92-506: Sauguis-Saint-Étienne ( Basque : Zalgize-Doneztebe ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France . It is located in the former province of Soule . This Pyrénées-Atlantiques geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Basque language France Basque ( / ˈ b æ s k , ˈ b ɑː s k / ; euskara [eus̺ˈkaɾa] )
184-667: A Basquisation , caused by progress of the Aquitanian tribes on their territory. Strabo in the 1st century AD reported that the Ouaskonous ( Vascones ) inhabited the area around the town of Pompelo, and the coastal town of Oeaso (Οἰασών) in Hispania. He also mentioned other tribes between them and the Cantabri : the Varduli , Caristii , and Autrigones . About a century later, Ptolemy also listed
276-514: A connection to the isolate Sardinian people . It appears that some 4,500 years ago almost all Y-DNA heritage from Iberian admixture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers was replaced by the R1b lineage of herders from the steppe , and the Basque genetic distinctiveness is a result of centuries of low population size, genetic drift, and endogamy. In 2015, a new scientific study of Basque DNA
368-495: A genomic distinctiveness, relative to other European populations. Studies of the Y-DNA haplogroups found that on their direct male lineages, the vast majority of modern Basques have a common ancestry with other Western Europeans, namely a marked predominance of Haplogroup R1b-DF27 (70 % according to some ). This had initially been theorised to be a Palaeolithic marker. But this theory encountered inconsistencies even prior to
460-400: A limited area ( Gascony and Old 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,
552-641: A limited extent even there – for the Basque. The early story of the Basque people was recorded by Roman classical writers, historians and geographers, such as Pliny the Elder , Strabo , Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela . The present-day Basque Country was, by the time of the Roman arrival in the Iberian Peninsula , inhabited by Aquitanian and Celtic tribes. The Aquitanians spoke a language similar to, or identical to, Proto-Basque and included several tribes, such as
644-517: A loan from the Latin asciola . The root of the remaining terms – based on the Roncalese dialect , which is known for its preservation of historical nasals and has the documented forms antzur , ainzter , aintzur and ainzto – was ainz- and thus the reconstructed root was * ani(t)z or * ane(t)z . There are no traces of such a nasal sound in the word haitz "rock" (cf. Roncalese aitz ). The theory of
736-604: 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 western Enkarterri and 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. Historically, Latin or Romance languages have been
828-780: 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
920-558: A remnant population that trace their ancestry to Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups," says Prof. Jakobsson. However, the results also showed that Basques, along with many other Iberian groups, carry both Neolithic farmer ancestry as well as some local mesolithic hunter-gatherer ancestry; showing that "the incoming farmers admixed with local, Iberian hunter-gather groups, a process that continued for at least 2 millennia." Rather, some 4500 years ago almost all Y-DNA heritage from Iberian admixture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers
1012-468: A remnant population that trace their ancestry to Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups." Still these early Neolithic farmer ancestors of the Basques did mix with local southwestern hunter-gatherers, and "the proportion of hunter gatherer-related admixture into early farmers also increased over the course of two millennia." This admixed group was also found to be ancestral to other modern-day Iberian peoples, but while
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#17328694652001104-411: 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
1196-427: A study that showed through detailed DNA analysis of samples from French and Spanish Basque regions that Basques share unique genetic patterns that distinguish them from the surrounding non-Basque populations. The results of the study clearly support the hypothesis of a partial genetic continuity of contemporary Basques with the preceding Paleolithic/Mesolithic settlers of their homeland. Paleogenetic investigations by
1288-609: A typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia." This indicates Basques were isolated from admixture with outside groups since at least 1000 BC, or 3000 years before the present. In Iberia, these later admixture (interbreeding) events were with central European (Celtic), eastern Mediterranean (Phoenician, Greek and Roman), northern African (Carthaginian and Mauritanian) and northern European (Gothic and Frankish) populations, and genomic ancestry from them are found in varying degrees in all or most present-day Iberian populations, except – albeit to
1380-478: A typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia." This indicates Basques were isolated from admixture with outside groups since at least 1000BC or 3000 years before the present. In Iberia, these later admixture (interbreeding) events were with central European (Celtic), eastern Mediterranean and northern African populations, and genomic ancestry from them are found in all or most present-day Iberian populations, except for
