page_title: Basque dialects
section_title: History of Basque dialectology
hierarchical_section_title: Basque dialects / History of Basque dialectology
caption_attribution_description: English: Euskalkien mapa, 2019an. Koldo Zuazok egina.
context_page_description: 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:
  Biscayan
  Gipuzkoan
  Upper Navarrese
  Lower Navarrese
  Lapurdian
  Souletin
  In modern times, however, both Lower Navarrese and Lapurdian are considered part of a Navarrese–Lapurdian dialect, so there would be five dialects, divided into 11 subdialects and 24 minor varieties.
  The boundaries of all these dialects do not coincide directly with current political or administrative boundaries. It was believed that the dialect boundaries between Bizkaian, Gipuzkoan and Upper Navarrese showed some relation to some pre-Roman tribal boundaries between the Caristii, Varduli and Vascones. However, main Basque dialectologists now deny any direct relation between those tribes and Basque dialects. It seems that these dialects were created in the Middle Ages from a previously quite unified Basque language, and the dialects diverged from each other since then as a result of the administrative and political division that happened in the Basque Country.
context_section_description: One of the first scientific studies of Basque dialects, regarding the auxiliary verb forms, was made by Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. His original dialect map, Carte des Sept Provinces Basques, was published in 1863 along with his Le Verbe Basque en Tableaux was regarded as the authoritative guide in Basque dialectology for a century. He collected his data in fieldwork between 1856 and 1869 in five visits to the Basque Country. By then, the Basque language was in retreat throughout the territory in which it had been commonly spoken. In Álava, Basque had all but vanished from the Plains and the Highlands, remaining only in the stronghold of Aramaio and bordering fringes of Biscay and Gipuzkoa, while in Navarre the scholar collected the last live evidence in areas extending as far south as Tafalla.
  In 1998, Koldo Zuazo, Professor of Basque Philology at the University of the Basque Country, redefined the dialect classifications slightly. For example, he changed the name of Biscayan to Western, Gipuzkoan to Central, Upper Navarrese to Navarrese. He also grouped Lapurdian with Lower Navarrese, distinguished Eastern Navarrese as an independent dialect, and recognised several mixed areas:
  Western (Biscayan)
  Central (Gipuzkoan)
  (Upper) Navarrese
  Eastern Navarrese (including Salazarese and the extinct Roncalese)
  Navarrese–Lapurdian
  Souletin
  Much has been studied too on the Basque dialect spoken formerly in Álava. In 1997, Zuazo released research carried out on the issue based on dispersed recorded evidence (such as Landuchio's glossary) and papers drawn up especially by Koldo Mitxelena. The pundit outlines three main linguistic areas running north to south, where features related to Western and Navarrese dialects mix up to different degrees according to their geographical position.
  He focuses mainly on relevant lexico-morphological differences, such as instrumental declension marks -gaz/rekin, ablative -rean/tik, barria/berria (= 'new'), elexea/elizea (= 'church'), padura/madura (= 'swamp'), to mention but a few.
  Key distinguishing features in Basque dialect phonology include:
  loss of /h/ and aspirated stops in Southern Basque dialects
  divergence of historic /j/ into /j/ /ɟ/ /ʒ/ /ʃ/ /x/ /χ/
  Souletin development of the vowel /y/
caption: Map of Basque dialects (Koldo Zuazo, 2019)
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