Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
In the traditional view, Basque words were stressed on their second syllable at the stage before ... more In the traditional view, Basque words were stressed on their second syllable at the stage before current dialectal diversification (Mitxelena 1977). This view was questioned in Hualde (1993a), where it was proposed, instead, that, at the last common stage, most Basque words were unaccented, like in modern Western (Bizkaian) varieties. Although a considerable amount of consensus has now been reached regarding the diachronic connections among modern accentual systems, a number of issues have remained open, which I address in this paper. These include the following topics: (1) Whether the tonal contrast of Goizueta (Western Navarrese) is a dialectal development or should instead be reconstructed for Old Common Basque, (2) The exact historical link between aspiration and stress in Northeastern varieties and its consequences for determining the historical connection between the reconstructed Eastern and Western-Central systems, and (3) The origin of marked accent in a protosystem without...
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
In this chapter we offer an overview of phenomena at the phoneticsphonology interface in the Roma... more In this chapter we offer an overview of phenomena at the phoneticsphonology interface in the Romance languages. Processes affecting consonants and vowels are studied separately. Parallels with historical sound changes in the same or in another language are mentioned when relevant.
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo: International journal of basque linguistics and philology, Jan 29, 1992
'October' 'radio' (only borrowings) 'woman', 'backwards' 'bacon' 'a little' 'big dog' b. [r] Inte... more 'October' 'radio' (only borrowings) 'woman', 'backwards' 'bacon' 'a little' 'big dog' b. [r] Intervocalic: so[r] ion 'happiness' 'short man' 'stupid man' 'bragging man' 'stupid man' 'all men' 'fat man' giso[n'] [ts]iker gisoln] [Y]akitun giso[tfl [x]ustu giso[t)] [g]orri giso[n] andi giso[n] 'small man' 'learned man' 'just man' 'red man' 'big man' 'man' 'milk' 'court, tribunal' '1 know by heart' (lit. 'with the head') 'strong breath' 'long breath' 'donkey' 'effort' 'to think with t,he head' 'bad breath' 'big breath' 'one passes' '(I) haven't thought' '(1) don't know if it has passed' .'take one' '(1) haven't taken away' 'one with the flute' '(I) have killed the pig' 'not even one' '1 have done the work' 'well, I 'don't know' 'I have one' '1 have done every thing' 'sip it all' 'one later' 'I don't want' 'sip more' 'I (erg) yes' 'that (erg) too' 'only one' 'I have' 'that one knows' '1 (erg) later' 'that one (erg) more' '(we) are alone' 'one is missing' '1 have put it with threads' 'I don't know ifthere is a, fault' '1 (erg) with thread' 'that .missing,' 'alone (is)~asier' one 'with 'you' (I) put it in sacks' "sip ciqer' 'I (erg) :what' 'that 'has p.ut it in' 'one uglier' 'I don't handle' 'I (erg) the table' 'the~en uglier' 'I put it mixed' 'I don't know who he is' '1 myself (erg)' '(I) am alone' 'that (erg) where (adl)' 'one is too much' '1 made it flat' ,I (erg) earlier' 'that (erg) t06 much' 'only four' 'I heard it on the radio' 'father' 'grease' 'teacher' 'enough' Examples from natural recorded conversations illustrating the application of the process across word boundaries are given in (77):. (77) otza iten dau~o.tzaiten.day 'it is cold' ask6 in daure~as.k6in.day.re 'they have done a lot'. egune in bano lelau~e.gu.nein.ba.no.le.lay 'before the day breaking' ' anjela bere interina ibil san~an. je.la.be.re!n.te.ri.na!bi.l.san 'Angela also worked as'a maid' auskera in daiten~a,Y.s.ke.rain.dalten 'so that they speak Basque' bedratzi urte in nendusen~be.dra.tziyr.teinen.du.sen 'I spent twenty years' enterru ixen san~en.te.rruixen.sari 'it was the burial' '1 cannot say' a~y mote' ei egun-7-se.ie.gun 'six-days'-au in san-7 a.,Y.in.san 'this was done' lau illebete~la.yi.lla.be.te
