Wikipedia

Standard Basque

Standard Basque(Basque:euskara batua,lit. 'united Basque') is astandardised versionof theBasque language,developed by theBasque Language Academyin the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version throughout theBasque Country.Heavily based on the literary tradition of the central areas (GipuzkoanandLapurdiandialects), it is the version of the language that is commonly used in education at all levels, from elementary school to university, on television and radio, and in the vast majority of all written production in Basque.[1]

Basque dialects, according to the 21st-century classification byKoldo Zuazo
Western (Biscayan)
Central (Gipuzkoan)
(Upper) Navarrese
Navarro-Lapurdian
Zuberoan
other Basque areasca1850 (Bonaparte)

It is also used in common parlance by new speakers that have not learnt any local dialect, especially in the cities, whereas in the countryside, with more elderly speakers, people remain attached to the natural dialects to a higher degree, especially in informal situations; i.e. Basque traditional dialects are still used in the situations where they always were used (native Basque speakers speaking in informal situations), whilebatuahas conquered new fields for the Basque language: the formal situations (where Basque was seldom used, apart from religion) and a lot of new speakers that otherwise would not have learned Basque.

Euskara batuaenjoysofficial languagestatus inSpain(in the wholeBasque Autonomous Communityand in the northern sections ofNavarre) but remains unrecognised as an official language inFrance,the only language officially recognised by that country beingFrench.

History

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The standard version of Basque was created in the 1970s by theEuskaltzaindia(Royal Academy of the Basque Language), mainly based on the central Basque dialect and on the written tradition. Having been for centuries pressured byacculturationfrom bothSpanishandFrench,and particularly under the rule ofFrancoin which the Basque language was prohibited and came closer to extinction inSpain,the Academy felt the need to create a unified dialect of Basque, so that the language had a greater chance of survival.

The 1968Arantzazu Congresstook place in thesanctuary of Arantzazu,a shrine perched in the highlands ofGipuzkoaand a dynamic Basque cultural focus, where the basic guidelines were laid down for achieving that objective in a systematic way (lexicon, morphology, declension and spelling). A further step was taken in 1973 with a proposal to establish a standard conjugation.[2]

The debate arising from this new set of standard language rules (1968–1976) did not prevent Standard Basque from becoming increasingly accepted as the Basque standard language in teaching, the media, and administration (1976–1983), within the context of burgeoning regional government (Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country,1979; Improvement of the Charter ofNavarre,1982).

Reasons for basing on the central dialect

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Here are the reasons for basing the standardised Basque on the central dialect, theGipuzkoan,according toKoldo Zuazo:[3]

  1. Linguistic: the central dialect is the meeting point of all Basque speakers. The westernmost dialect,Biscayan,is difficult to understand for the speakers from other dialects; and the same occurs with the easternmost dialect,Zuberoan.
  2. Demolinguistic: the central area and the western area were in 1968 and still are the zones in which most Basque speakers live. Moreover, it was and is inGipuzkoaand the surrounding areas that Basque is strongest.
  3. Sociolinguistic: since the 18th century, the central dialect, more precisely, the Beterri sub-dialect, is most prestigious.
  4. Economic and cultural:Bilbaois certainly the most important Basque city, but it is not Basque speaking. The same is true forGasteiz,Iruñea,andBaiona-Angelu-Biarritz.This leftGipuzkoa,the only Basque province with a multipolar structure and no powerful city.

Koldo Zuazo (a scholar and supporter of Basque dialects, especially his own,Biscayan) said that "taking all these characteristics into account, I think that it is fair and sensible having based theeuskara batuaon the central Basque dialect, and undoubtedly that is the reason of the Batua being so successful ".[5]

Usage

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In the 21st century, almost all texts in Basque are published in the standard variety, i.e. administrative texts, education textbooks, media publications,[6][7][8][9]literary texts, etc.

The most widely usedISO 639-2code is theEUcode that always refers to standard Basque.ISO 639-3code isEUS.TheEu-ESandEu-FRcodes have also been used, but the standard Basque used in Spain and France forms just one language, and mostsoftware translatorsprefer theEUcode.[10][better source needed]

Currently the standard form of the language is widely used in education. In theBasque Autonomous Communityand in the north of peninsularNavarre,Standard Basque is the most widely used working language. In theFrench Basque Country,Basque is used in severalikastolasand in onelyceum,but its use lags far behindFrench,the only official language of France.

