etxe	noun	house
zahar-	adjective	old
-r-e-	epenthetical elements	n/a
-a-	determinate, singular	the
-n	inessive case	in

Basic syntactic construction issubject–object–verb(unlike Spanish, French or English where asubject–verb–objectconstruction is more common). The order of the phrases within a sentence can be changed for thematic purposes, whereas the order of the words within a phrase is usually rigid. As a matter of fact, Basque phrase order is topic–focus, meaning that in neutral sentences (such as sentences to inform someone of a fact or event) thetopicis stated first, then thefocus.In such sentences, the verb phrase comes at the end. In brief, the focus directly precedes the verb phrase. This rule is also applied in questions, for instance,What is this?can be translated asZer da hau?orHau zer da?,but in both cases the question tagzerimmediately precedes the verbda.This rule is so important in Basque that, even in grammatical descriptions of Basque in other languages, the Basque wordgaldegai(focus) is used.

In negative sentences, the order changes. Since the negative particleezmust always directly precede the auxiliary, the topic most often comes beforehand, and the rest of the sentence follows. This includes the periphrastic, if there is one:Aitak frantsesa irakasten du,"Father teaches French", in the negative becomesAitak ez du frantsesa irakasten,in whichirakasten( "teaching" ) is separated from its auxiliary and placed at the end.

Vocabulary

Through contact with neighbouring peoples, Basque has adopted many words fromLatin,Spanish,FrenchandGascon,among other languages. There are a considerable number of Latin loans (sometimes obscured by being subject to Basque phonology and grammar for centuries), for example:lore( "flower", fromflorem),errota( "mill", fromrotam,"[mill] wheel" ),gela( "room", fromcellam),gauza( "thing", fromcausa).

Writing system

Main article:Basque Alpha bet

An example of Basque lettering in a funerary stela

Basque is written using theLatin scriptincluding⟨ñ⟩and sometimes⟨ç⟩and⟨ü⟩.Basque does not use⟨c, q, v, w, y⟩for native words, but the Basque Alpha bet (established byEuskaltzaindia) does include them for loanwords:

⟨Aa, Bb, Cc, (and, as a variant, Çç), Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ññ, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz⟩

The phonetically meaningfuldigraphs⟨dd, ll,rr,ts, tt, tx, tz⟩are treated as pairs of letters.

All letters and digraphs represent uniquephonemes.The main exception is when⟨i⟩precedes⟨l⟩and⟨n⟩,which in most dialects palatalises their sounds into/ʎ/and/ɲ/,even if these are not written. Hence,Ikurriñacan also be writtenIkurrinawithout changing the sound, whereas the proper nameAinhoarequires the mute⟨h⟩to break the palatalisation of the⟨n⟩.

The letters of the Alpha bet in a Basque style font

⟨h⟩is mute in most regions, but it is pronounced in many places in the north-east, the main reason for its existence in the Basque Alpha bet. Its acceptance was a matter of contention during the standardisation process because the speakers of the most extended dialects had to learn where to place⟨h⟩,silent for them.

InSabino Arana's (1865–1903) Alpha bet,digraphs⟨ll⟩and⟨rr⟩were replaced with⟨ĺ⟩and⟨ŕ⟩,respectively.

A typically Basque style of lettering is sometimes used for inscriptions. It derives from the work of stone and wood carvers and is characterised by thickserifs.

Number system used by millers

An example of the number system employed by millers

Basque millers traditionally employed a separate number system of unknown origin.In this system the symbols are arranged either along a vertical line or horizontally. On the vertical line the single digits andfractionsare usually off to one side, usually at the top. When used horizontally, the smallest units are usually on the right and the largest on the left. As with the Basque system of counting in general, it isvigesimal(base 20). Although it is in theory capable of indicating numbers above 100, most recorded examples do not go above 100. Fractions are relatively common, especially1⁄2.

The exact systems used vary from area to area but generally follow the same principle with 5 usually being a diagonal line or a curve off the vertical line (aVshape is used when writing a 5 horizontally). Units of ten are usually a horizontal line through the vertical. The twenties are based on a circle with intersecting lines. This system is no longer in general use but is occasionally employed for decorative purposes.

Examples

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Gizon-emakume guztiak aske jaiotzen dira, duintasun eta eskubide berberak dituztela; eta ezaguera eta kontzientzia dutenez gero, elkarren artean senide legez jokatu beharra dute.

