Basque language policy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Basque language policy in Spain is an expression of linguistic autonomy. Spanish is the national language , but the Basque minority is legally given the possibility of an independent language policy. In the case of multilingual states, language status planning differentiates between monolingualism, protection of language minorities, linguistic autonomy, linguistic federalism and institutionalized multilingualism. Since 1918, the Euskaltzaindia , the Academy of the Basque Language , has worked to preserve the language spoken in Spain and France . In the late 1960s she created a standardized written language for Basque. The main actors in Basque language policy are the Viceconsejería de Política Lingüística of the Basque government and the state Universidad del País Vasco .

Identification with the Basque

Basque is the only living non- Indo-European language in Western Europe. It is the oldest living language in Europe. However, the language area has been shrinking for centuries. In the 19th century, industrialization - with its intra-Spanish migration movements from the poor south to the center of Bilbao - accelerated this development. During the Spanish Civil War , Franco began suppressing the Basque language. Franco saw Basque as an identity. That is why he pursued a nationalistic-centralistic language policy with a repressive character, forbidding the official use of any language other than Castilian. The ideology “one people, one state, one language” was applied. Language lessons only took place in the ikastolak , the illegal language schools. It was not until the 1960s that the bans eased. A few years after Franco's death, Basque became the co-official language in the three provinces of the Basque Country, including in Navarre, in various stages. In Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Álava, around 550,000 of the 2.1 million inhabitants speak Basque. There are also around 90,000 speakers outside the Basque Country. Basque is seen as part of national identity, but language acquisition is very difficult. Around 1500 teaching hours are required to acquire basic oral skills. Legend has it that even the devil gave up learning Basque. As a result, identification with Basque is less pronounced than is the case with the other minority languages.

The legal basis of language status planning

The linguistic situation in Spain was regulated for the first time in the constitution of the Second Republic of 1931. This laid down the general and compulsory character of Castilian (Article 4). At the same time, the constitution opened up the possibility of education in the languages ​​of the autonomous communities (Article 50).

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 brought a huge legal improvement to the Basque language. It regulates the status of the languages ​​spoken on Spanish territory. Article 3 states:

«El castellano es la lengua oficial del Estado. Todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho de usarla. Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas, de acuerdo con sus Estatutos. La riqueza de las distintas modalidades linguísticas de España es un patrimonio cultural que será objetivo de especial respeto y protección. "

“ Spanish (Castilian) is the official language of the state. Every Spaniard has a duty to know them and the right to use them. The other Spanish languages ​​are also officially valid in the respective autonomous regions , in accordance with their statutes. The wealth of different linguistic expressions in Spain is a cultural asset that deserves special respect and protection. "

The further status of the languages ​​is regulated in the statutes of autonomy. The statutes of autonomy are basic institutional norms that are ratified by means of organic laws . There are six autonomous regions in Spain: Catalonia, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Galicia, Navarre and Basque Country. All autonomies have laws that regulate language policy. It states that all pupils should learn the specific language of their region in school. However, the linguistic distance between Spanish and Basque - called Euskera by the locals - is considerably greater than that between the other - all Romance - languages. Therefore, “language promotion has had to face the fact that only a small part of the population is able to speak Basque. Language policy has focused on promoting knowledge and use primarily through education ”. Less than half the population of the Basque Country speaks Euskera.

Article 6 of Ley Orgánica 3/1979 states:

"1. El euskera, lengua propia del Pueblo Vasco, tendrá como el castellano, carácter de lengua oficial en Euskadi, y todos sus habitantes tienen el derecho a conocer y usar ambas lenguas.

2. Las instituciones comunes de la Comunidad Autónoma, teniendo en cuenta la diversidad sociolingüística del País Vasco, garantizarán el uso de ambas lenguas, regulando su carácter oficial, y arbitrarán y regularán las medidas y medios necesarios para asegurar su conocimiento.

3. Nadie podrá ser discriminado por razón de la lengua. "

"1. Basque, the original language of the Basque people, is said to have the status of an official language in the Basque Country, like Spanish, and all residents have the right to know and speak both languages.