STUDY OF THE BASQUE DIALECT OF GETXO (4) Lat. anser > Lat. pulsatu + kada > Sp. alzar(se) > Sp. d... more STUDY OF THE BASQUE DIALECT OF GETXO (4) Lat. anser > Lat. pulsatu + kada > Sp. alzar(se) > Sp. danza > Sp. ye(l)so> Sp. cansar > Sp. calza + B. erdi 'half' > Sp. confianza > Sp. esperanza > Sp. importancia > Sp. conveniencia > Sp. pensar > Sp. provincia> Sp. presidencia > Sp. garbanzo> Sp. pienso > Sp. cruce> 'goose' 'push' 'to get up' 'dance' 'gypsum' 'to tire' 'stocking' 'confidence' 'hope' 'importance' , , convemence 'to think' 'ptovince' 'presidency' 'chick pea' 'fodder' 'crossways' 'jail' 'effort' 'bag' 'sock' 'sauce' In more recent borrowings, however, the rule has ceased to apply: (5) 14 JOSE IGNACIO HUALDE & XABIER BILBAO (25) /-st! bost. 'five' I-nts/ buskentz 'blood-sausage' sembest 'how many' antz ' resemblance' daust. 'he has it to me' I-ltsl baltz 'black' I-Ftl batt 'last night' giltz 'key' dakart 'I bring' I-Ftsl burukortz 'head pin' 'milk' 'court, tribunal' 'I know by heart' (lit. 'with the head') 'strong breath' 'long breath' 'donkey' 'effort' 'to think with the head' 'bad breath' 'big breath' 'one passes' '(I) haven't thought' '(I) don't know if it has passed' 'take one" '(I) haven't taken away' 'one with the flute' '(I) have killed the pig' 'only one' 'eat one' 'I don't sew' 'I don't know if it will fall' 'I (erg) the jacket' 'that sew' 'only eating' 'the man has known' 'fill with water' 'he's coming with the horse' 'strong breath' 'father' 'grease' 'teacher' 'enough' Examples from natural recorded conversations illustrating the application of the process across word boundaries are given in (77): (77) otza iten dau ~ o.tzaiten.day 'it is cold' ask6 in daure 4 as.k6in.day.re 'they have done a lot' egune in bano Wau ~ e.gu.nein.ba.no.le.lay 'before the day breaking' anjela bere interina ibil san ~ an.je.la.be.rein.te.ri.naibi.l.san 'Angela also worked as a maid' auskera in daiten ~ ays.ke.rain.daiten 'so that they speak Basque' bedratzi urte in nendusen ~ be.dra.tziyr.teinen.du.sen 'I spent twenty years' enterru ixen san ~ en.te.rruixen.san 'it was the burial'
My research explores the predicate-argument structure of unergatives (cough, dream, float, run, w... more My research explores the predicate-argument structure of unergatives (cough, dream, float, run, work...) and questions their ontological status as a primitive type of intransitive verb (contra the Unaccusative Hypothesis: Perlmutter 1978; Burzio 1986) or transitive verb (contra Hale and Keyser 2003). For instance, unergatives are transitive in the Basque language, as object agreement and light verb constructions show, among other morphosyntactic evidence. The predictions arising from an ontological commitment are falsifiable in view of the typological classification of languages. If we consider unergatives intransitive, we eliminate split-intransitive languages like Basque. On the other hand, considering unergatives transitive eliminates accusative and ergative languages like English or Dyrbal, where unergatives behave as intransitive verbs. Hence, unergatives are transitive or intransitive on a language particular basis. This prevents an ontological commitment but permits a more ar...
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo", 2021
This paper is an attempt to present the state of the art in Basque historical phonology. The acco... more This paper is an attempt to present the state of the art in Basque historical phonology. The accomplishments and limitations of different methodologies are evaluated. These methodologies include the application of the comparative method to Basque dialects, the analysis of old borrowings in Michelena’s work, internal reconstruction, and Lakarra’s canonical root hypothesis. I also discuss the possibilities afforded by internal reconstruction and root theory for discovering genetic relationships between Basque and other languages, focusing on recent proposals.
Lan honetan, Azpeitiko hizkeraren azentuaren ezaugarri akustikoak aztertzen ditugu. Singular/plur... more Lan honetan, Azpeitiko hizkeraren azentuaren ezaugarri akustikoak aztertzen ditugu. Singular/plural hitz pareak erabili ditugu bokal azentudunen eta azentugabeen arteko diferentzia akustikoak miatzeko. Emaitzek erakusten dute tonuak eta intentsitateak azentu-gunea adierazten dutela. Bereziki, aztertu dugun testuinguruan, silaba azentu-dunek tonu gorakada erakusten dute. Iraupena, alderantziz, ez da erabiltzen azentuaren ezaugarri esanguratsu bezala. Emaitza hauek beste euskal hizkera batzuen datuekin konparatzen ditugu eta iraupenaren azentuzko erabilerak bokalen galera gertakarietan izan dezakeen eragina kontsideratzen dugu.
