List of Letters
The letters of the Basque alphabet are the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet plus the ñ (and the ç, as a variant of the c).
This is the whole list, plus the IPA phonology:
| Letter | Basque name | Pronounciation |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | /a/ |
| B | be | /b/ |
| C | ze* (and its variant Ç ze hautsia*) | /s/, /k/ |
| D | de | /d/, /d̪/, /ð/ |
| E | e | /e/ |
| F | efe | /f/ |
| G | ge | /g/, /ɣ/ |
| H | hatxe | ∅, /h/ |
| I | i | /i/, /i̭/ |
| J | jota | /j/, /x/, /ʝ/, /ɟ/ |
| K | ka | /k/ |
| L | ele | /l/ |
| M | eme | /m/ |
| N | ene | /n/ |
| Ñ | eñe | /ɲ/ |
| O | o | /o/ |
| P | pe | /p/ |
| Q | ku* | /k/ |
| R | erre | /r/, /ɾ/ |
| S | ese | /s̺/ |
| T | te | /t/, /t̪/ |
| U | u | /u/, /u̯/ |
| V | uve* | /b/, /β/ |
| W | uve bikoitza* | /u̯/ |
| X | ixa | /ʃ/ |
| Y | i grekoa* | /i/, /i̭/ |
| Z | zeta | /s̻/ |
| * Although letters C, Ç, Q, V, W, and Y are not used in writing traditional |
||
All letters and digraphs represent unique phonemes. The main exception is when l or n are preceded by i, that in most dialects palatalizes their sound into /ʎ/ and /ɲ/, even if these are not written. Hence, Ikurriña can also be written Ikurrina without changing the sound, while the proper name Ainhoa requires the mute h to break the palatalization of the n.
H is mute in most regions, but in the Northeast is pronounced in many places, the main reason for its existence in the Basque alphabet. Its acceptance was a matter of contention during the standardization since the speakers of the most extended dialects had to learn where to place these h's, silent for them.
Read more about this topic: Basque Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list and/or letters:
“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I am opposed to writing about the private lives of living authors and psychoanalyzing them while they are alive. Criticism is getting all mixed up with a combination of the Junior F.B.I.- men, discards from Freud and Jung and a sort of Columnist peep- hole and missing laundry list school.... Every young English professor sees gold in them dirty sheets now. Imagine what they can do with the soiled sheets of four legal beds by the same writer and you can see why their tongues are slavering.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Most personal correspondence of today consists of letters the first half of which are given over to an indexed statement of why the writer hasn’t written before, followed by one paragraph of small talk, with the remainder devoted to reasons why it is imperative that the letter be brought to a close.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)