Nowadays all school materials and all the written productions of teachers and students are always written in the standard form of Basque.

Different university studies are currently offered in (standard) Basque at some universities in Spain, France and the USA.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

Advantages of Standard Basque

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According toKoldo Zuazo,[18]there are six main advantages thateuskara batuahas brought to the Basque language:

  1. Basque-speakers can easily understand each other when they usebatua.When they use traditional dialects, difficulties in understand one another increase, especially between speakers of non-central dialects.
  2. Before the creation ofbatua,Basque speakers had to turn to Spanish or French to discuss modern topics or work subjects: Euskara Batua gives them a suitable tool to do so.
  3. Batuahas made more adult people than ever able to learn the Basque language.
  4. The geographic reach of the Basque language has been in retreat for centuries. Old maps reveal that Basque was formerly spoken in a significantly larger area than today. However, now, thanks to theeuskaltegisandikastolas,thanks to primary schools, high schools and universities that teachbatua,the Basque-speaking area is expanding anew, as Basque speakers can now be found in any part of the Basque Country, and at times even outside it.
  5. Batuahas given prestige to Basque because it can now be used in high-level usages of society.
  6. Basque speakers are more united: sincebatuawas made, the internal boundaries of the language have also been broken, and the sense of being a community is more alive. With a stronger speakers' community, Basque language becomes stronger.

All of those advantages have been widely recognised and so have been used by Badihardugu, an organisation supporting the traditional dialects.[19]

Criticism

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Standard Basque has been described as an "artificial language"by its critics,[who?]a "plastified Euskeranto",[20][21]as it is at times hardlymutually intelligiblewith the dialects at the extremes (namely the westernmost one orBiscayan,and the easternmost one orZuberoan). Moreover, Basque purists (such asOskillasoandMatías Múgica) have argued that its existence and proliferation will kill the historic and genuine Basque languages. Others argue that standard Basque has safeguarded the future of a language that competes withFrenchandSpanish.

Research by the Euskaltzaindia shows that Basque is growing most in the areas whereeuskara batuahas been introduced and taught in preference of local dialects. Indeed, this has permitted a revival in the speaking of Basque, since many of the current elder generations cannot speak the language in part due to the suppression of public use during most ofFrancisco Franco's dictatorship.

Another point of contention was the spelling of ⟨h⟩. Northeastern dialects pronounce it as an aspiration while the rest do not use it. Standard Basque requires it in writing but allows a silent pronunciation. Opponents complained that many speakers would have to relearn their vocabulary by rote.

Federico Krutwigalso promoted the creation of an alternative literary dialect, this time based on theRenaissanceLabourdineused byJoanes Leizarraga,the first translator of theProtestantBible.It also featured anetymologicalspelling.

The mainstream opinion accepts thebatuavariant because of the benefits it has brought:

The benefits that the Academy's standard has brought to Basque society are widely recognized. First of all, it made possible for Basque speakers to discuss any topic in their language. Secondly, it has eliminated the (sometimes serious) obstacles that previously existed in communication between speakers from different areas of the Basque Country. At the same time,euskara batuais still nobody's "real" native language, a situation that not uncommonly creates feelings of linguistic insecurity, together with a willingness to accept external norms of linguistic use.

— José Ignacio HualdeandKoldo Zuazo[1]

On the other hand, some Basque authors or translators such as Matías Múgica characterizebatuaworks as a merepidginwith a severe loss of spontaneity and linguistic quality over the traditional dialects.[22]

Basque dialects

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Main article:Basque dialects

The relation between the Standard Basque and the local dialects is well summarized as follows by William Haddican:[23]

Batua was not primarily intended as a replacement for local dialects, but rather to complement them as a written standard and for inter-dialectal communication. Nevertheless, dialect speakers often view Batua as more objectively "correct" than their own dialect.