1472-468: Is a controversial topic that has given rise to numerous hypotheses. Modern Basque , a descendant or close relative of Aquitanian and Proto-Basque , is the only pre-Indo-European language that is extant in western Europe. The Basques have therefore long been supposed to be a remnant of a pre-Indo-European population of Europe. The main hypotheses about the origin of the Basques are: Stephen Oppenheimer has proposed that from c. 16,000 BC,
1564-572: Is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country , a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque is classified as a language isolate (unrelated to any other known languages) and the only language isolate in Europe. The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country. The Basque language
1656-434: 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: The region where Basque is spoken has become smaller over centuries, especially at the northern, southern, and eastern borders. Nothing
1748-550: Is distinguished from atso "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⟩ ). Origin of the Basques The origin of the Basques and the Basque language
1840-566: Is generally referred to as Aquitanian and is assumed to have been spoken in the area before the Roman Republic 's conquests in the western Pyrenees . Some authors even argue for late Basquisation , that the language moved westward during Late Antiquity after the fall of the Western Roman Empire into the northern part of Hispania into what is now the Basque Country . Roman neglect of this area allowed Aquitanian to survive while
1932-679: 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 the Common Era it stretched to the river Garonne in the north (including the south-western part of present-day France); at least to the Val d'Aran in the east (now a Gascon -speaking part of Catalonia ), including lands on both sides of the Pyrenees ; the southern and western boundaries are not clear at all. The Reconquista temporarily counteracted this contracting tendency when
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#17328694652002024-489: 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 during the 3rd millennium BC. Authors such as Miguel de Unamuno and Louis Lucien Bonaparte have noted that the words for "knife" ( aizto ), "axe" ( aizkora ), and "hoe" ( aitzur ) appear to derive from
2116-456: Is not accepted by most linguists. Specifically, Trask, after many pointed critiques of the methods employed, affirmed that Vennemann had found an agglutinative language , but with no relation to the Basque language, and that probably it is simply the Indo-European language, as many other linguistic scholars agree. Joseba Andoni Lakarra, a researcher of the Proto-Basque language , criticizes
2208-630: Is one strong loanword candidate, ezker , long considered the source of the Pyrenean and Iberian Romance words 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: 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
2300-454: Is only based on the typological similarities, which is not an accepted marker of linguistic kinship. These superficial similarities in the linguistic typologies do not seem to accompany a genetic relation at a population level. The possible relation between Basque and the languages of the Caucasus is denied by authors such as Larry Trask , who stated that the comparisons were wrongly made, given
2392-505: 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. Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish provinces and the three "ancient provinces" in France. Gipuzkoa , most of Biscay , a few municipalities on the northern border of Álava and
2484-704: The Algonquian peoples in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Strait of Belle Isle . The Basque language features five vowels: /a/ , /e/ , /i/ , /o/ and /u/ (the same that are found in Spanish , Asturian and Aragonese ). In the Zuberoan dialect, extra phonemes are featured: 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
2576-512: The Aquitanians were similar physically and that they spoke similar languages and had similar customs. The German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt proposed, in the early 19th Century, a thesis in which he stated that the Basque people were Iberians, following some studies that he had conducted. Others claim there is not a direct connection, including Koldo Mitxelena who claims the similarities between Iberian and Basque are attributed solely to
2668-555: The Asturian Xíriga . Part of the Romani community in the Basque Country speaks Erromintxela , which is a rare mixed language , with a Kalderash Romani vocabulary and Basque grammar. A number of Basque-based or Basque-influenced pidgins have existed. In the 16th century, Basque sailors used a Basque–Icelandic pidgin in their contacts with Iceland. The Algonquian–Basque pidgin arose from contact between Basque whalers and
2760-553: The Basque Country (91%), Wales (89%) and Ireland (81%). The age of subclade which Basque carry, Haplogroup R1b-DF27 , "is estimated at ~4,200 years ago, at the transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, when the Y chromosome landscape of Western Europe was thoroughly remodeled. In spite of its high frequency in Basques, Y-STR internal diversity of R1b-DF27 is lower there, and results in more recent age estimates", implying it
2852-561: The Cantabrian Wars , based on a manuscript gloss that Cristóbal de Mieres, secretary of Lope García de Salazar (1399–1476) introduced on a 1491 copy of Las bienandanzas e fortunas . This legend makes the Vascones the protagonists of these wars. The most plausible candidates for the ancient languages of the Iberian refuge are the Basque languages still spoken by about half a million people in
