The Pear - Chaplin Basque Corpus - Speakers Page (speakers.htm)

THE SPEAKERS
The Pear-Chaplin Basque Corpus

Characteristics of the speakers
Excerpts from Aske 1997/to appear, Chapter 2 and Appendix 2.5

[T]he subjects of the spoken corpus consisted of four different groups of Basque speakers, chosen in part because of their age and other characteristics. Ideally, a study of this kind would have as large and varied a sample as possible, including individuals and groups of individuals from age groups, and from different dialectal, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic backgrounds, these last two groups to control for degree of fluency and degree of use of and exposure to Basque¾ as opposed to other languages¾ in daily life. In practice, however, I had to settle for a sample which can do no more than suggest possible reasons for some of the major differences that we find.

As it turned out, the sample consisted of 41 individuals, divided into the four groups mentioned above, three of which were fairly homogeneous. Despite the constraints on the sample, fairly suggestive preliminary conclusions can be extracted from it, as we will see. The four groups into which the subjects are divided are the following:

HENDAIA: A group of 11 ten-year-olds from Gure Ikastola, a Basque language school in Hendaia, Lapurdi. This group includes children who are natives of Lapurdi, as well as children of refugees from the southern (‘Spanish’) Basque Country. These children have attended Basque school throughout their lives. The home background and the degree to which they use Basque in their daily lives outside school, and even in the school, varies from one child to another.
IKASBIDE: A group of 12 thirteen year olds from Ikasbide Ikastola, a Basque language school in Donostia, Gipuzkoa. These children have also carried out all their schooling in the Basque language and are equally of mixed linguistic backgrounds. They all live in the Donostia area, where use of the Basque language is quite limited.
DEUSTU: A group of 12 twenty-two to twenty-four year old, fourth year students of Basque philology at the Donostia campus of the University of Deustu. Many grew up and/or live in towns outside the Donostia area where Basque is a strong language and for the vast majority Basque was their primary language at home and in all other areas.
LUR: A group of 6 adults, four of which worked at the Lur Basque language publishing house in Donostia, Gipuzkoa, all four in their 20’s and 30’s, and two older adult relatives of a worker at the same center. They are all very fluent and use Basque throughout their daily lives.

The adult speakers in the last two groups were extremely fluent native speakers of Basque who use Basque in all facets of their lives. The younger speakers, on the other hand, have more mixed and more complex linguistic and sociolinguistic backgrounds. Thus, for instance, some of the children made rather limited use of Basque outside the school context, and some even use Romance with their peers at school as well (as reported by their teachers).

Appendix 2.5: Background of speakers in the Spoken Basque Corpus

(native = learned at home; new Basque = non-native Basque speaker)

