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EXPERIENCE
Some keys to language and
identity recovery
Garabide Elkartea
In this film you will meet a family who failed in the transmission of the language, and
then a person who rejected the language after a very difficult personal situation. We
will also analyze the work carried out in those last 40 years on our way to recovery. To
do so, we have had the help of many experts in the field.
Author: Garabide Elkartea
Jose Arana, 13. 20540 Eskoriatza. Gipuzkoa.
Tel: 943250397.
www.garabide.org / info@garabide.org
L I C E N C I A C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S
Language recovery................................................ 11
Language as identity.............................................. 11
Sociolinguistic perspective.................................... 19
Language loss......................................................... 25
The route to language recovery............................ 28
Garabide Elkartea
INTRODUCTIO A language recovery process requires the support of the language
community in three fundamental ways: from the hands, the head
and the heart. So it is with Basque language recovery, the success
of which depends on a valid conceptual framework of strategies
and action (the head), the will and determination of the Basque-
speaking community to survive and continue its existence (the
heart) and the work and dedication of groups and individuals
within the community (the hands).
The first part of this book addresses the mind, the head. It attempts
to distil a universal theoretical framework out of the sum of our
people’s experience in recovering its language. It examines the
processes of language loss and recovery, the benefits of linguistic
diversity and the dangers posed by the cultural assimilation
to which native peoples are being exposed. However, while it is
important for language recovery to reason through these issues,
it will come to nothing unless theoretical knowledge is combined
with affective motivation, with an emotional response.
LANGUAGE
RECOVERY
Language as
identity
Language is our natural means of commu- knowledge passed down from one genera-
nication and chief medium for expressing tion to the next about how best to live in
ourselves. Each of us first communicates one’s habitat. Today, the domination of a
using the language that we acquire at home handful of major languages is threaten-
in early childhood. Through that language
ing to bring to an end the transmission of
we come to comprehend the world around
a great many other languages. Because
us; consequently it becomes an important
component of our psychological identity. of this, a countless number of alternative
views of the world and diverse bodies of
Each of the thousands of languages spo- inherited knowledge are in danger of being
ken around the world is a compendium of lost forever.
The language to the child that knowledge which turns
him or her into a person in society. Our
Language is a tool that has been developed Language is the key to a collective identity.
by human beings for communication. In each generation the language accumu-
What is more, language is the most sig- lates an entire people’s joint knowledge,
nificant and most long-lasting tool creat- and each new generation adds its own
ed by hominids in the process of evolving contribution. In this way the language is
into humans. a repository for all the wisdom, the in-
sights, the world view, the customs and
A well-known proverb says that a picture the traditions created and developed by
is worth a thousand words. But in truth, a given language community over time.
words have played a key part in the evo- For the community there exists a unique
lution of human thought and mould the association between its special way of
way we perceive the world. We choose reading and communicating reality and
our words to depict our view of reality. its language. The language is thus the key
We also choose our words to portray an to a people’s particular form or existence,
image of ourselves to others. as men and women, in the world.
Every community in human history has What is lost when a language disappears?
been identified on the basis of the lan- Language death is more than just an un-
guage it spoke and the culture it practised. fathomable loss for the community of the
The language is like the culture’s DNA. language concerned. When a language
Languages are storehouses for the sum goes, the key to understanding one way in
total of thoughts and ideas developed by which humans have come to conceive of
whole communities. the world is lost forever. As the use of the
language declines, the very culture, hand-
So, language and identity are intimately ed down the ancestral chain through the
bound up together. Even though individ- medium of the language, starts to fos-
ual identity consists of more than just our silise. Eventually it vanishes completely.
language, it is through our language that All that may remain of what was once a
we project who we are and express an living language is book-knowledge of its
identity. It is also through language that
a child receives the identity it inherits; 1 Joxe Manuel Odriozola: Euskalgintzaren
language is the vehicle for transmitting lekukoak, Elkar, 2004.
