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:
“Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“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)
“It is hard to believe that England is so near as from your letters it appears; and that this identical piece of paper has lately come all the way from there hither, begrimed with the English dust which made you hesitate to use it; from England, which is only historical fairyland to me, to America, which I have put my spade into, and about which there is no doubt.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)