The legal status of the basque language in france basque. Euskera is one of the four nonindoeuropean languages found in europe along with finnish, estonian, and hungarian. In order to provide an overview of euskal herria, the basque country and of euskara, the basque language, during recent decades and today, some of the aspects that are going to be re. Pdf this paper focuses on bilingual and trilingual education in the basque. Key building blocks of the science, technology and innovation policy in the basque country 34 figure 3. The language basque is written with the latin alphabet and the basques call their language euskara. Basque country european institute for gender equality.
Basque country greater region simple english wikipedia. Dec, 2011 there are special language policy plans for schools to promote the use of basque aldekoa and gardner 2002. Country, limits the focus of discussion to the basque. Explore basque country holidays and discover the best time and places to visit. The basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the basque country.
The deputy ministry for language policy, which is currently a part of the basque governments culture department, was created in 1983 shortly after the law for the promotion of basque 1982 was passed although the current version of this law dates from 1995 decree no. As for adult education, it is expected that 4,500 people will become. Bilingual educational policy in higher education in the. Started as a cultural movement to reclaim back the basque s right to keep and cultivate their original language and traditions. Basques have emigrated from their homeland for over two centuries, establishing roots in chile, argentina, the philippines, mexico, the united states, australia, and more. Basque diaspora in the united states smithsonian folklife.
That is, as long as basque language remains a keystone of basque identity, it will be preserved in the basque autonomous region. Language policy legal status the basque country can be found in the southeast of europe straddling part of france and spain. An analysis of the basque independence movement and the. The basque country is a small territory in the north of spain where, from time immemorial, a native nonindoeuropean language, basque, was spoken. People also say basque country when they talk about the larger cultural region basque. Euskadi and navarre, respectively two million and 500,000 inhabitants, have deployed different language policies reflected in a higher status of basque in the public sphere in euskadi compared to navarre. Thus, in 20 years basque will be the first language for three out of ten basque citizens nowadays it is 23. For many years the state, regional and local governments did not support the basque.
The language has been made a political issue by official spanish and french policies. The areas where native basque speakers are most lik ely to be found covers totally or partially the seven lands of the basque country. The basque country is a cultural unit, not a political one, which straddles the western end of the francospanish border. The action plans set in motion by the deputy ministry for language policy during the 19951998 and 19992002 periods already recognised the need for a systematic assessment of language policy and anticipated the need to establish a national system of indicators. This paper examines issues related to the important impact of language policy in the basque country in recent decades.
Normalization of basque in the public administration. Towards a consistent language policy for the french basque country. The high court of justice of the basque country is in bilbao. Autonomous community of the basque country euskadi and the foral community of navarre navarra or nafarroa. Basque country, france, ethnonationalism, language policy. Started as a cultural movement to reclaim back the basques right to keep and cultivate their original language and traditions. Jan 08, 2018 basque country, in northeastern spain, is one of europes most intriguing places. Learning english in the basque country, journal of multilingual and multicultural development, 433449. Bbc travel the mysterious origins of europes oldest language. Towards an institutionalized language policy for the french. Based on the findings, language policy recommendations are advanced.
The foreign language teaching situation in spain is currently under change. There are special language policy plans for schools to promote the use of basque aldekoa and gardner 2002. Sociolinguistic studies carried out by the deputy ministry. Basque country, in northeastern spain, is one of europes most intriguing places. The most important basque city, bilbao, located in the bac, is also one 1.
Spanish only policy during fra ncos dictatorship 19391975 had im. The autonomous community is based on the statute of autonomy of the basque country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the development of the basque people on spanish soil. Pdf the basque countrylanguage, culture and politics. Basque country autonomous community simple english. Abstract the paper describes the present state of the basque language within the educational field in spanish state and french state. The land inhabited by the basques has a mild and damp climate and is largely hilly and wooded. Learn more about the basque people in this article. The french basque country is centred in the western region of the departement of pyreneesatlantiques. Introduction this paper focuses on the situation of basque language also called euskera in france. Massively supported by basque people and gathered international support against franco.
The place of language and the language of place in the. Meeting of the community council in which the decision was taken. Interdependence among different processes is shown. However, there are other bodies within the basque government which promote and disseminate the basque language. Language revitalization and the normalization of basque. As a result, in 1996 the make up of the basque language advisory board was altered to. The movement was seriously repressedarmed activity. The basque country is found in the western pyrenees, a land within spanish borders to the west, and within french borders to the east. Bilingual education in the basque country springerlink.
May 28, 2019 the basque language is not indoeuropean. Gender impact assessment was applied for the first time in 2007 by the basque government, when the assessment procedure was established. The development of basque has been most significant in education where it is not only a school subject but. The basque country or basque autonomous community was granted the status of nationality within spain, attributed by the spanish constitution of 1978. It is spoken by 27% of basques in all territories 714,6 out of 2,648,998. Basque, a minority language that was not allowed in the public space until the late 1970s, is an official language along with spanish in the basque autonomous community. Department of education, culture and language policy of the. This is also evident in different regions of the basque country where the native language is used more frequently beck 1945. Basque, member of a people who live in both spain and france in areas bordering the bay of biscay and encompassing the western foothills of the pyrenees mountains.
