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 linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
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. 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
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 ...
from
Leintz-Gatzaga to
Elgoibar is part of the
Biscayan (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 Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, in the north of Spain, near the French border. The river Oiartzun (rive ...
outlines the border with the
Upper Navarrese 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 '' graphemi ...
, 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 (
Biscayan: ).
* 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).
* 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 ...
to
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 (
Biscayan,
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 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, the standardised dialect of Basque that is used in schools and the media.
See also
*
Basque dialects
Basque dialects are linguistic varieties of the Basque language which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard Basque. Between six and nine Basque dialects have been historically distinguished:
* Biscay ...
*
Batua (Standard Basque)
*
Euskaltzaindia
Euskaltzaindia (; often translated Royal Academy of the Basque Language) is the official academic language regulatory institution which watches over the Basque language. It conducts research, seeks to protect the language, and establishes stand ...
, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gipuzkoan Dialect
Basque dialects
Gipuzkoa