Gipuzkoan (; ) is a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

spoken mainly in the central and eastern parts of the province of

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-Atlantiqu ...

in Basque Country and also in the northernmost part of

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. ...

. It is a central dialect of Basque according to the traditional dialectal classification of the language based on research carried out by Lucien Bonaparte 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 and the River Oiartzun. The strip of

from Leintz-Gatzaga to Elgoibar is part of the Biscayan (Western) dialect area, and the River Oiartzun flowing past

Errenteria Errenteria (, ) 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 (river), Oiartzun cuts its way through the ...

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 from Ancient Greek ('write'), and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other emic units. The study of graphemes ...

, 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 San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

). * The Goierri variant. * The Urola variant (from

Zarautz Zarautz (, ) 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, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

to Mutriku). * Navarrese Gipuzkoan ( Burunda, Echarri-Aranaz).

Historical role

Gipuzkoan is one of the four dialects known as the ''literary dialects'' of Basque ( Biscayan, Lapurdian, Souletin and Gipuzkoan). It was used in Basque literature 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 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 pa ...

from the 16th century to most of the 18th century.

Source of Standard Basque

Gipuzkoan

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

was used as the main source for Standard Basque, the standardised dialect of Basque that is used in schools and the media.

References