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2944-577: The Celtic Welsh , and Irish ; Stephen Oppenheimer from the University of Oxford says that the current inhabitants of the British Isles have their origin in the Basque refuge during the last Ice age . Oppenheimer reached this conclusion through the study of correspondences in the frequencies of genetic markers between various European regions. The haplogroup R1b , can be found most frequently in
3036-631: The Complutense University of Madrid indicate that the Basque people have a genetic profile coincident with the rest of the European population and that goes back to Prehistoric times. The haplotype of the mitochondrial DNA known as U5 entered in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic and developed varieties as the U8a , native of the Basque Country , which is considered to be Prehistoric, and as
3128-636: The French Basque Country , Basque was still spoken in all the territory except in Bayonne and some villages around, and including some bordering towns in Béarn . In the 20th century, however, the rise of Basque nationalism spurred increased interest in the language as a sign of ethnic identity, and with the establishment of autonomous governments in the Southern Basque Country , it has recently made
3220-635: The Iberian and Tartessian languages became extinct. Through the long contact with Romance languages, Basque adopted a sizeable number of Romance words. Initially the source was Latin, later Gascon (a branch of Occitan ) in the north-east, Navarro-Aragonese in the south-east and Spanish in 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: While those six factors influenced
3312-564: The J group, which is also frequent in the Basque population. The works of Alzualde A, Izagirre N, Alonso S, Alonso A, de la Rua C. about mitochondrial DNA of the Human remains found in the Prehistoric graveyard of Alaieta, in Alava , note that there are no differences between these remains and others found across Atlantic Europe . Studies based on the Y chromosome genetically relate the Basques with
3404-474: The Latin script is used for the Basque alphabet . In Basque, the name of the language is officially euskara (alongside various dialect forms). In French, the language is normally called basque , though euskara has become common in recent times. Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to as vasco , lengua vasca , or euskera . Both terms, vasco and basque , are inherited from
3496-555: The Proto-Basque language (or a language family from which the Basque language originated) was the linguistic stratum in which the Indo-European languages later settled. He found, among other examples, the Basque words ibai ( ' river ' ) and ibar ( ' bottom ' ) to repeat continuously in European rivers, or the word haran ( ' valley ' ) in toponyms such as Val d'Aran , Arendal , Arundel , Arnach, Arnsberg , Aresburg, Ahrensburg , Aranbach or Arnstein . The Vennemann theory has been criticized by Basque scholars and it
3588-557: The Spanish language is the official language of the nation, but allows autonomous communities to provide a co-official language status for the other languages of Spain . Consequently, the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Autonomous Community establishes 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
3680-577: The Vascones , who were located at both sides of the western Pyrenees . In present-day Biscay , Gipuzkoa , and Álava were located the Caristii , Varduli , and Autrigones , whose origin is still not clear. It is not known if these tribes were of Aquitanian origin, related to the Vascones, or if they were of Celtic origin. The latter seems more likely, based on the use of Celtic and Proto-Celtic toponyms by these tribes. These tribes would have then gone through
3772-445: The voiceless 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 from su "fire". The affricate counterparts are written ⟨tz⟩ and ⟨ts⟩ . So, etzi "the day after tomorrow" is distinguished from etsi "to give up"; atzo "yesterday"
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3864-462: The 14th century when a law passed in Huesca in 1349 stated that Item nuyl corridor nonsia usado que faga mercadería ninguna que compre nin venda entre ningunas personas, faulando en algaravia nin en abraych nin en basquenç : et qui lo fara pague por coto XXX sol —essentially penalising the use of Arabic, Hebrew, or Basque in marketplaces with a fine of 30 sols (the equivalent of 30 sheep). Although
3956-623: 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,
4048-412: The Basque Country, excluding the southern part of Navarre, the south-western part of Álava , and the western part of Biscay, and including some parts of Béarn . In 1807, Basque was still spoken in the northern half of Álava—including its capital city Vitoria-Gasteiz —and a vast area in central Navarre, but in these two provinces, Basque experienced a rapid decline that pushed its border northwards. In
4140-577: The Basque area of Spain and France. Earlier, there were several languages belonging to this language group, but mainly because of the intensive spread of IE languages in Western Europe, the area of the Basque languages has shrunk ever since. It is probable that the entire Atlantic Coast was linguistically Basque during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the millennia after it. The area was homogeneous also in respect to subsistence system and genetics:
4232-451: 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 surviving language isolate in Europe . The current mainstream scientific view on the origin of