2. Taking into account the sociolinguistic diversity of the Basque Country, the regional bodies of the Autonomous Region guarantee the use of both languages, regulate their official character and regulate and determine the measures and means necessary to ensure their command.

3. Nobody should be discriminated against for linguistic reasons. "

Basque in administration

After Basque was introduced as the official language, it was not until 1989 that programs to strengthen Basque as an administrative language were launched. The aim was to guarantee that there would be as many bilingual speakers in the administration as in Basque society. In all areas of administration, language courses have been integrated into the working day or employees have been released on shifts for the language courses. For the first planning period of the program from 1990 to 1995, a compulsory language learning plan was presented to almost 9,000 employees (approximately 34% of Basque public employees ), which was followed by almost 90% of employees. The following planning period ran until 2002 and had the goal that 70% of the employees in the public sector had a command of both Spanish and Basque orally and in writing. The administrative efforts are supported by UZEI, an institution that deals with the areas of terminology and lexicography and modernizes the old Basque language, which sometimes works with quite simple terms. New technical, legal and administrative terms are being developed to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. In addition, the Euskalterm database was created as an auxiliary tool for public service employees , in which employees can look up questions about the evolving administrative language. The third planning period from 2003 to 2007 had similar content to the second. The fourth planning period from 2008 to 2012 had the goal of establishing Basque as a natural language of everyday life. It was planned to include around 2,000 administrative staff in the program. This was intended to give citizens the opportunity to choose between Basque and Spanish when visiting the authorities.

Basque in the educational system

The formerly illegal Ikastolak , the Basque language schools, play an essential role in Basque education . They were created in 1920 - before the Statute of Autonomy - and had a strong influence on education in the Basque Country until 1937. They were a privately funded parents' initiative. They were banned under Franco's rule and it was not until the late 1950s and early 1960s that ikastolaks were occasionally permitted again . From 1969 they were supported by the church. After the number of pupils had risen sharply in the 1960s and 1970s, the Ikastolak became important pillars of Basque language policy after the Transición . According to the Guernica Statute, the Basque language also gained importance in mainstream schools. In 1975 around 50,000 children attended this type of school, which was more than 10 percent of the eligible students. With the Basque Statute of Autonomy, the Ikastolak have been fully legalized. In the meantime, you can obtain a regular university degree at some Ikastolak . In the 2012/2013 school year, 50,400 pupils attended an Ikastola and 4,300 teachers taught there.

In 1982 the Ley Básica de Normalización del Uso del Euskera was passed. It provided for the normalization of the language and the basqueization of the civil service. The language policy stipulated by law was that civil servants had to speak Basque so that all administrative procedures could be carried out in this language. Schooling in the Basque language should also be encouraged. The law names three school models that are still valid today (the letter "C" is missing in Basque):

  • Model A : Spanish is a subject. Basque is taught as a second language three to five hours a week.
  • Model B : Spanish and Basque are the language of instruction.
  • Model D : Basque is the language of instruction. Spanish is taught as a second language three to five hours a week.

When this law came into effect, around a quarter of students had Basque as the language of instruction. In 2006, 79 percent of primary school students and 61 percent of secondary school students were taught in Basque. It is assumed that this makes a good contribution to language maintenance and language revitalization. This is also attributed to the interrelationship between the classroom and the extracurricular social situation of the Basque language, which is courted with considerable prestige.

Measured against these numbers, the language policy of the government of the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country has been successful in establishing Basque as the language of instruction. It is particularly interesting, however, that the development does not lead to equal bilingualism in the educational system, but favors model D , in which Spanish is no more than a subject.

The Universidad del País Vasco (in Basque: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) has existed since 1980. Two normalization plans were adopted for the university sector, in 1990 and 1999. The last one ended in the 2003/2004 academic year. It was at this time that the Bologna Process began, so English dominated the curriculum. In schools, the number of model D students is growing continuously. This trend continues with university entrance exams. In 2006/2007, for the first time, more high school graduates registered for the entrance examination in Basque than in Spanish. Accordingly, efforts have also been increased to produce teaching materials in Basque. From 1997 to 2006 the proportion of books published by the university in Basque was 41 percent.

