Lexical variation according to age the Basque spoken in Imotz: linguistic surveys

Abstract

This paper shows the linguistic variation that exists between three generations. Taking into account age as a sociolinguistic factor, it considers a sample of the lexicon of the Basque spoken in Imotz (Navarra). Several linguistic surveys carried out in the 1960s and 1980s (Etxaide 1989, Pagola 1992 and Huarte 2003) were taken as a basis to conduct a new questionnaire with eight speakers. The Basque spoken in Imotz is of course constantly changing, but this change has been especially significant over the last half century. The influence of the unified Basque language deserves special mention. The results show that: (i) the forms of central Basque have gained strength, at the expense of the forms of the Navarrese dialect; (ii) dialect leveling is taking place, with local varieties being replaced by the standard; and (ii) the younger the speaker, the more hybrid their language. Even so, the young people interviewed generally stick to local forms.