4324-457: 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
4416-481: The Basque language is geographically surrounded by Romance languages , it is a language isolate that is unrelated to them or to any other language. Most scholars believe Basque to be the last remaining descendant of one of the pre-Indo-European languages of prehistoric Europe . Consequently, it may be impossible to reconstruct the prehistory of the Basque language by the traditional comparative method except by applying it to differences between Basque dialects. Little
4508-519: The Basque-Iberism claims that there is a direct relationship between the Basque language and the Iberian language , meaning either that Basque evolved out of the Iberian language, or that its precursor belonged to the same language family . The first author to suggest this theory was Strabo in the 1st century BC (at a time when the Iberian language was still spoken); he asserted that the Iberians and
4600-522: The Basque. In the field of linguistics, there are two lines of investigation, both based on etymology; one on toponyms, not only in the Basque Country but also in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe , and the other on the etymology of Basque words. Some vasconists have, in the past, suggested that Basque may have several words, all related to tools, that are derived from a word for "stone", haitz (though this primarily means "rock, boulder" in modern Basque). These include: Theories regarding
4692-564: The Basques and of their language is that early forms of Basque developed before the arrival of Indo-European languages in the area, i.e. before the arrival of Celtic and Romance languages in particular, as the latter today geographically surround the Basque-speaking region. Typologically, with its agglutinative morphology and ergative–absolutive alignment , Basque grammar remains markedly different from that of Standard Average European languages. Nevertheless, Basque has borrowed up to 40 percent of its vocabulary from Romance languages, and
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#17328694652004784-462: The Basques remained relatively isolated for millennia after this time, later migrations into Iberia led to distinct and additional admixture in all other Iberian groups. In 2019, a study was published in Science in which a more modern time-transect of Iberian ancient populations including the Basque were analyzed. From their abstract, it says: "and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as
4876-469: 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 like Spanish , Gascon , French , or Latin were 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
4968-634: The Crown. Among these legends are the Basque-Iberism , the Basque-Cantabrism , and The Battle of Arrigorriaga . These legends were used in a context of political vindication. In the 19th century, the Basque nationalists would use these legends as the basis for their vindications. Developed by Esteban de Garibay and Andrés Poza, a "legend" states that the Basque people are direct descendants of Tubal , grandson of Noah , fifth son of Japheth . According to
5060-406: The Iberian and Basque region. The collection of mtDNA and Y-DNA haplogroups sampled there differed significantly compared to their modern frequencies. The authors concluded that there is "discontinuity" between ancient locals and modern Basques. While Basques harbour some very archaic mtDNA lineages, they are not of "undiluted Palaeolithic ancestry" but of significantly early Neolithic origin with
5152-614: The Indo-European languages. Wiik states that his theory coincides with the homogeneous distribution of the Haplogroup R1b in Atlantic Europe . Ludomir R. Lozny states that "Wiik's controversial ideas are rejected by the majority of the scholarly community, but they have attracted the enormous interest of a wider audience." In May 2012, the National Geographic Society Genographic Project released
5244-511: The Latin ethnonym Vascones , which in turn goes back to the Greek term Οὐάσκωνες ( ouáskōnes ), an ethnonym used by Strabo in his Geographica (23 CE, Book III). The Spanish term Vascuence , derived from Latin vasconĭce , 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
5336-551: The Spanish edition of the popular science magazine Scientific American published a study conducted by Theo Vennemann , where he concluded: Much of the names of settlements, rivers, mountains, valleys and landscapes in Europe would have their origin in Pre-Indo-European languages, specifically the Basque language. Vennemann: We do not fall in exaggeration if we say that all the Europeans are Basques. According to Vennemann,
5428-565: The Vascones. However, the Vascones appear to have been just one tribe within a wider language community. Across the border in what is now France, the Aquitanian tribes of Gascony spoke a language different from the Celts and were more like the Iberi. Although no complete inscription in their language survives, a number of personal names were recorded in Latin inscriptions, which attest to Aquitanian being
5520-513: The Western half of Europe, especially along the Western fringe of the continent. Autosomal genetic studies have confirmed that Basques share close genetic ties to other Europeans, especially with Spaniards , who have a common genetic identity of over 70 % with Basques, a homogeneity amongst both their Spanish and French populations, according to high-density SNP genotyping study done in May 2010, and
