Leitzako hizkera adierazkorra: biraoak [Expressive language from Leitza: curses]

Abstract

In this article, we have tried to show, albeit briefly, the entire range of insults, oaths and curses used in the speech from Leitza. The work is divided into the following parts: 1) a short introduction which aims to give an account of the general characteristics of this type of manifestation; 2) a brief analysis of more specific characteristics regarding the linguistic aspect, the ultimate aim of this work, in which a distinction is made between the grammatical rules to which these expressions are subject, at the same time common to the entire language, and the types of resource most commonly used within grammar itself, which reinforce them and mean they do not lose validity, currency; 3) in this part, there is a classification of the different expressions of this kind, based on their meaning and classifying them by degree, from the harshest and the weakest in terms of expressive strength. Two main groups have been distinguished in this section: the so-called oaths without a specific target and insults directed at a specific person. Finally, there is a short list of expressions of this kind which are no longer used in this speech, fundamentally taken from the two works by Azpiroz, J. M., 1963-1964 and 1967, which appear in the bibliography.