Gipuzkoan ( eu, Gipuzkera; es, Guipuzcoano) is a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

of the Basque language spoken mainly in the central and eastern parts of the province of

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

in Basque Country and also in the northernmost part of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. It is a central dialect of Basque according to the traditional dialectal classification of the language based on research carried out by

Lucien Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (born Luciano Buonaparte; 21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 ...

in the 19th century. He included varieties spoken in the Sakana and Burunda valleys also in the Gipuzkoan dialect, however this approach has been disputed by modern Basque linguists.

Area

Gipuzkoan is spoken not in all of Gipuzkoa but in the area between the

Deba River The Deba River ( eu, Deba ibaia; es, río Deva) is a river in the Basque Country, Spain. It rises in Arlaban, into Araba province lands, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean, in the Bay of Biscay, in Deba Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzc ...

and the River Oiartzun. The strip of

from

Leintz-Gatzaga Leintz Gatzaga (Spanish, ''Salinas de Léniz'') is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The municipality's population is 251 (2015). Etymology The first part of the name, Lei ...

to Elgoibar is part of the

Biscayan Biscayan, sometimes Bizkaian ( eu, Bizkaiera, es, Vizcaíno) is a dialect of the Basque language spoken mainly in Biscay, one of the provinces of the Basque Country of Spain. It is named as ''Western'' in the Basque dialects' classification ...

(Western) dialect area, and the River Oiartzun flowing past

Errenteria Errenteria ( eu, Errenteria/Orereta, es, Rentería) is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, in the north of Spain, near the French border. The river Oiartzun cuts its way through the town, one that has ...

outlines the border with the

Upper Navarrese Upper Navarrese (sometimes called High Navarrese) is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in the Navarre ( eu, Nafarroa or ''Nafarroa Garaia'') community of Spain, as established by linguist Louis Lucien Bonaparte in his famous 1869 map. He ...

dialect. However, borders between Gipuzkoan and High Navarrese are gradually disappearing, as Standard Basque is beginning to blur the differences among traditional dialects, especially for younger Basques.

Features

Some of the features of Gipuzkoan, as perceived by speakers of other dialect, are the following: * The

grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...

, which is highly variable among Basque dialects, is generally (e.g. vs , ). * The verb for 'to go' is pronounced (), as opposed to the general (). * The auxiliary verb forms are , , etc., as opposed to general Basque (

: ). * Verb infinitives end with , (, , etc.), frequent in central dialects, as opposed to the older (, etc.). * The root ending of nouns is often interpreted as an article and dropped in indefinite phrases: vs (). * The postalveolar affricate (spelled ) replaces the lamino-dental fricative (spelled ) at the beginning of words. For example: vs , vs .

Variants

Gipuzkoan had four main variants: * The Beterri variant (from the area surrounding Tolosa, towards

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

). * The

Goierri Goierri ("Highland(s)" in Basque; es, Goyerri) or "Basque Highlands" is one of the eight ''comarcas'' (''Eskualdea'' in the Basque language) in the Spanish province of Gipuzkoa. It is composed of 18 municipalities, Beasain, Ordizia Ordizia, for ...

variant. * The Urola variant (from

Zarautz Zarautz (, es, Zarauz) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián. It has four enclaves limiting the afo ...

Mutriku Mutriku ( es, Motrico) is a coastal town located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country in northern Spain. It has a population of around 5000 and provides access to the Bay of Biscay. It is the site of the worl ...

). * Navarrese Gipuzkoan ( Burunda,

Echarri-Aranaz Etxarri-Aranatz ( es, Echarri-Aranaz) is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonad ...

Historical role

Gipuzkoan is one of the four dialects known as the ''literary dialects'' of Basque (

Lapurdian Navarro-Labourdin or Navarro-Lapurdian ( eu, nafar-lapurtera) is a Basque dialect spoken in the Lower Navarre and Labourd (Lapurdi) former provinces of the French Basque Country (in the Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''). It consists of ...

Souletin Souletin or Zuberoan ( eu, Zuberera) is the Basque dialect spoken in Soule, France. Souletin is marked by influences from Occitan (in particular the Béarnese dialect), especially in the lexicon. Another distinct characteristic is the use of v ...

and Gipuzkoan). It was used in

Basque literature Although the first instances of coherent Basque phrases and sentences go as far back as the San Millán glosses of around 950, the large-scale damage done by periods of great instability and warfare, such as the clan wars of the Middle Ages, the ...

from the 17th century onward, but like Souletin and Biscayan, it had only a minor role because of the Lapurdian dialect's dominance. That was because the centre of Basque literary production was in

Labourd Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...

from the 16th century to most of the 18th century.

Source of Standard Basque

Gipuzkoan

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

was used as the main source for

Standard Basque Standard Basque ( eu, euskara batua or simply ''batua'') is a standardised version of the Basque language, developed by the Basque Language Academy in the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version ...

, the standardised dialect of Basque that is used in schools and the media.

References