The Challenge of a Bilingual Society in the Basque Country
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The Challenge of a Bilingual Society in the Basque Country EDITED BY Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi Center for Basque Studies UPV/EHU University of Nevada, Reno Center for Basque Studies Current Research Series, No. 9 Te Challenge of a Bilingual Society in the Basque Country Edited by Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi Current Research Series No. 9 Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Published in conjunction with the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU //__ Center for I -::::- Basque Studies Universidad Euskal Herriko c) UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO - II del Pafs Vasco Unibertsitatea Current Research Selections of the ongoing work done by the faculty of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), www.ehu.es Editorial Committee Amaia Maseda (Chair, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU), Arantza Azpiroz (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU), Javier Echeverría (Uni- versity of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, and Ikerbasque), Jon Landeta (Uni- versity of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU), Sandra Ott (UNR), Joseba Zulaika (UNR), Santos Zunzunegui (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU) Current Research Series No. 9 Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada 89557 http://basque.unr.edu Copyright © 2012 by the Center for Basque Studies. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover and series design © 2011 by Jose Luis Agote. Cover design based on engravings by Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza. Translations by: introduction, Cameron J. Watson; chapter 1, Julie Waddington; chapter 2, Laura Bunt MacRury; chapters 3, 7, and 9, Jennifer R. Ottman; chapters 4, 5 and 6, Jennifer Martin Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Te challenge of a bilingual society in the Basque country / edited by Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi. p. cm. -- (Current research series ; no. 9) “Published in conjunction with the University of the Basque Country UPV/ EHU.” Summary: “Collection of articles by Basque academics on Basque language and its relations to bilingual society”--Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-935709-30-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Basque language--Social aspects. 2. Bilingualism--Spain. 3. Bilingualism--France. I. Salaburu Etxeberria, Pello. II. Alberdi, Xabier. PH5024.75C48 2012 499’.92--dc23 2012035033 Contents Introduction . 7 1. A Nation in Search of a Name: Cultural Realities, Political Projects, and Terminological Struggles in the Basque Country ............... 11 Ludger Mees, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 2. Te Legal System of a Bilingual Society............................... 33 Alberto López Basaguren, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 3. Basque and Romance Languages: Languages with Diferent Structures .................................. 51 Igone Zabala and Itziar San Martin, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 4. A Small Country, a Small Language, Many Dialects and Accents . 73 Jesus Mari Makazaga, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 5. Te Search for a Common Code . 93 Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 6. Te Current Situation of the Basque Language: Speakers . 113 Miren Azkarate Villar, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 7. Linguistic School Models in the Basque Country .................... 137 Julian Maia, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 8. Te Basque Language in the Minds of Native and Nonnative Bilinguals . 157 Itziar Laka, Mikel Santesteban, Kepa Erdocia, and Adam Zawiszewski, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 9. Current Basque Literature.............................................. 173 Jon Kortazar, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) 6 Contents References .................................................................... 191 Index.......................................................................... 209 List of Contributors .......................................................... 223 Introduction Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) Some non-Indo-European languages survive in Europe, but the only one of these in the western half of the continent is Euskara (the Basque language).1 It is, according to every study and despite the fact that the oldest testimonies in Euskara are only two thousand years old, a language that was used in the region prior to the invasions of Indo-European peoples with other cultures and other languages six thousand years ago. Te Basque language, spoken by half a million people, is not related to any other language in the world. It is, therefore, atypical and unique from that perspective. Tis language has survived through centuries, even though it has not enjoyed—until quite recently and only in one part of the Basque Country— the stable recognition of being a coofcial language recognized by the public administration. It has been preserved despite enormous difculties and in constant competition with much more powerful languages. Even though 25 percent of the population speaks it today, it has sufered a signifcant decline in use through the centuries. Following the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the major changes that took place in one area of the Basque Country—what is termed the Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco-Euskal Autonomia Erkiedgoa (CAPV- EAE, the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country), in Spain—led to a completely new situation: Euskara became, together with Spanish, a lan- guage ofcially recognized by law, and the rights of Basque-speakers were protected through various regulations in diferent social spheres. In the space of a few years, Euskara went from being a language spoken mostly in rural areas to being used in the media, at university, and in the ofces of the Basque government. In short, it became a “visible” language in a modern society. 1. In this work the terms “Euskara” and “Basque” will be used equally to refer to the Basque lan- guage. 8 Pello Salaburu and Xabier Alberdi In the current work we present some of the features that characterize a modern bilingual society. We begin by defning what is understood by “the Basque Country,” a term loaded with enormous social, cultural, and political connotations that has led to major confusion: Chapter 1 explains these prob- lems and explores their causes. Ofcial recognition of a language by the pub- lic authorities is only possible if the necessary legislative changes take place so that its speakers see their rights protected in practice, and this ofen poses new problems and unforeseen situations. As chapter 2 explains, bilingual societies end up devising their own regulations in order to facilitate and develop social coexistence. Because Euskara is a non-Indo-European language it follows that it has certain features that diferentiate it completely from its neighbor- ing languages, as explained in chapter 3. Despite being a language spoken in a reduced space and with not so many speakers, the complex terrain of the region, its administrative division into two diferent states as well as into sev- eral regional administrations, and the lack of a single written code that might help to structure the form of the language has meant that many local dialects and forms of speech have been preserved, as examined in chapter 4. Chapter 5 addresses precisely the history of a unique achievement: the development of a standard written code that in the few decades of its brief existence has been extraordinarily successful. It studies the specifc form of that model and its bases. Chapter 6 provides ample information about the sociolinguistic situa- tion of the language: speakers, use, spheres of use, people’s attitudes toward it, and so on. Basque society has demonstrated a clear preference for its children being educated through the medium of Euskara at school. Te survival of Spanish is guaranteed for a number of reasons but parents also want Euskara, one of the Basque community’s main signs of identity, to be learned and used. Chapter 7 explains how education is organized from a linguistic perspective. Chapter 8 addresses an issue of great interest from a neurological point of view: the description of certain features of the brain in bilingual people. Te application of empirical laboratory techniques to people who use languages as diferently structured as Spanish and Basque has led to the emergence of new felds of study in these sciences. Finally, chapter 9 focuses on certain aspects of Basque literature: the spread of the language into education, the media, the translation of texts, and the public administration has had the natural consequence of an unprecedented boom in written literature in the Basque language, with the works of Basque authors now being systematically translated into other languages. Te authors of these chapters are professors at the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU, the University of the Basque Country) and have widespread experience in research on the Basque language from diferent perspectives. Basque society is a bilingual society— in the French part Euskara and French are spoken and in the Spanish part Introduction 9 Euskara and Spanish are apoken—in which two languages are used and all speakers are guaranteed basic rights in the CAPV-EAE and parts of Navarre. Tis is a new situation in Basque history: a history that, for good or bad, is still being written by its protagonists—the inhabitants of the Basque Country. We are lucky on this occasion to be direct witnesses and conscious protagonists of that history, something that is quite unusual in the history of languages. 1 A Nation in Search of a Name: Cultural Realities, Political Projects, and Terminological Struggles in the Basque Country Ludger Mees, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) “Izena duenak badu izana”: this well-known Basque saying means that a name has an existence of its own, words are not neutral and, consequently, by controlling words we are also able to modulate meanings. In Basque history, few words or concepts have been as strongly contested as those concerning the naming of the Basque people or country.