It consists of two dialects in older classifications, Lower Navarrese and Labourdin.

Labourdin is felt by speakers of other dialect to be clear-cut and elegant, retaining like other northern Basque dialects the consonant /h/, and it was used along with Gipuzkoan and High Navarrese in the creation of the Batua, a standardised form of Basque intended for teaching and the media.

Classic Labourdin was a literary language of the 17th century, used by authors such as Axular.

The type of syllable stress in Hondarribian Basque is considered to be a remainder of the one that may have been used in Classic Lapurdian.

Salazarese, spoken in Spain, was once thought to be a subdialect of Navarro-Lapurdian,[citation needed] but it is now classified as Eastern Navarrese.