Basque pronunciation:[ɡis̻onemakumeɡus̻tiakas̺kejajots̻endiɾa|duintas̺unetaes̺kubideberbeɾakditus̻tela|etaes̻aɡueɾaetakonts̻ients̻iadutenes̻ɡeɾo|elkarenarteans̺enideleges̻jokatube(h)aradute]

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Esklabu erremintaria

Esklabu erremintaria Sartaldeko oihanetan gatibaturik Erromara ekarri zinduten, esklabua, erremintari ofizioa eman zizuten eta kateak egiten dituzu. Labetik ateratzen duzun burdin goria nahieran molda zenezake, ezpatak egin ditzakezu zure herritarrek kateak hauts ditzaten, baina zuk, esklabu horrek, kateak egiten dituzu, kate gehiago.	IPA pronunciation [s̺artaldekooi(h)anetanɡatibatuɾik eromaɾaekaris̻indutenes̺klabua eremintaɾiofis̻ioaemans̻is̻uten etakateakeɡitenditus̻u labetikateɾats̻endus̻unburdinɡoɾia na(h)ieɾanmoldas̻enes̻ake es̻patakeɡindits̻akes̻u s̻uɾe(h)eritarekkateak(h)auts̺dits̻aten bainas̻ukes̺klabu(h)orek kateakeɡitenditus̻ukateɡe(h)iaɡo]	The blacksmith slave Captive in the rainforests of the West they brought you to Rome, slave, they gave you the blacksmith work and you make chains. The incandescent iron you take out of the oven can be adapted as you wish, you could make swords so your people could break the chains, but you, o, slave, you make chains, more chains.
Joseba Sarrionandia	Joseba Sarrionandia

Language video gallery

• A Basque speaker
• A Basque speaker, recorded in Basque Country, Spain
• A Basque speaker, recorded during Wikimania 2019

See also

• Basque dialects
• Vasconic languages
• List of Basques
• Basque Country
• Late Basquisation
• Languages of France
• Languages of Spain
• Aquitanian language
• List of ideophones in Basque
• Wiktionary: Swadesh list of Basque words
• Basque literature

Further reading

General and descriptive grammars

• Allières, Jacques (1979):Manuel pratique de basque,"Connaissance des langues" v. 13, A. & J. Picard (Paris),ISBN2-7084-0038-X.
• de Azkue Aberasturi, Resurrección María (1969):Morfología vasca.La Gran enciclopedia vasca, Bilbao 1969.
• Campion, Arturo (1884):Gramática de los cuatro dialectos literarios de la lengua euskara,Tolosa.
• Euskara Institutua (Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Sareko Euskal Gramatika, SEGAurkezpena [Sareko Euskal Gramatika]
• Hualde, José Ignacio& Ortiz de Urbina, Jon (eds.):A Grammar of Basque.Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003.ISBN3-11-017683-1.
• King, Alan R.(1994).The Basque Language: A Practical Introduction.Reno: University of Nevada Press.ISBN0-87417-155-5.
• Lafitte, Pierre(1962):Grammaire basque – navarro-labourdin littéraire.Elkarlanean, Donostia/Bayonne,ISBN2-913156-10-X.(Dialectal.)
• Lafon, R. (1972): "Basque" In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.)Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 9. Linguistics in Western Europe,Mouton, The Hague, Mouton, pp. 1744–1792.Part 2 The study of languages
• de Rijk, Rudolf P. G.(2008).Standard Basque: a progressive grammar.Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.ISBN978-0-262-04242-0.OCLC636283146.
• Tovar, Antonio, (1957):The Basque Language,U. of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
• Uhlenbeck, C. (1947). "La langue basque et la linguistique générale" [The Basque language and general linguistics].Lingua(in French).I:59–76.doi:10.1016/0024-3841(49)90045-5.
• Urquizu Sarasúa, Patricio (2007):Gramática de la lengua vasca.UNED, Madrid,ISBN978-84-362-3442-8.
• van Eys, Willem J. (1879):Grammaire comparée des dialectes basques,Paris.

