Wiktionary:About Proto-Basque

This is an editable draft of Wiktionary:About Proto-Basque with no policy authority. It is intended to help the Wiktionary community develop new and perhaps better approaches. Please feel free to edit this page conscientiously, as you would any document on a wiki. Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES.

Proto-Basque is the reconstructed ancestor of the Vasconic languages: Basque with its various regional dialects; and Aquitanian, which is extinct. Another extinct language, Iberian, is thought to be potentially related to Basque, though it is not known exactly how or if it links to Proto-Basque; as it is undeciphered.

Notation

Consonants	fortis	(h)	p	t	k	tz	ts	N	L	R
	lenis		b	d	g	z	s	n	l	r
Vowels		a	e	i	o	u

Proto-Basque made use of a system of fortis and lenis consonant pairs: the lenis consonants were weaker in sound and quality than fortis consonants (many of the distinctions were made through voicing - though for some pairs, the distinction was made through stress and length of consonant). Over time, it was the lenis consonants that were more likely to be mutated into different sounds, or vanish altogether.

Proto-Basque words could only begin with a lenis/vowel and only end in a fortis/vowel.

The notation used here is almost identical to the one used by Larry Trask in his etymological dictionary (see {{R:EDB}}). The difference is that Trask uses <n,l,r> for word-final /N,L,R/. For clarity, entries on WT with /N,L,R/ should always use capital letters regardless of position. Mitxelena's work uses a similar notation, but he uses s,ś,c,ć instead of z,s,tz,ts. For uncertain vowel values use V.

Former notation

Consonants	fortis	p	t	k	ź	ś	ń	ɫ	ŕ	[ɦ]	[x́]
	lenis	b	d	g	z	s	n	l	r	[ɦ]	[x]
Vowels		a	e	i	o	u	[ü]

Older entries in Wiktionary use the notation above. This notation is inconsistent with both Mitxelena's and Trask's, so entries making use of it should be redirected to a more conventional spelling.