As part of the Basque language policy, different models of university degrees have been created from which students can choose their degree. In model A, the entire course content is taught in Basque. Model B1 teaches the material of the main subjects in the first and second year of study in Basque, while model B2 teaches entirely in Basque in the first year and only the main subjects are offered in Basque in the following years. With model C, the lessons are only held entirely in Basque in the first year, then in Spanish, and model D finally only teaches the main subjects in Basque in the first year.

The increased efforts in the school and university sector also brought with it the need for better training of teachers and better equipment for schools and universities. To this end, teachers received extensive training in Basque language courses as part of the IRALE program. Teaching materials have also been developed: in printed form as well as audio-visual material and learning software .

All in all, it can be said that the Basque regional government has considerably increased its personnel, financial and organizational efforts to promote the Basque language, especially in the education sector, in recent years. The success of this policy has prompted the Basque government to shift the focus of its policy back more towards adult education for the current planning period in order to re-establish Basque as the everyday language in families, after - according to the Euskaltzaindia - the youth in their circle of friends mostly speaks Basque again.

The Basque language in the media

In 1938 the Basque-language as well as the bilingual media - at that time only newspapers - e.g. B. La Voz de Navarra , El Día , Euzkadi Argia and Ekin , banned by Francisco Franco and the diverse press landscape destroyed. Between 1945 and 1952 the illegal radio station "Radio Euskadi - the voice of the Basque underground" broadcast for the first time on shortwave from a location in the French Pyrenees. 1961 was broadcast again, from Venezuela. By the early 1980s, the press landscape in the Basque Country was completely fallow, with the market share of Basque-language newspapers fluctuating between 0% and 4%, and in 1980 Spanish television broadcast 18 minutes a week in Basque versus 5,400 minutes in Spanish.

After the Gernika Statute of Autonomy, the Basque media began to be rebuilt with the help of financial support from the EAJ / PNV government. In 1982, Euskal Irrati Telebista became the first television station to broadcast in the entire Basque Country. The Basque Government also subsidizes press products provided that they have a self-financing rate of at least 30%. Despite the intensive support from the government, the original diversity in the area of ​​Basque-language print products has not yet returned. Even the Gara newspaper, which is close to the radical nationalists , only writes part of the articles in Basque, as the Spanish language can still reach a wider readership.

Until 2003, the Euskaldunon Egunkaria newspaper, founded in 1990, was the only daily newspaper written entirely in Basque . With a daily circulation of 12,000 copies, it only reached a fraction of the population. Egunkaria was closed in 2003 on the instigation of the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón on suspicion of ETA funding, the closure was classified as unconstitutional. The successor to Egunkaria is the daily Berria , which is also only published in Basque .

Another completely Basque-language medium is the weekly Argia magazine with a circulation of 10,000 copies. There are also magazines for young people - with print runs between 2,500 and 8,000 copies - and magazines that deal with special topics such as literature, science, religion or economics, but whose circulation does not exceed 1,500 copies. In addition, local newspapers are financed and distributed free of charge by forty municipalities to promote the Basque language.

In the field of radio and television, a lot has happened in recent years, especially the Basque-speaking radio stations have recorded a steady increase in listeners in recent years, the current number is around 330,000 listeners daily, spread across the three large radio stations Euskadi Irratia (founded in 1982), Radio Euskadi, which can be received via satellite with a half-hour program every day all over the world, and the youth channel Euskadi Gaztea, founded in 1990 . The numerous local stations such as Radio Vitoria make up a smaller proportion of the audience . In addition to the television station Radio Televisión Vasca ( Euskal Irrati Telebista in Basque ), a television station for the Basques in North and South America was founded with Canal Vasco , which broadcasts in Spanish with Basque subtitles.