Clitic elements are prosodically attached to another phonological word. As such, they do not carr... more Clitic elements are prosodically attached to another phonological word. As such, they do not carry their own stress. In general, Spanish non-prepositional object pronouns (e.g. me/te/le/lo/ se) meet the definition of clitic, whether preposed (proclitic) or postposed (enclitic) to the verb. Nevertheless, in several Romance varieties, including some Spanish varieties, the stress may surface on the clitic in verb+clitic(s) groups. We refer to this phenomenon as Enclitic Stress Shift (ESS). In this paper, we report on the perception of ESS by Spanish speakers from Argentina and Spain and explore the acoustic dimensions that may affect this perception. The discussion includes comparisons with other Romance languages and implications for sound change, such as the changes in stress patterns in the development of future and conditional tenses.
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo", 2019
Lan honetan, gaztelaniak eta beste hizkuntza ibero-erromanikoek euskaratik hartu omen dituzten ma... more Lan honetan, gaztelaniak eta beste hizkuntza ibero-erromanikoek euskaratik hartu omen dituzten mailegu zaharren kronologia aztertzen dut. Mailegu hauen datazioa errazagoa edo seguruagoa da soinu aldakuntzen ondorioak erakusten dituztenean eta soinu aldakuntza horiek datatu ditzakegunean. Hemen Erdi Aroko Miecha praenomen-az dihardut. Antza denez, hitz honen osagaiak gazt. mi eta eusk. aita dira. Aita > -echa bilakaera aztertzen dut gaztelaniaren fonologia diakronikoaz dakiguna kontuan hartuz. Neurri batean maileguen datazioa erabili dezakegu bi hizkuntzen arteko harremana noiz hasi zen jakiteko ere.
The distribution of aspiration in Basque — with ‘aspiration’ referring to both the occurrence of ... more The distribution of aspiration in Basque — with ‘aspiration’ referring to both the occurrence of [h] and of aspirated stops — shows some puzzling aspects. In some words, aspiration is ancient, in the sense that it must be assumed for the earliest reconstructable stage. In some other instances, however, it has arisen seemingly ex nihilo, as can be observed in borrowings from Latin and Romance, e.g. Latin/Romance īra > Basque hira ‘ire’, Romance taula > Basque thaula ‘board’. Most surprisingly, in some words aspiration has developed after a sonorant consonant, e.g. Romance solatz > Basque solhas ‘conversation’. Aspiration may also continue intervocalic /n/, e.g. Latin anāte > Basque ahate ‘duck’. Another unusual development is the phonologization of the contrast between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops triggered by a shift of the stress in some words without affecting the properties of consonants. Finally, an interdialectal alternation /k-/ ~ /g-/ ~ /h-/ ~ Ø in de...
This paper approaches Romance intonation from a diachronic point of view. The position that is ad... more This paper approaches Romance intonation from a diachronic point of view. The position that is adopted is that this is an area open to investigation. Comparative techniques can be fruitfully employed for investigating the evolution and diversification of the intonational patterns of the Romance languages. The focus of the paper is on Occitan. This is an important bridge language whose study may elucidate how French diverged prosodically from the systems found in Ibero and Italo-Romance. It is argued that, since Occitan was retained contrasts in the position of wordaccent (lexical stress), any prosodic features that French shares with Occitan are logically independent from the lack of contrastive accent in French.
