Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
Basque Notes also called Euskara linguistic isolate surrounded by Indo-European languages was spoken in Europe before Indo-European languages spread spoken by about 690,000 people. Of these, 580,000 are in Spain and 76,200 in France. (www.ethnologue.com) co-official language in Basque regions of Spain; no official standing in France between 6-9 dialects exists; some may not be mutually intelligible written with Roman alphabet plus <ñ>, and occasionally > and <ü>.
Basque Country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Basque_Country_location_map.png)
Basque Provinces (http://www.eke.org/euskal_herria/karta.gif)
Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
% fluent speakers by location (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Euskara.png)
Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
Phonology (phonemic) (based on Hualde & de Urbina 2003) Vowels: o canonical 5 vowel system (Gipuzkoan, High Navarrese, Standard Basque)
o Zuberoan dialect additionally has /y/, and it phonemically distinguishes nasal from non-nasal vowels in word-final stressed position. Consonants: labio- apico- lamino- palato- bilabial dental palatal velar glottal dental alveolar alveolar alveolar plosive p b t d c ɟ k g aspirated {ph} {th} {kh} plosive nasal m n ɲ fricative f } } ʃ {ʒ} (x) {h/ħ} affricate tʃ flap (ɾ) trill r lateral l ʎ approximant o Sounds not in Zuberoan dialect in parentheses ( ). Sounds only in Zuberoan dialect in curly brackets {}. o Note that Basque distinguishes apical consonants from laminal ones; thus, zu [ u] ‘you’ and su u] ‘fire’.
Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
Syntax Basque is an ergative-absolutive language; meaning that i. the subject of an intransitive verb, and ii. the object of a transitive verb receive the same case marking, called the ‘absolute’ case. In Basque, this is marked by ∅ (i.e. there is no marker).
Meanwhile, the subject of a transitive verb receives a distinct case marking, called the ‘ergative’ case. In Basque, this is marked by –k.
The ‘opposite’ of an ergative-absolutive language is a nominative-accusative language, like English or German. In these languages, the subject of a transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb are given nominative case, and the object of a transitive verb is given accusative case.
Below are examples of the ergative-absolutive paradigm in Basque: zaraitzuera-∅ hil-tze-ar dago Zaraitzu.dialect-ABS die-NOM-ar is ‘The Zaraitzu dialect is about to die.’
Martin-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-t Martin-ERG newspapers-ABS.PL buying AGR-AGR-for.me ‘Martin buys the newspapers for me.’
zakurr-a-∅ etorri da dog-DET-ABS arrive AUX ‘The dog has arrived.’
gizon-a-∅ dator man-DET-ABS is.coming ‘The man is coming.’
gizon-a-k mutil-a-∅ ikusi du man-the-ERG boy-DET-ABS saw AUX ‘The man saw the boy.’
nire lagun-a-k eskutitz-a-∅ idatziko du my friend-DET-ERG letter-DET-ABS write.FUT AUX ‘My friend will write the letter.’
Mari-a-k eta Xanet-a-k idekitzen dituzte begi-ak-∅ Maria-DET-ERG and Xanet-DET-ERG open.IMPF AUX eyes-DET.PL-ABS ‘Mary and Janet open their eyes.’
(Subject and nominal predicate of copulative sentence also appear in absolutive case) nira lagun-a-∅ gure herri-ko alkate-a-∅ da my friend-DET-ABS our town-REL mayor-DET-ABS AUX ‘My friend is the mayor of our town.’ Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
Basque has a large number of case distinctions. Below is a simplified table showing case in Basque.
Case is marked on the final word in an NP, regardless whether is the head N or not.
gizon-ar-i gizon gazte-ar-i gizon gazte hon-i man-the-DAT man young-the-DAT man young this-DAT ‘to the man’ ‘to the young man’ ‘to this young man’
Agreement: NP inflection shows case, definiteness and for definite NP number (sg/pl) and general/proximal. Additionally, the locative case further distinguishes animate from inanimate NPs. (Hualde & de Urbina 2003:171)
Verbal agreement: verbs agree with subjects and objects
Zu-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-da-zue you-Erg newspaper-Pl buy-Ger Aux.Pres.3p.Obj-Pl.Obj-1sg.IO-2p.Pl.Subj ‘You buy the newspapers for me.’
Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
Allocutive agreement: gender of addressee morphologically shown on the verb
Gizon bat etorri da. man a come is ‘A man ha ome.’
Gizon bat etorri duk man a come is.male ‘A man ha ome listener is a close male friend].’
Gizon bat etorri dun, man a come is.female ‘A man has come [listener is a close female friend].’
Gizon bat etorri duzu. man a come is.polite ‘A man ha ome listener is e.g. not close friend].’
Linguistics 203 – Languages of the World Basque
(data below based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_grammar) articles, demonstratives, number ‘one’ and some quantifiers follow N interrogatives, numerals (above one/two), other quantifiers precede N in some dialects, the number ‘two’ follows N, in other dialects in precedes N
etxe-a zein etxe? house-the.SG which house ‘the house’ ‘which house(s)?’
etxe-a-k zenbat etxe? house-the-PL how.many house ‘the houses’ ‘how many houses’
etxe hau zenbait etxe house this some house ‘this house’ ‘some houses’
etxe hori-ek hiru etxe house those-PL three house ‘those houses’ ‘three houses’
etxe bat bi etxe (in some dialects) house one two house ‘one/a house’ ‘two houses’
etxe batzuk house some ‘some houses’
etxe bi (in some dialects) house two ‘two houses’
References:
Hualde, José Ignacio and Jon Ortiz de Urbina. (2003). A Grammar of Basque. Mouton de Gruyter: New York.