Analysis of the inexplicit criteria for gender categorization in the Basque personal name lists compiled by Euskaltzaindia (Academy of the Basque Language)
Presenter(s)
Affiliation
Topic
Language as a Vehicle of Culture
Type
Papers
Abstract
The naming of a person has two functions: individualization and identification of this person. This presentation examines the unconscious influence of the Romance linguistic worldview on the gender categorization criteria in the Basque personal name lists compiled by Euskaltzaindia (Academy of the Basque Language) since the 1960s.
In the Basque Country, as a rule, Catholic saints' names have been given to individuals since the mid-16th century. This principle was basically maintained even when Basque nationalism at the end of the 19th century advocated the Basque language purification and when the French government under various political regimes (1803-1966) and Spanish Francoist regime (1939-1975) imposed respectively French and Spanish names.
Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a new trend to assign Basque toponyms and common nouns to individuals. These new personal names are given to both sexes, because Basque, different from the surrounding Romance languages, has no grammatical gender. Considering this recent tendency, Euskaltzaindia updated the list of Basque personal names based on gender binarism, which arouse controversy as it did not conform to civil naming practices in some cases. As a result, this list was modified to create a new category of epicene names.
This presentation highlights the inexplicit criteria for gender categorization of the more than 5,000 names registered in the latest list of the Basque personal names based on the following three viewpoints: 1) Catholic convention, 2) Basque nationalist claim, and 3) Romance languages worldview. It will also discuss, with a particular emphasis on the unconscious influence of the third perspective and the significance of the gradually developing category of epicene names, the restoration and preservation of Basque identity.