In the study of the historical evolution of the sound system of Basque, 1 little use has been mad... more In the study of the historical evolution of the sound system of Basque, 1 little use has been made of the comparative method. Instead, other procedures, such as the study of the phonetic shape of Latin and Romance borrowings into Basque at different periods, have been favored. The reason for the disuse of the comparative method is that there are very few systematic phonological correspondences between any two Basque dialects. As Martinet (1955; 372) points out, the traditional use of the comparative method to Basque dialects would result in a reconstructed proto-system of unreasonable complexity. In the case of initial stops, to give an example, very often we find variants of the same word with voiced and voiceless sounds. E.g.: pake, bakeapeace"; torre, dowe "tower"; k a t~, gatu "cat". Michelena (1976; 239) remarks that although, generally, for a given word there is only one pronunciation (either with avoiced or with avoiceless initial stop) in a given geographic point, there is no regularity in the geographic distribution of the variants. There are only greater or lesser frequencies in the distribution of initial voiced and voiceless stops. For this complex situation Martinet (1955; 372) offers as explanations the fact that the Basque linguistic community has been largely bilingual for many centuries and that exchanges among dialects must have been very frequent. The resultant pictures is such that it is very difficult to distinguish what is a result of local direct evolution from the Proto-language and that which has been borrowed. The situation of the fricatives is exceptional in that definite correspondences among dialects are much easier to establish in this area. In this paper 1 will make extensive use of the comparative method to sketch the evolution of Proto-Basque *y in several Basque dialects. As Michelena (1976; 168) notes, the varying dialectal results of the evolution of *y have given rise to one of the most important differences in pronunciation among Basque dialects. This difference, neverthelless, is usually not reflected in the orthography. For this reason, and to avoid an excesive use of brackets, here 1 will not make use of Basque orthography. Al1 Basque examples cited are to be given a phonetic value, as if they were written within brackets.
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2000
Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Sessi... more Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Aspect (2000)
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 1995
Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Sessi... more Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Historical Issues in Sociolinguistics/Social Issues in Historical Linguistics (1995)
Romance languages show hiatus and diphthongal realisations of inherited iV sequences of rising so... more Romance languages show hiatus and diphthongal realisations of inherited iV sequences of rising sonority (e.g. ia). We study five Romance varieties with different degrees of contrast between the two realisation types: Romanian, with a diphthong–hiatus contrast, Spanish, with a weaker contrast, French, with no contrast (all diphthongs), and European and Brazilian Portuguese, with no contrast (all hiatus). We show that the different degrees of synchronic contrast are related to three independent factors: (i) a general articulatory tendency for [iV] hiatus to resolve to diphthongs, due to the relative stability of diphthongal articulations; (ii) a structural ‘attractor’ effect of pre-existing [jV] diphthongs in a language, from different historical sources; and (iii) prosodic lengthening effects which inhibit the shift from hiatus to diphthong, supported by phonetic studies of durational patterns across the five languages.
The standardization process of the Basque language presents some unusual characteristics. Althoug... more The standardization process of the Basque language presents some unusual characteristics. Although some of the first authors to publish in Basque in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries explicitly remarked on the difficulties brought about by dialectal diversity, very little progress in the standardization of the language was made until the second half of the twentieth century. Even the impact of the rise of Basque nationalism at the end of the nineteenth century was not entirely positive, since the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party favored the development of a different written variety for each of the Basque provinces. The extreme puristic and neologizing tendency of some writers at the time was also a source of obstacles on the path towards standardization. A Basque language academy was founded in 1918 with the unification of the written language as one of its main goals, but it made essentially no progress until the linguist Luis Michelena (Mitxelena) presented a report ...
allowing me to record my conversations with them, and the rest of my family, for being such great... more allowing me to record my conversations with them, and the rest of my family, for being such great informants and for checking my native intuitions. Rufo Atxurra deserves my most sincere gratitude and utter respect, for his attention, his interest,-and his historic knowledge of the evolution of the Lekeitio dialect over the last 100 years. Alfredo Arnaiz ("Komandante Arnaiz") printed the figures illustrating the Fo contours of the sentences in the section on intonation, in chapter 2. I also want to thank the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government for financial support during most of the time it took to prepare this book.
Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 2010
Goizueta is a small town in northwestern Navarre, Spain, bordering Gipuzkoa. According to the mos... more Goizueta is a small town in northwestern Navarre, Spain, bordering Gipuzkoa. According to the most recent official figures, it has slightly over 800 inhabitants, about 95% of whom speak Basque (2001, Instituto de Estadística de Navarra). All inhabitants (except for young children) also speak Spanish. In the school system standard Basque and, to a lesser extent, Spanish are used. Older speakers (those born before 1970 or so) were educated exclusively in Spanish. The local Basque dialect, however, enjoys very high prestige among its speakers, and this is the linguistic variety that is most commonly used in everyday interaction within the town.
