On Thu, 22 Mar 2001 11:05:55 -0000,
MCLSSAA2@... wrote:
>The dialect region marked "Gascon" is the area that the Romns called
>Aquitania. Some say that all of Aquitania spoke Basque when Julius
>Caesar came. Is there anything that points to a Basque substratum in
>Gascon language or placenames? What evidence is there of the north
>limit of Basque speech at various times in the past?
Gascon shows a Basque substratum in certain phonological traits:
prothetic vowel before initial r-, loss of intervocalic -n-, avoidance
of /f/ (> /h/ in Gascon), apical /s/. There is also evidence from
place-names. On the other hand, Gascon language and toponymy (-ac)
also show evidence of a Celtic substratum, especially along the
Garonne. The Aquitanian inscriptions are in Latin, but the personal
names contained therein are in part Celtic, in part Basque-like
(although the Basque element predominates). It may be that in Roman
times, Celtic was in a position as is now occupied by French, while
Basque-Aquitanian was in a position as now occupied by Gascon.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...