12. On the degree of copiability of derivational and inflectional morphology: Evidence from Basque

Abstract

This chapter surveys the extent to which Basque has adopted overt foreign derivational and inflectional elements. It deals with the question to what extent Latin and Western Romance derivational and inflectional morphology has entered into the typologically strikingly differing Basque language. First, the chapter presents an overview of opinions on the extent to which surrounding languages have influenced Basque. Next, it provides a summary of supposedly contact-induced changes, noted in a major modern grammar, which illustrate the degree of possible foreign impact in the syntactic domain. The chapter touches on ordinary lexical copying and the kind of radical loanword adaptation frequently encountered in Basque. It summarizes information from Segura and Etxebarria. The chapter further focuses on inflectional morphology, and comments on possible deeper causes of the copying differences observed. Keywords:Basque; cross-linguistic copying; derivational morphology; inflectional morphology