Bizkaiko Aldundiaren euskarazko katedra (Hiperbizkaieraren historiaz I)

Abstract

As part of a series of essays (some published and some being printed) aimed at analysing the sources of Hyperbiscayan and its subsequent success in literary circles, we examine here the influence on S. Arana and R. M. Azkue of the public contest held in Vizcaya for the vacant Chair in Basque Language (1888). We begin by describing the circumstances of the contest, and its importance for both young men, setting this within the cultural context and the contemporary situation of the Biscayan dialect and of Basque in general. We then go on to analyse the consequences of Arana's defeat. To this end we have collected previously unused data related to the history of the Chair in Basque Language: a recently published letter of Arana's, and also a manuscript of his kept in theArchives of the Diputación de Vizcaya.
   In our opinion, given that Arana saw the achievement of linguistic regulation as part of his political objectives, his failure to obtain the Chair was felt by him as a defeat in his political struggle. This would explain Arana's hostile attitude towards Azkue's proposals. From a linguistic point of view, Arana and Azkue were not so very different at this early point in their careers; Azkue's proposals concerning verbal morphology coincided perfectly with Arana's aim of linguistic purity. Although the disagreement between them, at least until 1900, takes concrete form in the linguistic controversy, its root appears rather to lie in extralinguistic questions -fundamentally in each one's attempt to gain for himself the power to give rules for the language.
   As far as Azkue is concerned, we show how his obtaining the Chair determined the path that his activities were to follow thereafter, and how the duties related to the post ended up softening his formerly extremist linguistic opinions.We conclude by presenting his first programme for his new position, which is clearly related to his Euskal Izkindea (Basque Grammar, 1891), the origin of Hyperbiscayan.