Now you can soak in basque culture in boise, idaho. Ensuring relevance for policy makers and practitioners through indepth analyses and case. It remarks the legislative aspects, the number of speakers, the language geographical distribution and the populations linguistic attitudes with the aim of presenting a sociolinguistic view which can explain language improvements in education. Euskara is a language isolate ancestral to the basque people, who are indigenous to and mainly inhabit the basque country, a region spanning an area in northeastern spain and southwestern france. In this presentation before the iowa city foreign relations council, roslyn m. Northern basque country to fund occitan language policy. Linguists have tried to connect basque with languages spoken in north africa and the caucasus mountains, but no direct links have been proven. Therefore, while the fate of minority language euskara is not immediately certain, and although only about one third of basque country is completely fluent, the historical outcome is not entirely unpredictable either. Euskal herria, the home of the basque people, which has the autonomous. The mysterious origins of europes oldest language when gen francisco franco banned the use of the ancient euskara language, residents of the basque country fought to keep it alive. The results are monitored by the vicecounsel office of language policy, formerly. Bilingualism, identity, and citizenship in the basque country.
Subregional language policies in the basque country, catalonia and wales. Towards a consistent language policy for the french basque. In the area of education, it was based on the right to. Article 5 vol 1 1 2008 international clil research journal. Autonomous community of the basque country euskadi and the foral. Towards an institutionalized language policy for the. In the area of education, it was based on the right to choose the language of education, combined with generous aids for basquespeaking schools. Pdf bilingual education in the basque autonomous community. The use of basque as the language of instruction is widespread and.
Likewise, this court has opposed the ratification by the french state of the european charter for regional or minority languages in its ruling on june 15, 1999, even though the government had attached an interpretative declaration of that charter according to which the concept group is understood as a sum of individuals and not a specific entity, separated from the rest of the french nation. An estimated one million people comprise the overseas basque diaspora. School statistics and the draft linguistic policy enables the state of the basque language in the coming years to be forecast. Multilingual education for european minority languages. Its northernmost borders are the landes and bearne regions of france and the bay of biscay. In spain the basque country comprises the province of guipuzcoa, parts of vizcaya biscay and navarra navarre, and a corner of alava. Pdf towards a consistent language policy for the french. The basques derived their selfname, euskaldunak, from euskara, the ethnonym for the language. The autonomous community of the basque country has 7,234 km 2 2793 sq mi, and its population is about 2,000,000 about 5% of the total population of spain. The second part will describe the language policy followed in the basque country in the. The origin of the basques and the basque language is a controversial topic that has given rise to numerous hypotheses. Furthermore, the province of gipuzkoa, within the basque country, has also developed its own gender equality act, which regulates in detail the gender impact assessment process. Basque and spanish are spoken, and its largest city is bilbao although the capital is vitoriagasteiz.
The basque country is a fast growing region in recent decades, not only in economic terms, but also in innovation indicators. Zalbide and cenoz 2008, but the minority status of basque in society cannot completely counterbalance the work done by schools. In basque, euskal herria is formed from four provinces in spain alava, vizcaya, guipuzkoa, and navarra and three in france. The importance gained by plurilingualism and the study of languages in general in basque society over the past decade is clear, not only the world of work, since today it is almost an essential requirement to secure a job in the administration, in multinational firms, in technology companies etc. The relation between eta violence and language follows from the ideology that eta began with in the 1970s and the reinforcement of basque culture and how basqueness should be defined and thus protected. An idea of the central place the language has in cultural terms is given by the fact that basques identify themselves by the term euskaldun and their country as euskal herria, literally basque speaker and country of the basque language respectively. A colombian friend one mine, who now is fluent in basque, used these websites to start his journey. Soak in basque culture in boise, idaho, of all places cnn. To the south it borders on the rioja and zaragoza, to the east bearne, huesca and zaragoza and to the west cantabria, burgos. In the basque country, northern spain, basque euskera and. Vitoriagasteiz is the city with the most land, with 277 km 2 107 sq mi, bilbao has the most people, with 353,187.
Frank, professor emeritus of the department of spanish and portuguese at the university of iowa, shares her experiences in the basque country euskal herria where for the. The basque country, known as euskal herria in the basque language, consists of the seven historic provinces that are part of both france and spain. Modern basque, a descendant or close relative of aquitanian and proto basque, is the only preindoeuropean language that is extant in western europe. The department combines the regulation of public and private education, directs the normalization in the use of euskera language and is. Bilingual educational policy in higher education in the basque country. In this sense of geographical location, euskara is spoken mostly within the basque country or euskal herria in euskara. The place of language and the language of place in the basque. Modern basque, a descendant or close relative of aquitanian and protobasque, is the only preindoeuropean language that is extant in western europe. When discussing basquelanguage education, a number of features of the system must be taken into account. In sum, the strong political institutions and social movements of the southern basque country partially compensated for the institutional weakness of french basque actors and contributed, along with endogenous factors, to the institutionalization of a specific language policy for euskera. The second part will describe the language policy followed in the basque country in the 1980s and 1990s. In iparralde the basque language is not coofficial with french and the language policy is comparatively weak. Mintzalagun aprende euskera facilmente learn basque p.
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