Linguistic studies

• Agirre, Eneko, et al. (1992):XUXEN: A spelling checker/corrector for Basque based on two-level morphology.
• Gavel, Henri (1921):Eléments de phonetique basque(=Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos = Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques12, París. (Study of the dialects.)
• Hualde, José Ignacio(1991):Basque phonology,Taylor & Francis,ISBN978-0-415-05655-7.
• Hualde, José Ignacio; Lujanbio, Oihana; Zubiri, Juan Joxe (2010)."Goizueta Basque"(PDF).Journal of the International Phonetic Association.40:113–127.doi:10.1017/S0025100309990260.Archived(PDF)from the original on 28 May 2018.
• Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba A.; Hualde, José Ignacio (eds.) (2006):Studies in Basque and historical linguistics in memory of R. L. Trask – R. L. Trasken oroitzapenetan ikerketak euskalaritzaz eta hizkuntzalaritza historikoaz,(=Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo: International journal of Basque linguistics and philologyVol. 40, No. 1–2), San Sebastián.
• Lakarra, J. & Ortiz de Urbina, J.(eds.) (1992):Syntactic Theory and Basque Syntax,Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, Donostia-San Sebastian,ISBN978-84-7907-094-6.
• Orduña Aznar, Eduardo. 2005.Sobre algunos posibles numerales en textos ibéricos.Palaeohispanica5:491–506. This fifth volume of the journalPalaeohispanicaconsists of Acta Palaeohispanica IX, the proceedings of the ninth conference on Paleohispanic studies.
• de Rijk, R. (1972):Studies in Basque Syntax: Relative clausesPhD Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
• Uhlenbeck, C.C. (1909–1910): "Contribution à une phonétique comparative des dialectes basques",Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos = Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques3Wayback Machinepp. 465–503 4Wayback Machinepp. 65–120.
• Zuazo, Koldo(2008):Euskalkiak: euskararen dialektoak.Elkar.ISBN978-84-9783-626-5.

Lexicons

• Aulestia, Gorka (1989):Basque–English dictionaryUniversity of Nevada Press, Reno,ISBN0-87417-126-1.
• Aulestia, Gorka & White, Linda (1990):English–Basque dictionary,University of Nevada Press, Reno,ISBN0-87417-156-3.
• Azkue Aberasturi, Resurrección María de (1905):Diccionario vasco–español–francés,Geuthner, Bilbao/Paris (reprinted many times).
• Michelena, Luis:Diccionario General Vasco/Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia.16 vols. Real academia de la lengua vasca, Bilbao 1987ff.ISBN84-271-1493-1.
• Morris, Mikel (1998): "Morris Student Euskara–Ingelesa Basque–English Dictionary", Klaudio Harluxet Fundazioa, Donostia
• Sarasola, Ibon (2010–), "Egungo Euskararen Hiztegia EEH"Egungo Euskararen Hiztegia (EEH) - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
• Sarasola, Ibon (2010): "Zehazki"Zehazki - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
• Sota, M. de la, et al., 1976:Diccionario Retana de autoridades de la lengua vasca: con cientos de miles de nuevas voces y acepciones, Antiguas y modernas,Bilbao: La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca.ISBN84-248-0248-9.
• Van Eys, W. J. 1873.Dictionnaire basque–français.Paris/London: Maisonneuve/Williams & Norgate.

Basque corpora

• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2011): "ETC: Egungo Testuen Corpusa"Egungo Testuen Corpusa (ETC) - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country
• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2009): "Ereduzko Prosa Gaur, EPG"Ereduzko Prosa Gaur (EPG) - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country
• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2009–): "Ereduzko Prosa Dinamikoa, EPD"Ereduzko Prosa Dinamikoa (EPD) - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country
• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2013): "Euskal Klasikoen Corpusa, EKC"Euskal Klasikoen Corpusa (EKC) - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country
• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2014): "Goenkale Corpusa"Goenkale Corpusa - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country
• Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2010): "Pentsamenduaren Klasikoak Corpusa"Pentsamenduaren Klasikoak Corpusa - UPV/EHU,Bilbo: Euskara InstitutuaEuskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU),The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHUUniversity of the Basque Country

Other

• Agirre Sorondo, Antxon. 1988.Tratado de Molinología: Los molinos en Guipúzcoa.San Sebastián: Eusko Ikaskunza-Sociedad de Estudios Vascos. Fundación Miguel de Barandiarán.
• Bakker, Peter (1987). "A Basque Nautical Pidgin: A Missing Link in the History of Fu".Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages.2(1): 1–30.doi:10.1075/jpcl.2.1.02bak.
• Bakker, Peter, et al. 1991.Basque pidgins in Iceland and Canada. Anejos del Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo",XXIII.
• Deen, Nicolaas Gerard Hendrik. 1937.Glossaria duo vasco-islandica.Amsterdam. Reprinted 1991 inAnuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo,25(2):321–426.
• Hualde, José Ignacio (1984). "Icelandic Basque pidgin".Journal of Basque Studies in America.5:41–59.

