I am trying to learn the piece Lurraren Pian, which I first heard in an album by Maria Bayo. For some reason I thought it was in Occitan for a long time, but after I finally printed the music and examined it further, I realized that it is in Basque (well, that was at least geographically close).

With some search on Google and library sites, I was not able to find any good source of IPA. There is the Wikipedia page about Basque phonology. There is a guide in French about how to pronounce Basque at the beginning of a Basque songbook. Lastly, there is a paper about how to prevent tomatoes from wilting, or so it seems. Above all else, I found most sources about Basque to be in French.

So, I decided to annotate the IPA and perhaps the translation as well from the text, the Basque phonology and pronunciation guide, and Maria Bayo’s recording.

The text that I use is taken from the Basque Songbook, from the site Eusko Ikaskuntza.

IPA

Lurraren pian sar nindaiteke, maitia, zure ahalgez! 1

[lu.ra.ɾen pʲen s̺ar nin.dai.te.ke mai.ti.a, su.ɾe ahaʎes]

Bost phensaketa eginik nago zurekin ezkondu beharrez;

[bost pʰen.s̺a.ke.ta e.gi.nik na.go su.ɾe.kin es.kon.du be.ha.res]

Bortha barnetik zerratu eta bethi khanberan nigarrez,

[boɾ.tʰa baɾ.ne.tik se.ra.tu e.ta be.tʰi kʰan.be.ɾan ni.ga.res]

Sendimenduiak airian eta bihotzetikan dolorez…

[s̺en.di.men.du.jak ai.ɾi.a.ne.ta bi.ho.tse.ti.kan do.lo.ɾes]

Ene changrinez 2 hilerazteko sothuia zinez 3 arauez!

[e.ne tʃan.gɾi.nes hi.le.ɾas.te.ko so.tʰu.ja si.nes a.ɾa.wes]


Oren hunian sorthuia zinen izar ororen izarra!

[o.ɾen hu.ni.an s̺oɾ.tʰu.ja si.nen i.saɾ o.ɾo.ɾen i.sa.ra]

Zure parerik etzaut jiten neure begien bistara.

[su.ɾe pa.ɾe.ɾik e.tsa.ut 4 xi.ten ne.u.ɾe be.gi.en bis̺.ta.ɾa]

Espos laguntzat gald’egin zintudan erran nerauzun bezala:

[es̺.pos̺ la.gun.tsat gal.de.gin sin.tu.dan e.ran ne.ɾau.sun be.sa.la]

Bainan zuri ez iduritu zuretzat aski nintzala;

[ba.i.nan su.ɾi es i.du.ɾi.tu su.ɾe.tsat as̺.ki nin.tsa.la]

Ni baino hobebatekila Jainkoak gertha zitzala!

[ni. ba.i.no ho.be.ba.te.ki.la xain.ko.ak geɾ.tʰa si.tsa.la]


Mariñelak juaiten dira itsasorat untziko:

[ma.ɾi.ɲe.lak xu.ai.ten di.ɾa i.ts̺a.s̺o.ɾat un.tsi.ko]

Zure ganako amodioa sekulan ezdut utziko.

[su.ɾe ga.na.ko a.mo.di.o.a s̺e.ku.lan es.dut u.tsi.ko]

Charmagarria, nahiz ez giren elgarrekilan biziko,

[tʃaɾ.ma.ga.ri.a na.his es gi.ɾen el.ga.re.ki.lan bi.si.ko]

Behin maite izan zaitut eta etzaitut hastiatuko:

[be.hin mai.te i.san sai.tut e.ta e.tsai.tut has.ti.a.tu.ko]

Bihotzian sarthu zitzautat eternitate guziko.

[bi.ho.tsi.an s̺aɾ.tʰu si.tsau.tat e.teɾ.ni.ta.te gu.si.ko]

Pronunciation guide/notes:

  • Wikipedia notated the diphthongs with no lax vowels. I followed their notation here.
  • Basque has a contrast between these two voiceless fricatives: the laminal alveolar fricative (written as -z- in the orthography) and the voiceless apicoalveolar fricative (written as -s-). I will respectively notated each sound as [s] and [s̺].
  • [h] can be a glottal fricative or, in some dialects, deleted. In Bayo’s recording, it was used somewhat interchangeably.

Translation

Please enjoy a Basque-to-English translation by Google translate:

I can enter the earth, my dear, with your might!
I have made five thoughts of having to marry you;
Bortha sawed from the inside and always wept in the khanberan,
Feelings of pain in the air and in the heart …
The rules of burying my changrine are truly rules!

At this hour you were born the star of every star!
Your peer does not appear in my sight.
I asked you for help, as I told you:
But don’t think that I was enough for you;
Better a poor horse than no horse at all.

The sailors go to sea:
I will never give up my love for you.
Charming, even if we don’t live together,
I have loved you once and will not hate you:
You have entered my heart for all eternity.

First of all, the beautiful bird khantuz phaguan!
Love yourselves, my love, in your goodness;
I don’t want to rape you in love:
If I die of this Changri, remember that,
I’ll be alone in the world!

… Seems like there are words that Google translate doesn’t know very well.

References:

  1. Maria Bayo recording
  2. Sallaberry, J. D. J. (1870). Chants populaires du Pays Basque. Imprimerie de Veuve Lamaignére.
  3. Wikipedia contributors. (2020, May 1). Basque language. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:08, May 9, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basque_language&oldid=954218374

Notes:

  1. For the word ahalgez, I cannot find any reliable rule that says -lg- is pronounced as [ʎ], but it seems to be [ʎ] in the recording. ↩

  2. The word chagrinez is probably spelled irregularly because it is a loanword from French chagrin (“pain, affliction”). ↩

  3. The Cantelope score (as well as Bayo’s recording) spelled this word as zinen. ↩

  4. Bayo pronounced this word as [e.tʃa.ut], but according to pronunciation rules I cannot find out why. ↩