Joan Perez Lazarragakoren izkribuaren inguruan

Abstract

The recently discovered work of Joan Perez de Lazarraga provides a great deal of information concerning the Basque language spoken in the northeast of Álava in the XVI century. Although this dialect is closely related to the Western dialect, the speech of Barrundia, in addition to numerous archaisms, also contains many elements in common with Eastern dialects, representing a bridge between these. The author uses the suffix -xe, now only used in demonstratives, adverbs and participles, in nouns as well, providing us with a clear clue as to his origins. He also scrupulously complies with the so-called Linschmann-Aresti law in his use of the possessives neure, bere, etc. as reflexive forms of ene, haren, etc. The numerous and peculiar examples of synthetic verbs appearing throughout his work, some documented for the first time, together with the fact that in his day the marks of plural objects were still optional in verbal forms, suggest ideas regarding the origin of some Basque verbs and could explain the continuous decline of multipersonal synthetic forms over recent centuries.