"Modern translation and original Basque version of the first book printed in the Basque language in Baiona in 1545."--Provided by publisher.

Questions related to the origin and history of the Basque language spark considerable interest, since it is the only surviving pre-Indo-European language in western Europe. However, until now, there was no readily available source in English providing answers to these questions or giving an overview of past and current research in this area. This book is intended to partly fill this void. The book contains both state-of-the-art papers which summarize our knowledge about particular areas of Basque historical linguistics, and articles presenting new hypotheses and points of view based on hard evidence and careful analysis. All contributors to this volume have demonstrated expertise in the topic within Basque historical linguistics that their chapter addresses. Two classical articles by the late Luis Michelena are included in English translation. In addition, the book includes studies on diachronic phonology, morphology and syntax. The relation of Basque to other languages is also investigated in a couple of chapters.

Compte-rendu de Luis Michelena: Fonética histórica vasca. Is Basque an S.O.V. language? Vowel interaction in Biscayan Basque. Relative clauses in Basque: a guided tour. Studies in Basque syntax: relative clauses. Partitive assignment in Basque. Topic fronting, focus positioning and the nature of the verb phrase in Basque. Erlatiboak idazle zaharrengan. Euskal morfologiaren zenbait gorabehera. Un verbe méconnu. Euskara eta hizkuntz tipologia. Basque syntax and universal grammar. How reliable and comprehensive is the DGV? Local nouns in standard Basque. Familiarity or solidarity: the pronoun 'hi' in Basque....

This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the phonological system of Basque available in English. Basque is a morphologically rich and fairly regular language with a number of active phonological rules that are limited to certain morphological environments. In addition, it has a high degree of dialectical fragmentation. These characteristics of Basque make this language a good test ground to investigate the interaction of phonological rules both with each other and with morphological processes, which the author does within the Lexical Phonology framework. The effects of rule interaction on feature geometry are a major concern - how phonological operations modify underlying structures and how the structures created by one phonological rule can serve as input to other rules. These effects are examined in a study of the rather peculiar behaviour of Basque affricates. Another area which requires particular attention, and in which Basque dialects differ widely, is prosody. Along with stress-accent systems of different types, Basque also possesses pitch-accent or restricted tonal systems in some of its western dialects. This book should be of interest to advanced students and teachers of linguistics, especially Romance linguistics and lexical phonology.

The Basque Country is a land of fascinating paradoxes and enigmas. Home to one of Europe's oldest peoples and most mysterious languages, with a living folklore rich in archaic rituals and dances, it also boasts a dynamic post-modern energy, with the reinvention of Bilbao creating a model for the twenty-first-century city of cultural services and information technologies. Hugging the elbow of the Bay of Biscay on both the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees, this small territory abounds in big contrasts, ranging from moist green valleys to semi-desert badlands, from snowy sierras to sandy beaches, from harsh industrial landscapes to bucolic beech woods. This often idyllic scenery is the stage for fierce political passions. Almost every aspect of the Basque Country generates passionate disagreement, even its precise location. Spanish and French centralism, often authoritarian and sometimes brutal, has met with resistance for two centuries. Most recently and notoriously ETA, a terrorist group with deep popular support, has engaged in a bloody 45-year conflict. But many Basques consider themselves full French or Spanish citizens, and fear political and linguistic exclusion under Basque nationalist rule.

Before Babel: A History of Basque Literatures is the first book written originally in English and directed towards a global audience. It is also a new departure from traditional literary histories, as it is not a philological tedious classification of centuries, authors, genres, and books published in Basque. This book addresses the historical conflict and violence that define Basque history and culture, and so it defines Basque literary history as that of at least two literatures: one expressed by Basque subaltern (oppressed) classes in their language, euskara, which mainly constitutes an oral tradition, and the other written by Basque elites in Spanish, Latin, French, etc. The book emphasizes that this double literature remains at the core of the Basque Country’s history and culture to our days. Even today Basque literature in euskara (Basque language) plays a symbolic role: to represent a Basque Country where the majority speaks and writes in other state languages. Euskara, used by a minority, remains subordinate. In this respect, this book is a departure from previous Basque literary histories; it redefines Spanish and French literatures, advances a new theory of what a minority literature is, and pays attention to texts, disciplines, and practices that traditional histories neglect: political discourse, anthropology, tourism, economics. This history also represents a review of most literary historical discourses (new historicism, postcolonial theory, multiculturalism, subaltern studies) and presents a new methodological and theoretical proposal. Finally, this history allows to revisit under a new light political and historical movements such as nationalism, feminism, modernity, and globalization. As a result, different authors such as Sabino Arana, Judah Halevi, Maddalen Lujambio, Axular, Hugo, Unamuno, Itxaro Borda or Oteiza are brought together.