Reescribir 'Patria': el 'espacuence' de la novela a la serie

This article examines the use of "Espacuence"—a variety of Spanish incorporating Basque elements—and Basque in the audiovisual rewriting of Fernando Aramburu’s novel "Patria" (2016) as the HBO España television series (2020). Drawing on corpus linguistics, the study traces lexical and morphosyntactic features across the novel, the scripts and the series’ performed dialogue. The analysis shows that the scripts generally retain the novel’s linguistic material while reorganising it through omission, condensation and shifts into descriptive passages. The series remains close to the scripts, introducing occasional changes that enhance conversational naturalness. Overall, the audiovisual rewriting preserves the novel’s functional distribution of languages: Espacuence structures everyday interaction, whereas Basque is concentrated in ideological contexts or those associated with the Basque conflict. Some Espacuence features also contribute to the social differentiation of characters. Through the selective retention, reduction and redistribution of linguistic forms, the series both simplifies the sociolinguistic landscape and reinforces associations between language, social identity and the conflict.