Arabako euskara

Abstract

In 1958 Mitxelena published the lexicon that Nicolao Landuchio had compiled four centuries before (1562). By this, he established the existence of a now extinguished linguistic variety which he called "southern variety", as he considered that it was spoken in the south of the present-day Basque speaking area, most probably in the province of Araba.
   In following essays, K. Mitxelena developed and rounded up the reasons which made him reach the mentioned conclusion. His interesting and always solid observations, as well as the new documentation appeared in the latest years, are the main basis for our work. A careful analysis made us change considerably some of the hypotheses proposed by Prof. Mitxelena.
   First of all, we would like to point out that the Basque language of Araba does not seem to be a unique and homogeneous block at all. Three clearly distinct varieties can be distinguished within this area: western, central and eastern.
   It il also interesting to note that this southern variety shows many coincidences with Biscayan, as well as with the Gipuzkoan and Navarrese varieties spoken on the boundary with Araba. These coincidences are an absolute and radical proof against the supposed independence of Biscayan vs. the other Basque dialects.