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
In the traditional view, Basque words were stressed on their second syllable at the stage before ... more In the traditional view, Basque words were stressed on their second syllable at the stage before current dialectal diversification (Mitxelena 1977). This view was questioned in Hualde (1993a), where it was proposed, instead, that, at the last common stage, most Basque words were unaccented, like in modern Western (Bizkaian) varieties. Although a considerable amount of consensus has now been reached regarding the diachronic connections among modern accentual systems, a number of issues have remained open, which I address in this paper. These include the following topics: (1) Whether the tonal contrast of Goizueta (Western Navarrese) is a dialectal development or should instead be reconstructed for Old Common Basque, (2) The exact historical link between aspiration and stress in Northeastern varieties and its consequences for determining the historical connection between the reconstructed Eastern and Western-Central systems, and (3) The origin of marked accent in a protosystem without...
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
In this chapter we offer an overview of phenomena at the phoneticsphonology interface in the Roma... more In this chapter we offer an overview of phenomena at the phoneticsphonology interface in the Romance languages. Processes affecting consonants and vowels are studied separately. Parallels with historical sound changes in the same or in another language are mentioned when relevant.
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo: International journal of basque linguistics and philology, Jan 29, 1992
'October' 'radio' (only borrowings) 'woman', 'backwards' 'bacon' 'a little' 'big dog' b. [r] Inte... more 'October' 'radio' (only borrowings) 'woman', 'backwards' 'bacon' 'a little' 'big dog' b. [r] Intervocalic: so[r] ion 'happiness' 'short man' 'stupid man' 'bragging man' 'stupid man' 'all men' 'fat man' giso[n'] [ts]iker gisoln] [Y]akitun giso[tfl [x]ustu giso[t)] [g]orri giso[n] andi giso[n] 'small man' 'learned man' 'just man' 'red man' 'big man' 'man' 'milk' 'court, tribunal' '1 know by heart' (lit. 'with the head') 'strong breath' 'long breath' 'donkey' 'effort' 'to think with t,he head' 'bad breath' 'big breath' 'one passes' '(I) haven't thought' '(1) don't know if it has passed' .'take one' '(1) haven't taken away' 'one with the flute' '(I) have killed the pig' 'not even one' '1 have done the work' 'well, I 'don't know' 'I have one' '1 have done every thing' 'sip it all' 'one later' 'I don't want' 'sip more' 'I (erg) yes' 'that (erg) too' 'only one' 'I have' 'that one knows' '1 (erg) later' 'that one (erg) more' '(we) are alone' 'one is missing' '1 have put it with threads' 'I don't know ifthere is a, fault' '1 (erg) with thread' 'that .missing,' 'alone (is)~asier' one 'with 'you' (I) put it in sacks' "sip ciqer' 'I (erg) :what' 'that 'has p.ut it in' 'one uglier' 'I don't handle' 'I (erg) the table' 'the~en uglier' 'I put it mixed' 'I don't know who he is' '1 myself (erg)' '(I) am alone' 'that (erg) where (adl)' 'one is too much' '1 made it flat' ,I (erg) earlier' 'that (erg) t06 much' 'only four' 'I heard it on the radio' 'father' 'grease' 'teacher' 'enough' Examples from natural recorded conversations illustrating the application of the process across word boundaries are given in (77):. (77) otza iten dau~o.tzaiten.day 'it is cold' ask6 in daure~as.k6in.day.re 'they have done a lot'. egune in bano lelau~e.gu.nein.ba.no.le.lay 'before the day breaking' ' anjela bere interina ibil san~an. je.la.be.re!n.te.ri.na!bi.l.san 'Angela also worked as'a maid' auskera in daiten~a,Y.s.ke.rain.dalten 'so that they speak Basque' bedratzi urte in nendusen~be.dra.tziyr.teinen.du.sen 'I spent twenty years' enterru ixen san~en.te.rruixen.sari 'it was the burial' '1 cannot say' a~y mote' ei egun-7-se.ie.gun 'six-days'-au in san-7 a.,Y.in.san 'this was done' lau illebete~la.yi.lla.be.te
