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Euskera
Basque ( ; ) 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), the only one in Europe. The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country. The Basque language is spoken by 806,000 Basques in all territories. Of them, 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 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, th ...
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Navarre
Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. The capital city is Pamplona (). The present-day province makes up the majority of the territory of the medieval Kingdom of Navarre, a long-standing Pyrenean kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost part, Lower Navarre, located in the southwest corner of France. Navarre is in the transition zone between the green Cantabrian Coast and semi-arid interior areas and thus its landscapes vary widely across the region. Being in a transition zone also produces a highly variable climate, with summers that are a mix of cooler spells and heat waves, and winters that are mild for the latitude. Navarre is one of the historic Basque provinces: its Basque features are conspicuous in the north, but vi ...
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Biscayan Dialect
Biscayan, sometimes Bizkaian (, , locally ), 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 drawn up by linguist Koldo Zuazo, since it is not only spoken in Biscay but also extends slightly into the northern fringes of Alava and deeper in the western part of Gipuzkoa. The dialect's territory bears great similarity to that of the ''Caristii'' tribe, as described by Roman authors. While it is treated as stylish to write in Biscayan and the dialect is still spoken generally in about half of Biscay and some other municipalities, it suffers from the pressure of Spanish. Biscayan was used by Sabino Arana and his early Basque nationalist followers as one of the signs of Basqueness. Sociolinguistic features In the words of Georges Lacombe, because of the special features of this dialect, Euskera could well be divided into two groups of dialects: Bi ...
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Basque Alphabet
The Basque alphabet is a Latin alphabet used to write the Basque language. It consists of 27 letters. List of letters The letters of the Basque alphabet are the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet plus . The letter is officially not considered a separate letter, but a variant of . This is the whole list, EuskaltzaindiaRule no. 17 for the Standard Basque, ''Names of the letters in the Basque alphabet'' Rule passed on 25 November 1994. Retrieved 2010-10-22. plus their corresponding phonemes in IPA: All letters and digraphs represent unique phonemes. The main exception is if are preceded by ; most dialects palatalize the sound into , and even if that is not written. is silent in most regions but is pronounced in much of the Northeast, which is the main reason for its existence in the Basque alphabet. It doesn't even represent syllable breaks in the other dialects, although it can stop the aforementioned palatalization from taking place in some words, for exampl ...
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Basque Country (greater Region)
The Basque Country (; ; ) is the name given to the home of the Basque people.Larry Trask, Trask, R.L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Encompassing the Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France, the region is home to the Basque people (), their Basque language, language (), culture and traditions. The area is neither linguistically nor culturally homogeneous, and certain areas have a majority of people who do not consider themselves Basque, such as the south of Navarre. The concept is still highly controversial, and the Supreme Court of Navarre has upheld a denial of government funding to school books that include the Navarre community within the Basque Country area. Etymology The name in Basque ...
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Proto-Basque Language
Proto-Basque (; ; ) is a reconstructed ancient stage of the Basque language. It preceded another reconstructed stage, Common Basque, which is derived by comparing dialects of modern Basque. Common Basque is their reconstructed common ancestor. Proto-Basque is based on the comparison also of words that precede Common Basque, such as Latin words in Basque, and toponyms. Common Basque is dated to the 5th and 6th centuries, while Proto-Basque stage can be roughly dated to the last centuries BCE, before the Roman conquests in the Western Pyrenees. The foundation for the study of both stages was laid out by the Basque linguist Koldo Mitxelena. The topic was launched by him in the first edition of ''Fonética histórica vasca'' in 1961. Background The first linguist who scientifically approached the question of the historical changes that Basque had undergone over the centuries was Koldo Mitxelena. His work on Proto-Basque focused mainly on between the 5th century BCE and the 1st ce ...
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Basque As First Language(corrected)
Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous community), an autonomous region of Spain * Northern Basque Country, in the western part of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques of France * Southern Basque Country, both the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre Other uses * Basque (clothing) A basque is an item of women's clothing. The term, of French language, French origin, originally referred to types of bodice or jacket with long tails, and in later usage a long corset, characterized by a close, contoured fit and extending p ..., or old basque, an item of women's apparel * Basque (grape), a white wine grape See also * Basque cuisine, the cuisine of the Basque people * Basque music, the music of the Basque people * Basque conflict * List of people from the Basque Country * Port a ...