Language recovery 13
lexicon and grammar; but the living cul- María Sanchez Carrión Txepetx2, “language
ture and the profound insights that were is mankind’s first community, older, deeper
painstakingly passed along from genera- and truer than any state or political struc-
tion to generation for so long will have ture whatsoever.”3
ceased. What remains of the language is a
fossil, an artifact, a phonological and mor- Language, then, is more than a tool for
phological description, merely fit for the human communication. It is a vehicle that
museum display case and as material for transmits one’s experience, including a way
academic research. of viewing the world, not to mention cus-
toms, traditions and a whole folk culture. It
Because human beings, both as individu- is what transmits to individuals their identi-
als and as groups, encode the foundations ty. The loss of a language leads to the disap-
of our identities through our language, a pearance of a people’s history, their knowl-
people that has lost its own language loses, edge and their culture as a living system.
with it, its entire symbolic world, includ-
ing its sense of the land it lives in, start- 2 Jose María Sanchez Carrión Txepetx
ing with the very names of places and the (linguist).
meanings that those names hold for the 3 Jon Sarasua. Biziaren Hizkuntzaz: Txepe-
speakers of the language. To quote Jose txekin solasean. Gara. 1997.
Native language The family: the bridge
across generations
Our mother tongue has come down to us
through an unbroken chain or oral trans-
mission from generation to generation. The education system is often given either
the credit or the blame for the situation of
One’s mother tongue is what has provided a language. Undeniably schools can play a
our language community with its voice. Or significant role, but the education system
if we prefer, the community of speakers alone cannot ensure the survival of a lan-
has given its voice to the language, which guage, because language use is so strongly
has reached us via our parents through a influenced by the language of the home.
process of generational transmission. Our The family, as a space shared by parents
language would not have any speakers now and children, acts as a bridge linking the
were it not for those mothers and fathers generations. Parents’ linguistic behaviour
who, overcoming all obstacles successfully sets an affectively-charged example to
passed on their inherited language to their children, presenting them with a model
children. Thanks to their effort, as in the of how they themselves should behave
past, so also today the music of a language linguistically.
that earlier generations heard, even from
inside the mother’s womb can still be heard. There is good evidence for this in the
Basque Country. For instance, research
If our language lives it is because it has been carried out in the town of Lasarte-Oria
transmitted from parents to their sons and (in Gipuzkoa province) in 20034 provided
daughters in the home. In particular, it is a striking demonstration of the great im-
largely through the work of women that portance of language use in the family by
our language has been kept alive and spo- showing that the home environment ex-
ken in our homes. erted much more influence than school in
determining whether or not young people
would speak Basque outside the home.
Eight out of ten youngsters who had learnt
Basque at home tended to speak to their
friends in Basque, whereas only two out of
We are born from the womb of our ten who had acquired Basque exclusively
mother, the womb of our mother at school spoke Basque with Basque-
tongue speaking friends.
The threat to
adolescence the relative impact of school
drops off and it is above all the profound
language diversity
pull of affective family ties that determines
language choice.
ing partly to the globalised economy, and population. Thus a small number of lan-
partly to state-internal assimilation pro- guages are the most widely spoken ones,
cesses. Of course globalisation facilitates and with each year that passes these have
communication between countries and more and more speakers, hastening the
peoples. However, globalisation is carry- demise of the remaining languages.
ing and imposing the outlook, culture,
fashions, values and languages of a small Some of these languages have passed the
number of western nations around the point of no return while others are now at
world with little allowance made for lo- the decisive, critical stage. Until now, these
cal traditions. Rather than promoting, the languages were handed down by sponta-
long-term outcome is to make all cultures neous transmission, often being the only
uniform and for the leading western pow- language spoken in a given geographical
ers to spread their own way of thinking area. But nowadays they are no longer
everywhere. the only language found in close proxim-
ity to their own territories, and therefore
Such uniform, homogenised thinking is
native speakers are having to make deci-
fed to us through many channels; one of
sions concerning which language to teach
the major sources is the mass media. The
their children: whether to have them as-
western world view finds its way into the
similate to the newly arrived language (to
homes of people all over the globe via ra-
dio and television. Widespread migration the exclusion of their own language) or
from rural areas to the cities is another make a stand to assert their own language
contributing factor making people resem- (as a first step towards resistance to as-
ble each other everywhere; the cities are similation). The latter position need not
the chief carriers of globalisation. signify the rejection of other languages
and cultures.