Speaker	Tape Sections	Story
HEND-01	C-1A01	Pear-1	Male; Age 10; Native French; Basque learned mostly at school; parents are new Basques.
HEND-02	C-1A02	Chaplin-1	Male; Age 10; Basque native; fully bilingual; uses Basque primarily; father is old Basque; mother new Basque.
HEND-03	C-1A03	Pear-2	Male; Age 9; native: Hebrew; at home Basque and French is spoken; good speaker of Basque; father non-native speaker; mother non-speaker.
HEND-04	C-1A05, C-1B03	Chaplin-2, Pear-6	Male; Age 10; French and Spanish native; Basque learned at school; speaks all the same; average speaker; uses French more.
HEND-05	C-1A09	Pear-3	Female; Age 10; native Basque, Spanish and French; speaks Basque with mother; other with father; uses all equally well.
HEND-06	C-1A10	Chaplin-3	Female; Age 10; native French and Spanish; parents are non-fluent new Basques; uses all three languages equally well.
HEND-07	C-1A15	Pear-4	Male; Age 10; Basque native; also speaks French and some Spanish; speaks Basque best; good speaker.
HEND-08	C-1A16	Chaplin-4	Male; Age 10; Basque native; speaks some French and Spanish as well; excellent Basque.
HEND-09	C-1A17	Pear-5	Male; Age 10; French native; also some Spanish; parents are non-Basques; uses French most; poor speaker.
HEND-10	C-1B01	Chaplin-5	Male; Age 10; Spanish native; some French; Basque learned at school; good speaker; uses all languages equally well.
HEND-11	C-1B04	Chaplin-6	Male; Age 10; French native; Basque learned some at home and at school; average speaker in both languages; uses Basque at school and some with siblings; parents speak some Basque.
IKAS-01	C-1B05	Pear-7	Female; Age 13; Basque native; uses Basque at home; also speaks Spanish; speaks Basque best; uses Basque most.
IKAS-02	C-1B06	Chaplin-7	Female; Age 13; Spanish native; parents do not speak Basque; speaks Basque well; uses mostly Spanish, also at school.
IKAS-03	C-1B07	Pear-8	Male; Age 13; native Basque and Spanish; parents are new Basques but speak mostly Basque at home; uses Spanish most, even at school; good speaker in both languages, perhaps better in Spanish.
IKAS-04	C-1B08	Chaplin-8	Male; Age 13; Spanish native; Basque at school (age 3); parents do not speak Basque; speaks Spanish better.
IKAS-05	C-1B09	Pear-9	Male; Age 13; Spanish and Basque native; mother is new Basque; father doesn’t speak Basque; speaks Basque well, but Spanish better.
IKAS-06	C-1B10	Chaplin-9	Female; Age 13; Basque native; also speaks Spanish; good Basque speaker; speaks Basque better. Uses Basque most.
IKAS-07	C-1B11	Pear-10	Male; Age 13; Basque native; also speaks Spanish; speaks Basque much better; speaks mostly Basque; very good Basque speaker.
IKAS-08	C-2A01	Chaplin-10	Female; Age 13; Basque native; also speaks Spanish; speaks Basque better; very good Basque speaker; uses mostly Basque.
IKAS-09	C-2A02	Pear-11	Male; Age 13; Basque and Spanish native; mother speaks some Basque; speaks both languages equally well; average speaker.
IKAS-10	C-2A03	Chaplin-11	Male; Age 13; Basque native; also Spanish native: with grandmother at home; speaks Basque much better though; very rich Basque; poor Spanish; uses mostly Basque.
IKAS-11	C-2A04	Pear-12	Male; Age 13; Basque native; speaks some Spanish, not very well; very good Basque speaker; speaks mostly Basque.
IKAS-12	C-2A05	Chaplin-12	Male; Age 13; Basque and Spanish native; mother Basque native; father Spanish native; speaks both well; average speaker.
DEUS-01	C-2A06	Pear-13	Female; Age 22; Basque and Spanish native; from Oihartzun; uses mostly Basque.
DEUS-02	C-2A07	Chaplin-13	Female; Age 22; Basque native; from Errenteria; learned Basque in the street; uses both languages equally.
DEUS-03	C-2A08	Pear-14	Female; Age 22; Basque and Spanish native; from Eibar; uses both languages equally; Basque with father; Spanish with mother.
DEUS-04	C-2A09	Chaplin-14	Female; Age 23; Basque and Spanish native; from Oihartzun; uses Basque at home.
DEUS-05	C-2A10	Pear-15	Female; Age 22; Basque native; from Ataun; Spanish learned later; uses mostly Basque.
DEUS-06	C-2B01, C-2B02	Chaplin-15	Female; Age 23; Basque native; from Azpeitia; Spanish learned at school; uses mostly Basque.
DEUS-07	C-2B03	Pear-16	Female; Age 23; Basque native; from Eibar; Spanish learned at school, in the street; uses Basque more.
DEUS-08	C-2B04	Chaplin-16	Female; Age 23; Basque native; from Galdakao; Spanish learned outside the home; uses Basque more than Spanish.
DEUS-09	C-2B05	Pear-17	Male; Age 24; Basque native; from Bergara; Spanish learned in the street; uses mostly Basque.
DEUS-10	C-2B06	Chaplin-17	Male; Age 23; Basque native; from Hernani; Spanish learned mostly outside the home; uses Basque more; uses mostly Spanish with his friends though.
DEUS-11	C-2B07	Pear-18	Male; Age 22; Spanish native; from Donostia; learned some Basque at home and then at school; uses mostly Spanish.
DEUS-12	C-2B08	Chaplin-18	Male; Age 22; Basque native; from Azpeitia; learned Spanish at school; uses Basque 70%; with friends half and half.
LUR-01	C-3A07	Chaplin-19	Female; Age 79; Basque native; from Azkoitia; Spanish learned late (age 10); uses mostly Basque.
LUR-02	C-3A08	Pear-19	Female; Age 54; Basque native; from Azkoitia; learned Basque as a child; now she uses both languages equally: Basque at home and with friends; Spanish at work and teaching.
LUR-03	C-3A09	Pear-20	Female; Age 24; Basque native; from Zumarraga; learned Spanish as a child in the street and at Basque school; uses Basque 50%; uses Spanish with most friends.
LUR-04	C-3A10	Chaplin-20	Male; Age 47; Basque native; from Hendaia; French and Spanish learned later. Uses Basque 70-75%.
LUR-05	C-3A11	Pear-21	Female; Age 23; Basque native; from Urnieta; parents from Azpeitia; Spanish learned at (Basque) school; uses Basque 80%.
LUR-06	C-3A12	Chaplin-21	Male; Age 30; Basque native; from Eibar; Spanish at school and in the street; uses 90% Basque.

NB: The Hendaia group had only 11 speakers; one of them recorded both a Pear story (Pear 6) and a Chaplin story (Chaplin 2)

Characteristics of the speakers Excerpts from Aske 1997/to appear, Chapter 2 and Appendix 2.5

Appendix 2.5: Background of speakers in the Spoken Basque Corpus

Characteristics of the speakers
Excerpts from Aske 1997/to appear, Chapter 2 and Appendix 2.5