Gender, Language and the Periphery

Using a historical sociolinguistic theoretical approach (Conde-Silvestre andHernandez-Campoy 2012, 1), this paper shows that a mid-19th century CatholicOld Testament utilizes the second-person singular pronoun for a femaleaddressee (noka) to construct sexual and/or violent imagery, which contributed tonoka’s loss and “semantic derogation” (Schulz 1975) over time. Focus is placed onnoka for several reasons: (1) it is the only place in the Basque language (Euskera)where female gender is marked, as