STUDY OF THE BASQUE DIALECT OF GETXO (4) Lat. anser > Lat. pulsatu + kada > Sp. alzar(se) > Sp. d... more STUDY OF THE BASQUE DIALECT OF GETXO (4) Lat. anser > Lat. pulsatu + kada > Sp. alzar(se) > Sp. danza > Sp. ye(l)so> Sp. cansar > Sp. calza + B. erdi 'half' > Sp. confianza > Sp. esperanza > Sp. importancia > Sp. conveniencia > Sp. pensar > Sp. provincia> Sp. presidencia > Sp. garbanzo> Sp. pienso > Sp. cruce> 'goose' 'push' 'to get up' 'dance' 'gypsum' 'to tire' 'stocking' 'confidence' 'hope' 'importance' , , convemence 'to think' 'ptovince' 'presidency' 'chick pea' 'fodder' 'crossways' 'jail' 'effort' 'bag' 'sock' 'sauce' In more recent borrowings, however, the rule has ceased to apply: (5) 14 JOSE IGNACIO HUALDE & XABIER BILBAO (25) /-st! bost. 'five' I-nts/ buskentz 'blood-sausage' sembest 'how many' antz ' resemblance' daust. 'he has it to me' I-ltsl baltz 'black' I-Ftl batt 'last night' giltz 'key' dakart 'I bring' I-Ftsl burukortz 'head pin' 'milk' 'court, tribunal' 'I know by heart' (lit. 'with the head') 'strong breath' 'long breath' 'donkey' 'effort' 'to think with the head' 'bad breath' 'big breath' 'one passes' '(I) haven't thought' '(I) don't know if it has passed' 'take one" '(I) haven't taken away' 'one with the flute' '(I) have killed the pig' 'only one' 'eat one' 'I don't sew' 'I don't know if it will fall' 'I (erg) the jacket' 'that sew' 'only eating' 'the man has known' 'fill with water' 'he's coming with the horse' 'strong breath' 'father' 'grease' 'teacher' 'enough' Examples from natural recorded conversations illustrating the application of the process across word boundaries are given in (77): (77) otza iten dau ~ o.tzaiten.day 'it is cold' ask6 in daure 4 as.k6in.day.re 'they have done a lot' egune in bano Wau ~ e.gu.nein.ba.no.le.lay 'before the day breaking' anjela bere interina ibil san ~ an.je.la.be.rein.te.ri.naibi.l.san 'Angela also worked as a maid' auskera in daiten ~ ays.ke.rain.daiten 'so that they speak Basque' bedratzi urte in nendusen ~ be.dra.tziyr.teinen.du.sen 'I spent twenty years' enterru ixen san ~ en.te.rruixen.san 'it was the burial'
My research explores the predicate-argument structure of unergatives (cough, dream, float, run, w... more My research explores the predicate-argument structure of unergatives (cough, dream, float, run, work...) and questions their ontological status as a primitive type of intransitive verb (contra the Unaccusative Hypothesis: Perlmutter 1978; Burzio 1986) or transitive verb (contra Hale and Keyser 2003). For instance, unergatives are transitive in the Basque language, as object agreement and light verb constructions show, among other morphosyntactic evidence. The predictions arising from an ontological commitment are falsifiable in view of the typological classification of languages. If we consider unergatives intransitive, we eliminate split-intransitive languages like Basque. On the other hand, considering unergatives transitive eliminates accusative and ergative languages like English or Dyrbal, where unergatives behave as intransitive verbs. Hence, unergatives are transitive or intransitive on a language particular basis. This prevents an ontological commitment but permits a more ar...
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo", 2021
This paper is an attempt to present the state of the art in Basque historical phonology. The acco... more This paper is an attempt to present the state of the art in Basque historical phonology. The accomplishments and limitations of different methodologies are evaluated. These methodologies include the application of the comparative method to Basque dialects, the analysis of old borrowings in Michelena’s work, internal reconstruction, and Lakarra’s canonical root hypothesis. I also discuss the possibilities afforded by internal reconstruction and root theory for discovering genetic relationships between Basque and other languages, focusing on recent proposals.
Lan honetan, Azpeitiko hizkeraren azentuaren ezaugarri akustikoak aztertzen ditugu. Singular/plur... more Lan honetan, Azpeitiko hizkeraren azentuaren ezaugarri akustikoak aztertzen ditugu. Singular/plural hitz pareak erabili ditugu bokal azentudunen eta azentugabeen arteko diferentzia akustikoak miatzeko. Emaitzek erakusten dute tonuak eta intentsitateak azentu-gunea adierazten dutela. Bereziki, aztertu dugun testuinguruan, silaba azentu-dunek tonu gorakada erakusten dute. Iraupena, alderantziz, ez da erabiltzen azentuaren ezaugarri esanguratsu bezala. Emaitza hauek beste euskal hizkera batzuen datuekin konparatzen ditugu eta iraupenaren azentuzko erabilerak bokalen galera gertakarietan izan dezakeen eragina kontsideratzen dugu.
