Proto-Basque

The proto-Basque is the hypothetical rebuilding of the direct predecessor of the language Basque, such as it could have been roughly spoken between the O C and the beginning about our era, in the sectors Cantabric and circumpyrénéen. It is supposed to correspond in a state of the language former to the influence of the Latin and the written texts.

Filiation

As one does not know up to now other languages close to the Basque in Europe, the assumptions on the proto-Basque develop by means of the linguistic technique of the internal rebuilding. In this field, the most important work is due to the linguists Luis Michelena ( Phonétique Basque history ), Henri Gavel, Alfonso Irigoyen etc, and more recently Joseba Lakarra, Joaquín Gorrochategui and Ricardo Gómez. ). Michelena and Lakarra refers in states different from the proto-Basque: the study of Michelena relates to the language former on arrival of the Romans, and that of Lakarra, the language former on arrival of the Celtes. For the rebuilding of the etymologies original proto-Basque all the linguists are based on:

the study of the Aquitanian inscriptions
the onomastics of the surface bascophone current and former: toponymy, anthroponymy, hydronymy, etc
the furnished information by the Basque dialects: labourdin, biscaïen, alavais, guipuscoan, high-Navarrese, low-Navarrese, souletin and roncalais
the antiquated texts
the Basque literature

Morphosyntaxe

An order ND (Name-Conclusive), NA (Name-Adjective), a weak differentiation between the categories of the Name and the Adjectival (as in the current Basque), and the absence of grammatical Genre would have characterized the linguistic type more recent proto-Basque.

Other characteristics:

mark of plural *ag ( - ak out of modern Basque) of the nouns and adjectives, but there were more pluralisateurs: **tza (H) has (MOD. - tza ), etc
substantive always given placed after with the determinant: for example, the Basque artzain (shepherd of ewe) comes from *ard (I) - zani , literally ewe-guard ; the Basque gurtesi (rack of the carriage) comes from *gurd (I) - (H) esi , literally carriage-rack .
absence of article actualisator: the modern article placed after with the name - has , comes from the conclusive proto-Basque *har , and he is explained by an influence of the Romance Langues, therefore of the high-medieval time.

Sound changes

Among the regular and systematic changes in the evolution of the proto-Basque until will euskara medieval, one note:

First phase: at one posterior time with Aquitanian testimonys, there was assimilation of nasal (b-n > mn), namely, in the passage of /b/ with /m/ caused by nasal /n/. For example: *bene > *mene , *bi (H) aregun > *bi (H) arebun > biharamun , *bini > *mini , *lurben > lurmen .
Second phase: there was lenition , with like consequence the loss of the distinctive characteristic of fortis-lenis , consistent in:

* the fall of the intervocalic /n/ lenis , which will be replaced by a /h/ aspiration, with nasalisation of the contiguous vowels (preceding and following) and of the diphthongs. Examples: *mene > *mêhê , *mini > *mîhî , *onoL > *ôhôl , *organa > *orgâhâ , *suni > *sûhî

* the transformation of /-N-/ fortis into /n/ and/ñ/, of /-L-/ fortis in /l/, and of /-l-/ lenis in /r/.

Vocabulary

Examples of proto-Basque terms, drawn from the Fonética histórica vasca from Shine Michelena:

Examples of reduplicate monosyllabic terms on the left in the pre-proto-Basque, according to Joseba A. Lakarra:

See too

External bonds

Joseba Lakarra (1998), Hizkuntzalaritza konparatua eta aitzineuskararen erroa, Uztaro 25,47-110
Joseba Lakarra (1999), Ná-Of-Ná, Uztaro 31,15-84
Joseba A. Lakarra (2006), " Protovasco, munda there otros: Reconstrucción interned there tipología holística diacrónica" , in " Oihenart. Cuadernos de Lengua there Literatura" , I Days of Linguistics Basque-Novel, Eusko Ikaskuntza, Saint-Sebastien
Ricardo Gómez, " Of Re etymologica: vasc. - (R) antz `hacia' " , UPV-EHU/“Julio Urkixo” Euskal Filologia Mintegia
Page on the proto-Basque

Random links: