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Strings of red peppers and onions. Akaitze Kamiruaga. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

As Miguel de Unamuno said, natives of Bilbao are genuinely referred to as bilbainos and bilbainas, rather than by their quadrisyllabic counterparts. Indeed, placing the accent marks on bilbaínos and bilbaínas requires an immense effort for a Bilbao born and bred, because it contradicts the way we pronounce them, the two consecutive vowels they contain remaining bound in the same syllable. The voice of local citizens is probably the best source of evidence for the correct spelling and pronunciation of words that identify them. So the absence of hiatus is therefore more than justified. (more…)