Clitic elements are prosodically attached to another phonological word. As such, they do not carr... more Clitic elements are prosodically attached to another phonological word. As such, they do not carry their own stress. In general, Spanish non-prepositional object pronouns (e.g. me/te/le/lo/ se) meet the definition of clitic, whether preposed (proclitic) or postposed (enclitic) to the verb. Nevertheless, in several Romance varieties, including some Spanish varieties, the stress may surface on the clitic in verb+clitic(s) groups. We refer to this phenomenon as Enclitic Stress Shift (ESS). In this paper, we report on the perception of ESS by Spanish speakers from Argentina and Spain and explore the acoustic dimensions that may affect this perception. The discussion includes comparisons with other Romance languages and implications for sound change, such as the changes in stress patterns in the development of future and conditional tenses.
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo", 2019
Lan honetan, gaztelaniak eta beste hizkuntza ibero-erromanikoek euskaratik hartu omen dituzten ma... more Lan honetan, gaztelaniak eta beste hizkuntza ibero-erromanikoek euskaratik hartu omen dituzten mailegu zaharren kronologia aztertzen dut. Mailegu hauen datazioa errazagoa edo seguruagoa da soinu aldakuntzen ondorioak erakusten dituztenean eta soinu aldakuntza horiek datatu ditzakegunean. Hemen Erdi Aroko Miecha praenomen-az dihardut. Antza denez, hitz honen osagaiak gazt. mi eta eusk. aita dira. Aita > -echa bilakaera aztertzen dut gaztelaniaren fonologia diakronikoaz dakiguna kontuan hartuz. Neurri batean maileguen datazioa erabili dezakegu bi hizkuntzen arteko harremana noiz hasi zen jakiteko ere.
The distribution of aspiration in Basque — with ‘aspiration’ referring to both the occurrence of ... more The distribution of aspiration in Basque — with ‘aspiration’ referring to both the occurrence of [h] and of aspirated stops — shows some puzzling aspects. In some words, aspiration is ancient, in the sense that it must be assumed for the earliest reconstructable stage. In some other instances, however, it has arisen seemingly ex nihilo, as can be observed in borrowings from Latin and Romance, e.g. Latin/Romance īra > Basque hira ‘ire’, Romance taula > Basque thaula ‘board’. Most surprisingly, in some words aspiration has developed after a sonorant consonant, e.g. Romance solatz > Basque solhas ‘conversation’. Aspiration may also continue intervocalic /n/, e.g. Latin anāte > Basque ahate ‘duck’. Another unusual development is the phonologization of the contrast between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops triggered by a shift of the stress in some words without affecting the properties of consonants. Finally, an interdialectal alternation /k-/ ~ /g-/ ~ /h-/ ~ Ø in de...
This paper approaches Romance intonation from a diachronic point of view. The position that is ad... more This paper approaches Romance intonation from a diachronic point of view. The position that is adopted is that this is an area open to investigation. Comparative techniques can be fruitfully employed for investigating the evolution and diversification of the intonational patterns of the Romance languages. The focus of the paper is on Occitan. This is an important bridge language whose study may elucidate how French diverged prosodically from the systems found in Ibero and Italo-Romance. It is argued that, since Occitan was retained contrasts in the position of wordaccent (lexical stress), any prosodic features that French shares with Occitan are logically independent from the lack of contrastive accent in French.