5612-416: 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 speakers during this period, this is mainly because of bilingualism . Basque transmission as
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#17328694652005704-511: The coastal Oeasso (Οἰασσώ) beside the Pyrénées to the Vascones, together with 15 inland towns, including Pompelon. Pompelo/Pompelon is easily identified as modern-day Pamplona , Navarre . The border port of Irún, where a Roman harbour and other remains have been uncovered, is the accepted identification of the coastal town mentioned by Strabo and Ptolemy. Three inscriptions in an early form of Basque found in eastern Navarre can be associated with
5796-446: The corresponding fricatives [β] , [ð] , and [ɣ] . Basque has a distinction between laminal and apical articulation 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,
5888-528: 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: Beyond these arguments, a number of nomadic groups of Castile are also said to use or have used Basque words in their jargon, such as the gacería in Segovia , the mingaña , the Galician fala dos arxinas and
5980-431: The fact that the Basque language was compared with several Caucasian languages at the same time. These theories are based on the Old European hydronymy , assuming that the first inhabitants of Europe spoke a common tongue or languages of the same language family . This theory is not accepted by most linguists, who believe that, in a territory as large as Europe, more than one language had to be spoken. In January 2003,
6072-403: The influence of the neighbouring Romance languages on 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 particular Gascon and Aragonese , and to a lesser degree Spanish are thought to have received this influence in
6164-408: The legend, Japheth and his tribe, the Iberians, departed to the Iberian Peninsula , settling between the Pyrenees and the river Ebro , right after the confusion of languages in the Tower of Babel . Then, the Basque language would be one of the 72 languages that were created as a punishment of God after the Tower of Babel . Basque-Cantabrism is based on a historical and geographical distortion of
6256-469: 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. The 2021 sociolinguistic survey of all Basque-speaking territories showed that, of all people aged 16 and above: In 2021, out of
6348-476: The most divergent Basque dialects. Modern Basque dialectology distinguishes five dialects: These dialects are divided in 11 subdialects, and 24 minor varieties among them. According to Koldo 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. Although
6440-411: The most recent chronological re-evaluations. More recent studies suggest that R1b spread up to Western Europe from southwestern Eurasia in the Neolithic period or later, between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago. The age of the subclade which Basques carry, R1b-DF27, "is estimated at ~4,200 years ago, at the transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, when the Y chromosome landscape of Western Europe
6532-571: The northern area of Navarre formed 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 of Spanish , either because Basque was replaced by Spanish over the centuries (as in most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it may never have been spoken there (as in parts of Enkarterri and south-eastern Navarre). In Francoist Spain , Basque language use
6624-645: The official languages in this region. However, Basque was explicitly recognised in some areas. For instance, the fuero or charter of the Basque-colonised Ojacastro (now in La 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. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states in Article 3 that
6716-665: The past. In the case of Aragonese and Gascon, this would have been through substrate interference following language shift from Aquitanian or 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
6808-485: The possibility of such a shared root have been put forward by Louis Lucien Bonaparte , Miguel de Unamuno , Julio Caro Baroja and others. One implication of these hypothetical and controversial etymologies was that some aspects of the Basque language had been stable and uninfluenced by other languages since the Stone Age . However, these etymologies are now doubted by mainstream vasconists. Aizkora has been identified as
6900-531: The precursor of modern Basque (this extinct Aquitanian language should not be confused with Occitan , a Romance language spoken in Aquitaine since the beginning of the Middle Ages). Between the 14th and 15th century, a series of historical legends were created with the objective of defending the singularity of the Basque people and their Fuero system, which regulated the relations between the Basque territories and
6992-410: 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 or separatism . 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, called Euskara Batua ,
7084-529: The relationship of vicinity, and not to any kinship. Some researchers have propounded the similarities between the Basque language and the Caucasian languages , especially the Georgian language . The comparison between the matrilineal and patrilineal DNA of the native peoples from the Basque Country and Georgia has allowed the discovery of significant differences. The hypothesis that related both populations