Ethnic nationalism

The preservation of the Basque nationality is ensured by the existence of an autonomous government as well as corresponding institutions and laws. These forms of self-government ensure the survival of the Basque collective identity. The founder of the Basque nationalist underground organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Julen Madariaga, advocates an independent Basque country with Basque as the only official language.

“The Basques are just tired of fighting over and over again about things like identity and Basque culture. They are more concerned about rising unemployment, the economic crisis and Eta terrorism, which Ibarretxe only half-heartedly condemns and fights. Especially in education and language policy, the government of Ibarretxe has taken an increasingly radical course and offended the Spanish-oriented Basques. "

- María Silvestre : The time of February 26, 2009

“After all, a change in cultural and language policy can be expected. The force-feeding with Basque, controlled from above, was forced under Ibarretxe in such a way that no toilet clerk was employed in the public service without a basic course in this idiom. "

- Leo Wieland : Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of March 9, 2009

Web links

Portal: Basques  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the subject of Basques

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nina Janich: The language of politics - politics with language. (PDF) In: forost working paper No. 29. Peter Haslinger, Nina Janich, June 2005, p. 15 , accessed on November 21, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Maria Costa: Migration movements as a generator of language innovations. (PDF) March 22, 2012, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Martin Haase: Research on Basque. University of Bamberg, accessed on November 21, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Heike Wolkenstörfer: One language - one nation? University of Bamberg, June 8, 2011, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Martin Haase: Basque. (PDF) Retrieved November 21, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Michi Strausfeld: Criticism in Brief. ZEITmagazin, May 6, 1983, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  7. ^ Georg Bossong: Language and Identity in the Hispanic World. (PDF) In: New research on contact linguistics (Plurilingua XIX, Festschrift for Peter Nelde and the Brussels “Research Center for Multilingualism”). Wolfgang W. Moelleken, Peter J. Weber, 1997, pp. 65–80 , accessed on November 21, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Justyna Bembnista: change or episode? Current language policy in Euskadi since the change of government in 2009. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  9. ^ Jenny Brumme: National language and regional languages ​​in Spain. An outline of the problem for today and tomorrow . In: Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Hrsg.): Nationalism in the Mediterranean: a series of lectures in the winter semester 1991 . Passavia Universitäts-Verlag, Passau 1994, ISBN 3-86036-014-0 , p. 76 f . (167 pages).
  10. ↑ Marta Fernández Bueno: Catalan and Basque in the Spanish educational system. (PDF) p. 61 f , accessed on November 21, 2015 .
  11. ^ Claudia Maria Karlsson: On the roles of Spanish and Basque in the institutions of Euskadi. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, p. 83 f , accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  12. ^ Claudia Maria Karlsson: On the roles of Spanish and Basque in the institutions of Euskadi. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, p. 83 f , accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Justyna Bembnista: change or episode? Current language policy in Euskadi since the change of government in 2009. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Jeroen Darquennes: Language diversity and educational systems - on the possible role of teaching in language revitalization processes. (PDF) In: Tertium comparationis 12 (2006) 1. German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) Information Center (IZ) Education, December 2006, p. 53 , accessed on November 21, 2015 .
  15. ^ Claudia Maria Karlsson: On the roles of Spanish and Basque in the institutions of Euskadi. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, p. 83 f , accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Alan Davies: Radio in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. (PDF) Radio-Kurier - listen worldwide, 2002, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Justyna Bembnista: change or episode? Current language policy in Euskadi since the change of government in 2009. (PDF) In: Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna. 2013, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Spain: Closure of the Basque newspaper was unconstitutional. heise online, April 13, 2010, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Walther L. Bernecker: Between "Nation" and "Nationality": the Basque Country and Catalonia. Federal Agency for Civic Education, August 30, 2010, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Karin Finkenzeller: A cheeky lie. Zeit Online, August 13, 2009, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Manuel Meyer: Nationalists are threatened with loss of power. Zeit Online, February 26, 2009, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  22. ^ Leo Wieland: Change of power in the Basque Country. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 9, 2009, accessed on November 22, 2015 .