History of the language and etymologies

• Agirrezabal, Lore (2003).Erromintxela, euskal ijitoen hizkera[Rommintxela, the language of the Basque gypsies] (in Basque). San Sebastián: Argia.
• Azurmendi, Joxe:"Die Bedeutung der Sprache in Renaissance und Reformation und die Entstehung der baskischen Literatur im religiösen und politischen Konfliktgebiet zwischen Spanien und Frankreich" In: Wolfgang W. Moelleken (Herausgeber), Peter J. Weber (Herausgeber):Neue Forschungsarbeiten zur Kontaktlinguistik,Bonn: Dümmler, 1997.ISBN978-3537864192
• Hualde, José Ignacio; Lakarra, Joseba A. & R.L. Trask (eds) (1996):Towards a History of the Basque Language,"Current Issues in Linguistic Theory" 131, John Benjamin Publishing Company, Amsterdam,ISBN978-1-55619-585-3.
• Michelena, Luis,1990.Fonética histórica vasca.Bilbao.ISBN84-7907-016-1
• Lafon, René (1944):Le système du verbe basque au XVIe siècle,Delmas, Bordeaux.
• Löpelmann, Martin (1968):Etymologisches Wörterbuch der baskischen Sprache.Dialekte von Labourd, Nieder-Navarra und La Soule. 2 Bde. de Gruyter, Berlin (non-standard etymologies; idiosyncratic).
• Orpustan, J. B. (1999):La langue basque au Moyen-Age.Baïgorri,ISBN2-909262-22-7.
• Pagola, Rosa Miren. 1984.Euskalkiz Euskalki.Vitoria-Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritzaren Argitalpe.
• Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1980. Le Gascon: études de philologie pyrénéenne.Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie85.
• Trask, R.L.:History of Basque.New York/London: Routledge, 1996.ISBN0-415-13116-2.
• Trask, R.L. † (edited by Max W. Wheeler) (2008):Etymological Dictionary of Basque,University of Sussex (unfinished). Also "Some Important Basque Words (And a Bit of Culture)"Buber's Basque Page: The Larry Trask Archive: Some Important Basque Words (And a Bit of Culture)
• Zuazo, Koldo(2010).El euskera y sus dialectos.Zarautz (Gipuzkoa): Alberdania.ISBN978-84-9868-202-1.

Relationship to other languages

Proto-Indo-European

• Blevins, Juliette (2018)."Advances in Proto-Basque Reconstruction with Evidence for the Proto-Indo-European-Euskarian Hypothesis".Routledge & CRC Press.Retrieved27 March2024.

General reviews of the theories

• Jacobsen, William H. Jr. (1999): "Basque Language Origin Theories"InBasque Cultural Studies,edited by William A. Douglass, Carmelo Urza, Linda White, and Joseba Zulaika, 27–43. Basque Studies Program Occasional Papers Series, No. 5. Reno: Basque Studies Program, University of Nevada, Reno.
• Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba (1998): "Hizkuntzalaritza konparatua eta aitzineuskararen erroa"(in Basque),Uztaro25, pp. 47–110, (includes review of older theories).
• Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba (1999): "Ná-De-Ná"(in Basque),Uztaro31, pp. 15–84.
• Trask, R.L. (1995): "Origin and Relatives of the Basque Language: Review of the Evidence" in Towards a History of the Basque Language, ed. J. Hualde, J. Lakarra, R.L. Trask, John Benjamins, Amsterdam / Philadelphia.
• Trask, R.L.:History of Basque.New York/London: Routledge, 1996.ISBN0-415-13116-2;pp. 358–414.

Afroasiatic hypothesis

• Schuchardt, Hugo (1913): "Baskisch-Hamitische wortvergleichungen"Revista Internacional de Estudios Vascos= "Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques" 7:289–340.
• Mukarovsky, Hans Guenter (1964/66): "Les rapports du basque et du berbère",Comptes rendus du GLECS (Groupe Linguistique d'Etudes Chamito-Sémitiques)10:177–184.
• Mukarovsky, Hans Guenter (1972). "El vascuense y el bereber".Euskera.17:5–48.
• Trombetti, Alfredo (1925):Le origini della lingua basca,Bologna, (new editISBN978-88-271-0062-2).

