Location nouns in standard Basque

Abstract

The term "location noun" is a convenient designation for the type of nouns represented by aurre and atze. These two items, together with their synonyms aitzin, gibel and oste, can be viewed as prototypes: their behavior is typical of location nouns, but need not be shared by the whole class. In part one, this behavior is analyzed in some detail from the point of view of a learner of Basque. In part two, roughly two dozen other location nouns are studied and occurring deviations from prototypical behavior pointed out. As a whole, the article is meant to portray the author's views as to what should be taught in this domain as part of a course in Euskara Batua, and how to teach it to a certain type of audience. It also demonstrates that location nouns can be taught early in the course, since nothing more than a knowledge of the nominal declension needs to be presupposed.