Editing Basque language (section)

=== Hypotheses concerning Basque's connections to other languages ===
Many linguists have tried to link Basque with other languages, but no hypothesis has gained mainstream acceptance. Apart from [[pseudoscientific language comparison|pseudoscientific comparisons]], the appearance of long-range linguistics gave rise to several attempts to connect Basque with geographically very distant language families such as [[Georgian language|Georgian]]. Historical work on Basque is challenging since written material and documentation has only been available for some few hundred years. Almost all hypotheses concerning the origin of Basque are controversial, and the suggested evidence is not generally accepted by mainstream linguists. Some of these hypothetical connections are:

[[File:UMMESAHARF.jpg|thumb|Inscription with Basque-like lexical forms identified as "UME ZAHAR", [[Lerga]] ([[Navarre]])]]
* [[Ligurian language (ancient)|Ligurian]] substrate: this hypothesis, proposed in the 19th century by d'Arbois de Jubainville, J. Pokorny, P. Kretschmer and several other linguists, encompasses the Basco-Iberian hypothesis.
* [[Iberian language|Iberian]]: another ancient language once spoken in the [[Iberian Peninsula]], shows several similarities with [[Aquitanian language|Aquitanian]] and Basque. However, most scholars say that there is not enough evidence exists to distinguish geographical connections from linguistic ones. Iberian itself remains [[unclassified language|unclassified]]. Eduardo Orduña Aznar claims to have established correspondences between Basque and Iberian numerals<ref>Orduña 2005.</ref> and noun case markers.
* [[Vasconic substratum hypothesis]]: this proposal, made by the German linguist [[Theo Vennemann]], claims that enough [[toponymy|toponymical]] evidence exists to conclude that Basque is the only survivor of a larger family that once extended throughout most of western Europe, and has also left its mark in modern Indo-European languages spoken in Europe.
* [[Georgian language|Georgian]]: linking Basque to the [[Kartvelian languages]] is now widely discredited. The hypothesis was inspired by the existence of the ancient [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]] in the [[Caucasus]] and some similarities in societal practices and agriculture between the two populations. Historical comparisons are difficult due to the dearth of historical material for Basque and several of the Kartvelian languages. Typological similarities have been proposed for some of the phonological characteristics and most importantly for some of the details of the ergative constructions, but these alone cannot prove historical relatedness between languages since such characteristics are found in other languages across the world, even if not in Indo-European.<ref>José Ignacio Hualde, Joseba Lakarra, Robert Lawrence Trask (1995), ''Towards a history of the Basque language''. John Benjamins Publishing Company, {{ISBN|90-272-3634-8}}, p. 81.</ref><ref>Natela Sturua (1991), ''On the Basque-Caucasian Hypothesis'' Studia Linguistica 45:1-2. Scandinavian University Press</ref> According to [[J. P. Mallory]], the hypothesis was also inspired by a Basque place-name ending in ''-dze'' which is common in Kartvelian.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |title=In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lENVpwAACAAJ |year=1991 |publisher=Thames and Hudson }}</ref> The hypothesis suggested that Basque and Georgian were remnants of a pre-Indo-European group.
* [[Northeast Caucasian languages]], such as [[Chechen language|Chechen]], are seen by some linguists as more likely candidates for a very distant connection.<ref>[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mt26s.html A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1] (John D. Bengston).</ref>
* [[Dené–Caucasian languages|Dené–Caucasian]]: based on the possible Caucasian link, some linguists, for example [[John Bengtson]] and [[Merritt Ruhlen]], have proposed including Basque in the Dené–Caucasian superfamily of languages, but this proposed superfamily includes languages from North America and Eurasia, and its existence is highly controversial.<ref name="Trask"/>
* [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]: a genetic link between Basque and the Indo-European languages has been proposed by Forni (2013),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Forni |first=Gianfranco |title=Evidence for Basque as an Indo-European Language |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=39–180 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3801960 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Forni |first=Gianfranco |title=Evidence for Basque as an Indo-European Language: A Reply to the Critics |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |date=January 2013 |pages=268–310 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3801960 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref> though his contributions to the hypothesis have been rejected by most reviewers,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kassian |first=Alexander |title=On Forni's Basque–Indo-European Hypothesis |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=181–201 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3811354 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gorrochategui |first1=Joaquín |last2=Lakarra |first2=Joseba A. |title=Why Basque cannot be, unfortunately, an Indo-European language?|journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=203–237 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4689618 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Prósper |first=Blanca María |title=Is Basque an Indo-European language? Possibilities and limits of the comparative method when applied to isolates |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=238–245 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2020451 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bengtson |first=John D. |title=Comments on "Evidence for Basque as an Indo-European Language" by Gianfranco Forni |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=246–254 |url=http://euskararenjatorria.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/02Bengtson-JIES.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://euskararenjatorria.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/02Bengtson-JIES.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Koch |first=John T. |title=Is Basque an Indo-European Language? |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |year=2013 |volume=41 |issue=1 & 2 |pages=255–267 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4029770 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lakarra |first=Joseba A. |year=2017 |chapter=Prehistoria de la lengua vasca |editor1-last=Gorrochategui Iván Igartua |editor1-first=Joaquín |editor2-last=Igartua |editor2-first=Iván |editor3-last=Lakarra |editor3-first=Joseba A. |title=Historia de la lengua vasca |language=es |trans-title=History of the Basque language |location=Vitoria-Gasteiz |publisher=Gobierno Vasco |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/38017762 |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref> both including scholars adhering to the mainstream view of Basque as a language isolate (Gorrochategui, Lakarra), as well as proponents of wide-range genetic relations (Bengtson).