— William Haddican[24]

The following dialects were the pre-batuaBasque and make up the colloquial or casualregisterof Basque, theeuskara batuabeing the formal one. They were created in the Middle Ages from a previously quite unified Basque language and diverged from each other since then because of the administrative and political division that happened in theBasque Country.[25][26]

They are spoken in the Spanish and French Basque regions. Standard Basque was then created using Gipuzkoan as a basis, also bringing scattered elements from the other dialects. They are typically used in the region after which they are named, but havemany linguistic similarities.

See also

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References

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  1. ^abHualde, José Ignacio;Zuazo, Koldo(2007)."The standardization of the Basque language".Language Problems and Language Planning.31(2): 142–168.doi:10.1075/lplp.31.2.04hua.ISSN0272-2690.
  2. ^Trask, R. L. (1997).The history of Basque.London: Routledge.ISBN0-415-13116-2.OCLC34514667.
  3. ^Zuazo, Koldo (2008).Euskara normaltzeko bideak(PDF).Euskalgintza XXI. Mendeari Buruz. Euskaltzaindiaren nazioarteko XV. Biltzarra (in Basque). Euskaltzaindia. pp. 3–13.
  4. ^Zuazo (2008),p. 4
  5. ^"Ezaugarri hauek guztiok kontuan izanda, zuzena eta zentzuzkoa begitantzen zait Euskara Batua erdialdeko euskalkian oinarritu izana, eta horren ondorioa da, ezbairik gabe, lortu duen arrakasta."[4]
  6. ^"EITB Euskal Irrati Telebista".EITB Euskal Irrati Telebista(in Basque).Retrieved2021-04-14.
  7. ^"ARGIA Kazetaritza independientea. Txikitik eragiten".Argia.Retrieved2021-04-14.
  8. ^Berria.eus."Berria - Euskal Herriko euskarazko egunkaria".Berria(in Basque).Retrieved2021-04-14.
  9. ^"Iparraldeko Hitza.eus"(in Basque).Retrieved2021-04-14.
  10. ^"Use" eu "instead of" eu-ES "for Basque locale · Issue #3956 · Chocobozzz/PeerTube".GitHub.Retrieved2021-04-14.
  11. ^"Etxepare Lizeoa – Le lycée".betxepare.eus(in French). Archived fromthe originalon 2021-04-15.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  12. ^"University of the Basque Country".UPV/EHU.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  13. ^"Mondragon University".Mondragon Unibertsitatea.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  14. ^"Deusto University".deusto.es.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  15. ^The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning,(2007). ISSN: 1570 – 1239.
  16. ^"About the Center for Basque Studies | Center for Basque Studies".University of Nevada, Reno.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  17. ^"Basque Studies at the University Level".nabasque.eus.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  18. ^Zuazo, Koldo(2005).Euskara batua: ezina ekinez egina(in Basque). Elkar.ISBN978-84-9783-316-5.
  19. ^"Euskalkien Aldeko Agiria"( "Document in favor of Basque Dialects" ), from the Badihardugu website. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
  20. ^"Euskeranto" isportmanteauofEuskeraandEsperanto,a constructed language taking vocabulary from several European languages.La politisation des langues régionales en France(in French),Hérodote,Philippe Blanchet,page 29, 2002/2 (N°105)
  21. ^Múgica, José Ignacio (1982-05-01)."El euskañol o el euskeranto"[Euskañol or euskeranto].ABC (Madrid)(in Spanish). p. 19.
  22. ^Barbería, José Luis (2015-09-24)."Euskaldunizar a la fuerza".El País(in Spanish).Retrieved2015-10-19.
  23. ^William Haddican is a lecturer in the Department of Language of Language and Linguistic Science of the University of York, whose research focuses on language change, syntax and language contact particularly as they relate to Basque and dialects of English. Seehis pageArchived2009-05-30 at theWayback Machinein the website of the University of York (retrieved 2010-09-03).
  24. ^Haddican, William (2005)."Standardization and Language Change in Basque".University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics.11(2): 105–118.
  25. ^Mitxelena, Koldo (1981)."Lengua común y dialectos vascos"[Common language and Basque dialects](PDF).Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo(in Spanish).15:291–313 – via University of the Basque Country.
  26. ^Zuazo, Koldo (2010).El euskera y sus dialectos.Alberdania.ISBN978-84-9868-202-1.

Bibliography

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