Upper Navarrese dialect

Upper Navarrese
High Navarrese
Native toSpain
RegionNavarre
Basque (language isolate)
  • Upper Navarrese
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologalto1238  Septentrional Upper Navarrese
alto1237  Meridional Upper Navarrese

Upper Navarrese (sometimes called High Navarrese) is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in the Navarre (Basque: Nafarroa or Nafarroa Garaia) community of Spain, as established by linguist Louis Lucien Bonaparte in his famous 1869 map. He actually distinguished two dialects: Meridional (area of Pamplona and south) and Septentrional. However, the southern varieties became extinct early in the 20th century mainly after becoming absorbed by Northern Spanish or Aragonese. So documentation of the Meridional subgroup is rendered impossible. It is unknown whether the extinction was due to Francisco Franco's fierce suppression of Basque culture.

Upper Navarrese and Eastern Navarrese are no closer to each other than they are to Gipuzkoan.