ESKU-LIBURUAren grafi aldaketak (1802-1821)

Abstract

Between the first (1802) and the second (1821) editions of the Esku-Liburua (Handbook) by the Bizkaian writer Pedro Antonio de Anibarro, there are many appreciable variations brought about by the author, of which those affecting spelling are particularly systematic and interesting. In general, they address the aspects of Basque spelling which were most hotly debated until the constitutionof the current standard form, and they unfailingly offer new solutions, some ofwhich became widespread years later. The main objective of the changes is to match the spelling with the phono-logical peculiarities of Basque, and, at the same time, to eliminate the incoherences inherited from Spanish spelling, often adopting the positions of the Castilian grammarians themselves. Although a precursor of these practices, Anibarro did no more than receive ideas of previous theorists like Larramendi and Cardaveraz, whom to an extent he went along with. Another close influence, doubtless more surprising and less well-known, is that of Juan Bautista de Erro and, largely through him, Pedro Pablo de Astarloa; it was this influence which gave rise to many of the more daring changes.