Basque is the sole survivor of the very ancient languages of Western Europe. This book, written by an internationally renowned specialist in Basque, provides a comprehensive survey of all that is known about the prehistory of the language, including pronunciation, the grammar and the vocabulary. It also provides a long critical evaluation of the search for its relatives, as well as a thumbnail sketch of the language, a summary of its typological features, an external history and an extensive bibliography.

The Basques are Europe's oldest people, their origins a mystery, their language related to no other on Earth, and even though few in population and from a remote and rugged corner of Spain and France, they have had a profound impact on the world. Whilst inward-looking, preserving their ancient language and customs, the Basques also struck out for new horizons, pioneers of whaling and cod fishing, leading the way in exploration of the Americas and Asia, were among the first capitalists and later led Southern Europe's industrial revolution. Mark Kurlansky, the author of the acclaimed Cod, blends human stories with economic, political, literary and culinary history to paint a fascinating picture of an intriguing people.

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.

The Basques live in a modestly small, triangular-shaped country that straddles the farthest northeastern portion of Spain and the southeastern portion of France.

Basque-Armenian language parallels are undeniable, statistically significant, and suspiciously absent in the mainstream academia. This manuscript brings forth the works of many who have examined the Basque language and most particularly, Vahan Sarkisian (1954-2011), a Basqologist, professor and world-renowned academician, who served as a Director of the Chair of Romance Philology at the University of Yerevan, President of the International Association of Hispanics, Director of the Basque-Armenian International Journal - Araxes, and an honorary academician of Euskaltzaindia (1919), the official institution, which is responsible for the Basque language, its corpus and its status in society. He saw the obvious link between two ancient language branches, but left this world too soon. This manuscript is aimed to resurrect his research and revitalize this topic for a serious consideration across all scientific disciplines.