Vasconic Languages

The Vasconic languages (from Latin 'Basque'), also called Euskarian or Basque-Aquitanian, are a putative language family that includes Basque and the extinct Aquitanian language. The extinct Iberian language is sometimes tentatively included, although this remains controversial.

Classification

The consensus among scholars is that Aquitanian was a Paleo-European language genetically related to Basque, though there is debate over the exact nature of their relationship. Some linguists, like R. L. Trask, argue that Basque descends "more or less directly" from Aquitanian, while others, including Lyle Campbell, suggest that it may have been a close relative of Basque rather than its direct ancestor. According to scholar Koldo Ulibarri, evidence is so scarce that it is impossible to prove either theory.

The reconstructed stages of the Basque language are Common Basque (5th–6th centuries AD), the common language from which all historical Basque dialects diverged, and Proto-Basque (1st centuries BC), an earlier stage preceding contacts with Latin. Some scholars further divide Proto-Basque into sub-phases, such as Joseba Lakarra's subdivision between Pre-Proto-Basque and Old Proto-Basque.

According to linguist José Ignacio Hualde, since Aquitanian was spoken over a vast area (some names of Aquitanian origin have been found as far south as Soria in Castile), it likely featured several dialects. He suggests that Basque may have evolved from one of these dialects, though it remains unclear which Aquitanian names belong to Basque's direct ancestor and which come from a related sister dialect. Hualde refers to the reconstructed common ancestor of Proto-Basque and the other Aquitanian dialects as 'Proto-Basque-Aquitanian'. Conversely, Lyle Campbell contends that the differences between Aquitanian and Basque are significant enough that they may be sister languages, each representing a branch of an original proto-language.

The following trees present the concurring scenarios: Aquitanian as an old phase of Basque, one Aquitanian dialect as the ancestor of Basque, or Aquitanian as a sister language of Basque:

Proto-Basque as equivalent to Aquitanian (Trask)

* Proto-Basque (Aquitanian)
** Common Basque
*** Modern Basque dialects

Proto-Basque as an Aquitanian dialect (Hualde)

* Proto-Basque-Aquitanian
** Proto-Basque (one of the Aquitanian dialects)
*** Common Basque
**** Modern Basque dialects
** Other Aquitanian dialects (extinct)

Proto-Basque and Aquitanian as sister languages (Campbell)

* Proto-Basque-Aquitanian
** Proto-Basque
*** Common Basque
**** Modern Basque dialects
** Aquitanian language (extinct)

Relationship with other languages

Iberian

Writing in the 1st century AD, Strabo mentions that "the Aquitanians differ from the Gallic nation in their bodily build and in their language, being more similar to the Iberians." However, the idea that Basque and Iberian are related lost favour in the 20th century, following key decipherments of Iberian scripts by Manual Gómez Moreno in 1949 and critical re-examinations of earlier work. Although some recent researchers, such as Eduardo Orduña and Joan Ferrer i Jané, have revisited the connection in the early 21st century (focusing primarily on numerals and some lexical items), the theory that Basque and Iberian are genetically related remains controversial among linguists.

According to Mikel Martínez Areta, the Iberian inscriptions potentially linked to Basque are extremely limited and questionable. Some of the similarities might be explained by borrowings or areal influence. Moreover, it is unclear whether Iberian was a unified language across the entire eastern Iberian Peninsula or restricted to a limited area (perhaps that of the Contestani). In regions closer to the Basque-speaking area, Iberian inscriptions may simply indicate that the language was used as a lingua franca, as proposed by Javier de Hoz.

Other language families

Various attempts have been made to tie Basque to other languages or language families, such as Indo-European, Minoan, Pictish, or Caucasian. None of these theories have been able to provide convincing data, and they are rejected by most mainstream linguists.

Linguist Theo Vennemann (2003) has also proposed a Vasconic substratum hypothesis, suggesting that the ancestors of the Basque language spread across Europe at the end of the Last Glacial Period, when Cro-Magnon populations entered the continent and left traces in modern European languages. However, like other theories linking Basque to languages around the world, this hypothesis is widely rejected by historical linguists.

Blasco Ferrer (2016) has interpreted several Sardinian toponyms as aligning with the roots that Joseba Lakarra identifies as 'Pre-Proto-Basque-Aquitanian'. However, critics contend that the meanings attributed to these hypothetical paleo-Sardinian morphemes are based solely on toponymic evidence, and that the time depth separating Basque and paleo-Sardinian would be too great to allow for meaningful comparison. Recent paleogenetic research shows that the spread of agriculture from Anatolia about 10,000 years ago involved significant human genetic replacement. Although it is possible that both Paleo-Sardinian and Basque derive from the languages of these early European farmers, Hualde argues that it is unlikely the ancestral language remained unchanged over such a long period.

According to Hualde, standard reconstruction methods allow linguists to trace pre-Proto-Basque-Aquitanian only a short distance back in time. Without significant new evidence, it is unlikely that scholars will ever be able to convincingly demonstrate a close genetic relationship between Basque-Aquitanian and any other language.

See also

* Paleohispanic languages
* Paleohispanic scripts
* Prehistoric Iberia
* Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
* Proto-language
* Vasconic substrate hypothesis

References

Bibliography

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{{Eurasian languages

Pre-Indo-European languages
Basque language
Proposed language families