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Soule
Soule (; Basque language, Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; ) is a former viscounty and France, French Provinces of France, province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département in France, département''. It is divided into two cantons of the arrondissement (district) of Oloron-Sainte-Marie (Mauleon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus), and a part of the canton of Saint-Palais, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Saint Palais (arrondissement of Bayonne). Its provincial capital is Mauléon, which combined with Licharre in 1841 to form "Mauléon-Licharre", but today is often known as "Mauléon-Soule". Historically, Soule is the smallest province of the Basque Country (historical territory), Basque Country (785 km2; 303 sq. mi.). Its population has been decreasing (23,803 in 1901; 16,006 in 1990; 15,535 in 1999). Etymology The territory is named ''Xiberoa'' in Souletin dialect, Souletin Basque, ''Zuberoa'' in Basque language, standard Basque, ...
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Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre (; Gascon/Bearnese: ''Navarra Baisha''; ; ) is a traditional region of the present-day French '' département'' of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the northernmost ''region'' of the Kingdom of Navarre during the Middle Ages. After the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre (1512–24), this ''merindad'' was restored to the rule of the native king, Henry II. Its capitals were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais. In the extreme north there was the little sovereign Principality of Bidache, with an area of and a decreasing population of 44,450 (in 1901), 25,356 (in 1990). Although this denomination is not completely correct from the historical point of view, it is also known as '' Merindad de Ultrapuertos'' ("the regions beyond the mountain passes") by the southerners, and ''Deça-ports'' ("this side of the mountain passes") by the Gascon-speakers. Despite its lost administrative cohesion, the memory of its past heyday has left an imprint on its inhab ...
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Labourd
Labourd (; ; ; ) is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques '' département'' of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial component parts of the Basque Country by many, especially by the Basque nationalists. Labourd extends from the Pyrenees to the river Adour, along the Bay of Biscay. To the south are Gipuzkoa and Navarre in Spain, to the east is Lower Navarre, and to the north are the Landes. It has an area of almost and a population of over 200,000 (115,154 in 1901; 209,913 in 1990), making it the most populous of the three French Basque provinces. Over 25% of the inhabitants speak Basque (17% in the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz zone, 43% in the rest). Labourd has also long had a Gascon-speaking tradition, notably along the banks of the river Adour but also more diffusely throughout the whole viscounty (about 20% in Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz). The main town of Labourd ...
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Northeastern Iberian Script
The northeastern Iberian script, also known as Levantine Iberian or simply Iberian, was the primary means of written expression for the Iberian language. It has also been used to write Proto-Basque, as evidenced by the Hand of Irulegi. The Iberian language is also represented by the southeastern Iberian script and the Greco-Iberian alphabet. In understanding the relationship between the northeastern and southeastern Iberian scripts, some note that they are two distinct scripts with different values assigned to the same signs. However, they share a common origin, and the most widely accepted hypothesis is that the northeastern Iberian script was derived from the southeastern Iberian script. Some researchers have concluded that it is linked solely to the Phoenician alphabet, while others believe that the Greek alphabet also played a role. Typology and variants All the Paleohispanic scripts, with the exception of the Greco-Iberian alphabet, share a common distinctive typolog ...
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Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) 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 department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques at the northeast, with the province and autonomous community of Navarre at east, Biscay at west, Álava at southwest and the Bay of Biscay to its north. It is located at the easternmost extreme of the Cantabric Sea, in the Bay of Biscay. It has of coastline. With a total area of , Gipuzkoa is the smallest province of Spain. The province has 89 municipalities and a population of 720,592 inhabitants (2018), from which more than half live in the Donostia-San Sebastián metropolitan area. Apart from the capital, other important cities are Irun, Errenteria, Zarautz, Mondragón, Eibar, Hondarribia, Oñati, Tolosa, Beasain and Pasaia. Gipuzkoa is the province of the Basque Country in which the Basque language is the most ex ...
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Biscay
Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. Biscay is one of the most renowned and prosperous provinces of Spain, historically a major trading hub in the Atlantic Ocean since medieval times and, later on, one of the largest industrial and financial centers of the Iberian Peninsula. Since the extensive deindustrialization that took place throughout the 1970s, the economy has come to rely more on the Tertiary sector of the economy, services sector. Etymology It is accepted in linguistics (Koldo Mitxelena, etc.) that ''Bizkaia'' is a cognate of ''bizkar'' (cf. Biscarrosse in Aquitaine), with both place-name variants well attested in the whole Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country and out meaning 'low ridge' or 'prominence' (''Iheldo bizchaya'' attested in 1141 for the Mo ...
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