The Roncal Valley ( eu, Erronkaribar, label=

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 ...

, es, Valle de Roncal) is a valley and

mancomunidad In present-day Spain a ''mancomunidad'' ( an, mancomunidat, ast, mancomunidá, ca, mancomunitat, gl, mancomunidade, eu, mankomunitatea; in English "commonwealth" or municipal association) is an association of municipalities voluntarily estab ...

in the very east 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, ...

, bordering the autonomous community of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

to the East and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to the north. It is part of the Merindad of

Sangüesa Sangüesa (Basque: ''Zangoza'') is a city in Navarre, Spain, 44.5 kilometers from Pamplona. It lies close to the River Aragon and in 2007 had a population of 5,128. It is located on the Way of Saint James. It has been an important stopping poin ...

. The Ezka River, a tributary of the Aragón, flows from north to south through the center of the valley. The

Roncalese dialect Roncalese (in Basque: ''erronkariera'', in Roncalese dialect: ''Erronkariko uskara'') is an extinct Basque dialect once spoken in the Roncal Valley in Navarre, Spain. It is a subdialect of Eastern Navarrese in the classification of Koldo Zuazo. ...

of Basque was historically spoken within this valley. It shares its name with the town and municipality of Roncal. While the last speakers of the valley's traditional dialect have passed away, the valley is located in Navarre's mixed language zone and does have a number of Basque speakers.

Government

The valley, as a local entity, is classified as an or "grouping of traditional character" within Navarre. It is governed by a or general council, consisting of 21 members, three from each village.

Tourism

As a tourist destination, the Roncal Valley is known for

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trails in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

, its villages, the tomb of the tenor

Julián Gayarre Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón (9 January 1844 in Roncal, Navarre, Spain – 2 January 1890 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's '' Il Duca d'Alba'' ...

, and the Larra-Belagua Ski Center.

Cheese

The Roncal Valley is well known for its local

artisan cheese Artisanal cheese refers to cheeses produced by hand using the traditional craftsmanship of skilled cheesemakers. As a result, the cheeses are often more complex in taste and variety. Many are aged and ripened to achieve certain aesthetics. This c ...

, named

Roncal cheese Roncal (''Erronkariko gazta'' in Basque) is a hard, creamy sheep milk cheese. It is made in one of seven villages in the Valle de Roncal of Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (m ...

after the valley. Inhabitants of the valley have worked to develop

food tourism Culinary tourism or food tourism or gastronomy tourism is the exploration of food as the purpose of tourism. It is considered a vital component of the tourism experience. Dining out is common among tourists and "food is believed to rank alongsid ...

based on the local cheese. The cheese enjoys Spanish and EU

Protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

status.

Language

The Roncal Valley was historically home to the Roncalese dialect of Basque and all of its municipalities are located in Navarre's mixed language zone. The last native speakers of Roncalese Basque died in the 1970s and 80s, and the Spanish spoken in the area retains some influence from Basque. Notably, in Spanish, word-final ''-r'' corresponds to a single, tapped ''-r-'' in related words. The demonyms used in the Roncal Valley's Spanish are likely the only exceptions to that rule, because of Basque influence. In Basque, word-final ''-r'' typically corresponds to a double, trilled ''-rr-'' in related words. According to

José Ignacio Hualde José Ignacio Hualde is a Spanish linguist specialised in Basque linguistics and in Spanish synchronic and diachronic phonology, professor of linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and in the Department of Linguistics, at the Univ ...

, in the Roncal Valley's Spanish, each town's demonym is formed with the borrowed Basque suffix , whose final ''-r'' becomes a trill before the Spanish plural or feminine form. Thus, the masculine single form 'man from Garde' corresponds to the feminine and the plural . This is restricted to the Roncal Valley because of a particularity of Roncalese Basque. In other dialects the

citation form In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' a ...

of nouns has the

article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

at the end, and nouns and adjectives borrowed into Spanish under that form. Thus, in other areas the equivalent suffix is borrowed as , as in 'from Donostia'.

References

External links