Garaziko euskararen egitura geolinguistikoa

Abstract

The goal of this work is to measure the diatopic variation of the Basque spoken in the Garazi Valley. As such, we sought to analyse all the linguistic features that determine the geolinguistic position of this variety. As all the features do not have the same importance when it comes to classifying a variety into one dialect, we delimited the geographic span of each one, in order to see which area has the biggest influence on the Basque spoken in this valley. In addition, we tried to establish whether the features are archaisms or innovations, and in the latter case, if they are positive and systematic.

For this purpose, we worked with the base dialect of this valley, grounding our research on the variety spoken by the elderly people. The main empirical basis is that of field recordings conducted by the first author during the period 2019-2020.

We concluded that the Basque variety of Garazi is quite general: most of the positive and systematic innovations are also used in the Greater Eastern Basque Country, that is to say, in Eastern Upper Navarre and the Northern Basque Country. Many features are also used in the whole Northern Basque Country, sometimes with the exception of the South-West of Labourd and the Pyrenean valleys of Upper Navarre. Finally, there are some innovations that cover a narrower area. For example, some are only used in Garazi and a bordering valley.