7176-487: The revitalisation process, the extensive development and use of language technologies is also considered a significant additional factor. Many linguists have tried to link Basque with other languages, but no hypothesis has gained mainstream acceptance. Apart from pseudoscientific comparisons , the appearance of long-range linguistics gave rise to several attempts to connect Basque with geographically very distant language families such as Georgian . Historical work on Basque
7268-518: The thesis of Vennemann, saying, like Trask, that he identifies modern Basque roots that are not related to the archaic Basque. In the same way, Lakarra says that, despite Basque now being an agglutinative language, there are reasons to believe that previously it was not so. Although they are genetically distinctive in some ways due to isolation, the Basques are still very typically European in their Y-DNA and mtDNA sequences, and in some other genetic loci . These same sequences are widespread throughout
7360-595: The transition to farming in southwest Europe. The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . According to the study, the "results show that the Basques trace their ancestry to early farming groups from Iberia, which contradicts previous views of them being
7452-464: The transition to farming in southwest Europe. The results show that these early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Basques. The official findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. "Our results show that the Basques trace their ancestry to early farming groups from Iberia, which contradicts previous views of them being
7544-401: The transmission rate also decreased. Basque is used as a language of commerce both in the Basque Country and in locations around the world where Basques immigrated throughout history. 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
7636-523: 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. The Ley del Vascuence ("Law of Basque"), seen as contentious by many Basques, but considered fitting Navarra's linguistic and cultural diversity by some of
7728-511: The vowel /a/ is elided before any following vowel. This does not prevent the existence of diphthongs with /a/ present. There are six diphthongs in Basque, all falling and with /i̯/ or /u̯/ as the second element. In syllable-final position, all plosives are devoiced and 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
7820-514: The warmer climate allowed the expansion of proto-Basque groups to Britain and Ireland , and that today’s inhabitants of Britain and Ireland descend from the Basques. In 2008, the Finnish linguist Kalevi Wiik proposed that the current Basque language is the remainder of a group of "Basque languages" that were spoken in the Paleolithic throughout western Europe and that retreated with the progress of
7912-570: The word for "stone" ( haitz ), and have therefore concluded that the language dates to prehistoric Europe when those tools were made of stone. Others find this unlikely: see the aizkora controversy . Latin inscriptions in Gallia Aquitania preserve a number of words with cognates in the reconstructed proto-Basque language , for instance, the personal names Nescato and Cison ( neskato and gizon mean 'young girl' and 'man', respectively in modern Basque). This language
8004-686: Was brought to the region from elsewhere. In 2015, a new scientific study of Basque DNA was published which seems to indicate that Basques are descendants of Neolithic farmers who mixed with local hunters before becoming genetically isolated from the rest of Europe for millennia. Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden analysed genetic material from eight Stone Age human skeletons found in El Portalón Cavern in Atapuerca , northern Spain. These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after
8096-457: Was developed by the Euskaltzaindia in the late 1960s. Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan , Gipuzkoan , and Upper Navarrese in Spain and Navarrese–Lapurdian and Souletin in 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
8188-402: Was discouraged by the government's repressive policies . In the Basque Country, "Francoist repression was not only political, but also linguistic and cultural." Franco's regime 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
8280-450: Was published which seems to indicate that Basques are descendants of Neolithic farmers who mixed with local Mesolithic hunters before becoming genetically isolated from the rest of Europe for millennia. Mattias Jakobsson from Uppsala University in Sweden analysed genetic material from eight Stone Age human skeletons found in El Portalón Cavern in Atapuerca , northern Spain. These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after
8372-444: Was replaced by the lineage of Indo-European herders from the steppe, and the Basque genetic distinctiveness is a result of centuries of low population size, genetic drift, and endogamy . In 2019, a study was published in Science in which a more fine-tuned and deep time-transect of Iberian ancient populations including the Basque were analyzed. From their abstract, it says: "and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as
8464-595: Was thoroughly remodeled. In spite of its high frequency in Basques, Y-STR internal diversity of R1b-DF27 is lower there, and results in more recent age estimates", implying it was brought to the region from elsewhere. Next to the main lineage R1b, high frequencies of E-V65 , associated with the Maghreb, Italy and Spain, were found among Basque autochthonous inhabitants of Álava province (17.3 %), Biscay province (10.9 %), and Gipuzkoa province (3.3 %). Several ancient DNA samples have been recovered and amplified from
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