The Spanish term Vascuence, derived from Latin vasconĭce, has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally. Both terms, vasco and basque, are inherited from the Latin ethnonym Vascones, which in turn goes back to the Greek term Οὐάσκωνες ( ouaskōnes), an ethnonym used by Strabo in his Geographica (23 CE, Book III). Today, it is most commonly referred to as vasco, lengua vasca, or euskera. Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. In French, the language is normally called basque, though euskara has become common in recent times. In Basque, the name of the language is officially euskara (alongside various dialect forms). See also: Basques § Etymology of the word Basque Nevertheless, Basque has borrowed up to 40 percent of its vocabulary from Romance languages, and the Latin script is used for the Basque alphabet. Typologically, with its agglutinative morphology and ergative–absolutive alignment, Basque grammar remains markedly different from that of Standard Average European languages. before the arrival of Celtic and Romance languages in particular, as the latter today geographically surround the Basque-speaking region. ![]() The current mainstream scientific view on the origin of the Basques and of their language is that early forms of Basque developed before the arrival of Indo-European languages in the area, i.e. īasque is the only surviving language isolate in Europe. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region and from school to school. Euskara Batua was created so that the Basque language could be used-and easily understood by all Basque speakers-in formal situations (education, mass media, literature), and this is its main use today. They take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. ![]() As a part of this process, a standardised form of the Basque language, called Euskara Batua, was developed by the Euskaltzaindia in the late 1960s.īesides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and Navarrese–Lapurdian and Souletin in France. Overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. Public use of Basque was frowned upon by supporters of the regime, often regarded as a sign of anti-Francoism or separatism. In some provinces the public use of Basque was suppressed, with people fined for speaking it. In the Basque Country, "Francoist repression was not only political, but also linguistic and cultural." Franco's regime suppressed Basque from official discourse, education, and publishing, making it illegal to register newborn babies under Basque names, and even requiring tombstone engravings in Basque to be removed. In Francoist Spain, Basque language use was discouraged by the government's repressive policies. By contrast, most of Álava, the westernmost part of Biscay, and central and southern Navarre are predominantly populated by native speakers of Spanish, either because Basque was replaced by Spanish over the centuries (as in most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it may never have been spoken there (as in parts of Enkarterri and south-eastern Navarre). ![]() Gipuzkoa, most of Biscay, a few municipalities of Álava and the northern area of Navarre formed the core of the remaining Basque-speaking area before measures were introduced in the 1980s to strengthen Basque fluency. ![]() Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish provinces and the three "ancient provinces" in France. Of these, 93.2% (700,300) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.8% (51,200) are in the French portion. The Basque language is spoken by 28.4% (751,500) of Basques in all territories. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country. Linguistically, Basque is a language isolate (unrelated to any other existing languages). Location of the Basque-language provinces within Spain and Franceīasque ( / ˈ b æ s k, ˈ b ɑː s k/) ( euskara ), is a language spoken by Basques and others of the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and south-western France.
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