In the study of the historical evolution of the sound system of Basque, 1 little use has been mad... more In the study of the historical evolution of the sound system of Basque, 1 little use has been made of the comparative method. Instead, other procedures, such as the study of the phonetic shape of Latin and Romance borrowings into Basque at different periods, have been favored. The reason for the disuse of the comparative method is that there are very few systematic phonological correspondences between any two Basque dialects. As Martinet (1955; 372) points out, the traditional use of the comparative method to Basque dialects would result in a reconstructed proto-system of unreasonable complexity. In the case of initial stops, to give an example, very often we find variants of the same word with voiced and voiceless sounds. E.g.: pake, bakeapeace"; torre, dowe "tower"; k a t~, gatu "cat". Michelena (1976; 239) remarks that although, generally, for a given word there is only one pronunciation (either with avoiced or with avoiceless initial stop) in a given geographic point, there is no regularity in the geographic distribution of the variants. There are only greater or lesser frequencies in the distribution of initial voiced and voiceless stops. For this complex situation Martinet (1955; 372) offers as explanations the fact that the Basque linguistic community has been largely bilingual for many centuries and that exchanges among dialects must have been very frequent. The resultant pictures is such that it is very difficult to distinguish what is a result of local direct evolution from the Proto-language and that which has been borrowed. The situation of the fricatives is exceptional in that definite correspondences among dialects are much easier to establish in this area. In this paper 1 will make extensive use of the comparative method to sketch the evolution of Proto-Basque *y in several Basque dialects. As Michelena (1976; 168) notes, the varying dialectal results of the evolution of *y have given rise to one of the most important differences in pronunciation among Basque dialects. This difference, neverthelless, is usually not reflected in the orthography. For this reason, and to avoid an excesive use of brackets, here 1 will not make use of Basque orthography. Al1 Basque examples cited are to be given a phonetic value, as if they were written within brackets.
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2000
Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Sessi... more Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Aspect (2000)
Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 1995
Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Sessi... more Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Historical Issues in Sociolinguistics/Social Issues in Historical Linguistics (1995)
Romance languages show hiatus and diphthongal realisations of inherited iV sequences of rising so... more Romance languages show hiatus and diphthongal realisations of inherited iV sequences of rising sonority (e.g. ia). We study five Romance varieties with different degrees of contrast between the two realisation types: Romanian, with a diphthong–hiatus contrast, Spanish, with a weaker contrast, French, with no contrast (all diphthongs), and European and Brazilian Portuguese, with no contrast (all hiatus). We show that the different degrees of synchronic contrast are related to three independent factors: (i) a general articulatory tendency for [iV] hiatus to resolve to diphthongs, due to the relative stability of diphthongal articulations; (ii) a structural ‘attractor’ effect of pre-existing [jV] diphthongs in a language, from different historical sources; and (iii) prosodic lengthening effects which inhibit the shift from hiatus to diphthong, supported by phonetic studies of durational patterns across the five languages.
The standardization process of the Basque language presents some unusual characteristics. Althoug... more The standardization process of the Basque language presents some unusual characteristics. Although some of the first authors to publish in Basque in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries explicitly remarked on the difficulties brought about by dialectal diversity, very little progress in the standardization of the language was made until the second half of the twentieth century. Even the impact of the rise of Basque nationalism at the end of the nineteenth century was not entirely positive, since the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party favored the development of a different written variety for each of the Basque provinces. The extreme puristic and neologizing tendency of some writers at the time was also a source of obstacles on the path towards standardization. A Basque language academy was founded in 1918 with the unification of the written language as one of its main goals, but it made essentially no progress until the linguist Luis Michelena (Mitxelena) presented a report ...
allowing me to record my conversations with them, and the rest of my family, for being such great... more allowing me to record my conversations with them, and the rest of my family, for being such great informants and for checking my native intuitions. Rufo Atxurra deserves my most sincere gratitude and utter respect, for his attention, his interest,-and his historic knowledge of the evolution of the Lekeitio dialect over the last 100 years. Alfredo Arnaiz ("Komandante Arnaiz") printed the figures illustrating the Fo contours of the sentences in the section on intonation, in chapter 2. I also want to thank the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government for financial support during most of the time it took to prepare this book.
Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 2010
Goizueta is a small town in northwestern Navarre, Spain, bordering Gipuzkoa. According to the mos... more Goizueta is a small town in northwestern Navarre, Spain, bordering Gipuzkoa. According to the most recent official figures, it has slightly over 800 inhabitants, about 95% of whom speak Basque (2001, Instituto de Estadística de Navarra). All inhabitants (except for young children) also speak Spanish. In the school system standard Basque and, to a lesser extent, Spanish are used. Older speakers (those born before 1970 or so) were educated exclusively in Spanish. The local Basque dialect, however, enjoys very high prestige among its speakers, and this is the linguistic variety that is most commonly used in everyday interaction within the town.
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Papers by Jose Hualde