Dené–Caucasian hypothesis

• Bengtson, John D. (1999):The Comparison of Basque and North Caucasian.in:Mother Tongue.Journal of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory.Gloucester, Mass.
• Bengtson, John D (2003)."Notes on Basque Comparative Phonology"(PDF).Mother Tongue.VIII:23–39.
• Bengtson, John D. (2004): "Some features of Dene–Caucasian phonology (with special reference to Basque)."Cahiers de l'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain(CILL) 30.4, pp. 33–54.
• Bengtson, John D.. (2006): "Materials for a Comparative Grammar of the Dene–Caucasian (Sino-Caucasian) Languages." (there is also apreliminary draft)
• Bengtson, John D. (1997): Review of "The History of Basque". London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xxii,458 "by R.L. Trask.
• Bengtson, John D., (1996): "A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1."
• Trask, R.L. (1995). "Basque and Dene–Caucasian: A Critique from the Basque Side".Mother Tongue.1:3–82.

Caucasian hypothesis

• Bouda, Karl (1950): "L'Euskaro-Caucasique"Boletín de la Real Sociedad Vasca de Amigos del País. Homenaje a D. Julio de Urquijo e Ybarravol. III, San Sebastián, pp. 207–232.
• Klimov, Georgij A. (1994):Einführung in die kaukasische Sprachwissenschaft,Buske, Hamburg,ISBN3-87548-060-0;pp. 208–215.
• Lafon, René (1951)."Concordances morphologiques entre le basque et les langues caucasiques"[Morphological concordances between Basque and languages].Word(in French).7(3): 227–244.doi:10.1080/00437956.1951.11659408.
• Lafon, René (1952)."Études basques et caucasiques"[Basque and Caucasian studies].Word(in French).8:80–94.doi:10.1080/00437956.1952.11659423.
• Trombetti, Alfredo (1925):Le origini della lingua basca,Bologna, (new editISBN978-88-271-0062-2).
• Míchelena, Luis (1968): "L'euskaro-caucasien" in Martinet, A. (ed.)Le langage,Paris, pp. 1414–1437 (criticism).
• Uhlenbeck, Christian Cornelius (1924): "De la possibilité d' une parenté entre le basque et les langues caucasiques",Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos=Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques15, pp. 565–588.
• Zelikov, Mixail (2005): "L'hypothèse basco-caucasienne dans les travaux de N. Marr"Cahiers de l'ILSL,N° 20, pp. 363–381.
• (in Russian)Зыцарь Ю. В.O родстве баскского языка с кавказскими //Вопросы языкознания. 1955. № 5.

Iberian hypothesis

• Bähr, Gerhard (1948): "Baskisch und Iberisch"Eusko JakintzaII, pp. 3–20, 167–194, 381–455.
• Gorrochategui, Joaquín (1993): La onomástica aquitana y su relación con la ibérica,Lengua y cultura en Hispania prerromana: actas del V Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas de la Península Ibérica: (Colonia 25–28 de Noviembre de 1989)(Francisco Villar and Jürgen Untermann, eds.),ISBN84-7481-736-6,pp. 609–634.
• Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2002).La hipótesis del vascoiberismo desde el punto de vista de la epigrafía íbera,Fontes linguae vasconum: Studia et documenta,90, pp. 197–218,ISSN0046-435X.
• Schuchardt, Hugo Ernst Mario (1907):Die Iberische Deklination,Wien.

Uralic-Altaic hypothesis

• Bonaparte, Louis Lucien (1862):Langue basque et langues finnoises,London.

Vasconic-Old European hypothesis

• Vennemann, Theo (2003):Europa Vasconica – Europa Semitica,Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 138, De Gruyter, Berlin,ISBN978-3-11-017054-2.
• Vennemann, Theo (2007): "Basken wie wir: Linguistisches und Genetisches zum europäischen Stammbaum",BiologenHeute5/6, 6–11.

Other theories

• Thornton, R.W. (2002):Basque Parallels to Greenberg's Eurasiatic.in:Mother Tongue.Gloucester, Mass., 2002.

External links

• Official website– Euskaltzaindia (The Royal Academy of the Basque Language)
• An overview of language technology tools for Basque:Automatic translators for Basque, dictionaries, resources to learn Basque... (~ 2016)
• Euskara Institutua,The University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU
• Ahotsak.eus - Basque Oral Archive