We live in an increasingly complex, chang-
ing, interconnected world where practi- Language loss and culture loss are going
cally any language other than English, on before our very eyes and unless effec-
German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese or tive action is taken will result in the com-
Russian is a “minority” language of sorts. plete replacement of many of the world’s
The only difference is in the percentage of languages and cultures, some small and
their speakers who remain monolingual, some much larger, by a select few.
whether they have official status, and the
relative vitality of each speech community.
Native speakers
Nowadays 97% of the world’s popula- are having to make decisions
tion speaks 4% of the world’s languages, concerning which language to
whereas the remaining 96% of the world’s
languages are spoken by 3% of the world’s teach their children.
Language ecology Ecosystems are thereby losing their ability
to adapt, and dying as a result.
ity, cultures and languages of human com- this, which therefore need to be reinforced,
munities on the one hand, and protecting are motivation, knowledge competence
and conserving the biological ecosystem and use.
on the other, come down to one and the
same thing!
Language routes
Sociolinguistic Languages are universally transmitted to
Route B
Route A
In order to reclaim a language it is essential to take the step to make the route B.
by speakers who have covered the AB route. route: they must take the next step and
If BA speakers work on all the cultural func- embark upon Route B. What this means is
tions in which they feel confortable in their that they should become literate in their
first language, they can them become native language and be capable of using it
AB speakers. to communicate in any area in which the
opportunity to use the language presents
MOTIVATION, KNOWLEDGE and USE are the itself. The way to achieve this is through ed-
three decisive factors that determine a lan- ucation in one’s own native language, from
guage’s vitality. First one needs to know the the natural sciences to mathematics or
language (its vocabulary, grammar, pronun- physics, from literature to human sciences.
ciation and so on) in order to be able to use It is not sufficient to merely learn the lan-
it. But without motivation, it is impossible to guage: knowledge of other subjects should
learn a language or to keep up one’s knowl- be acquired in this language if the language
edge of it. But of course, a language, once community wishes to have full speakers of
learnt, needs to be used: speakers who do not its language.
use their language will ultimately lose it.
The progress of the Basque language recov-
But it is essential too, for a language to be ery process in the Basque Country has dem-
kept alive, that speakers who have complet- onstrated beyond any doubt that in schools
ed Route A should also cover the cultural of a type where the minority language is
Most pupils who receive their situation, namely AB, where its speak-
education in the minority ers can become full speakers by covering
language do become full both the spontaneous and cultural routes.
speaker in both languages. Language situations:
only taught as a subject, most pupils never Situation A: languages with spontane-
become full speakers. Conversely, most ous (family) transmission only (e.g. Que-
pupils who receive their education in the chua, Mayan languages, Guarani, Aymara)
minority language do become full speaker
in both languages: either in Basque and Situation B: languages with cultural trans-
Spanish or in Basque and French. mission only (e.g. Latin or Sanskrit)
The life of a language may be thought Situation AB: languages with both spon-
of as a liquid which flows freely between taneous and cultural transmission (e.g.
three vessels and in normal situations fills English or Spanish)
all three completely. However, to be able to
move back and forth from one vessel into
Situation BA: languages with both kinds
another the liquid needs to reach a certain
of transmission but having cultural rather
minimum level to achieve a flow. Thus a
than spontaneous transmission as the
person may be motivated to learn English
starting point (e.g. Hebrew at the beginning
but if the motivation is insufficiently great,
of the modern language recovery process)
it will not become knowledge (the person
will not start studying). And if they study
Situation Ø: languages that were alive in
English they need to reach a certain level
the past but are now extinct (e.g. Etruscan
of knowledge in order for this to translate
or Iberian)
into actual use of the language.
A language that wishes to remain alive
needs to get into situation AB. Therefore
Living languages the goal is to become a language that is
transmitted spontaneously and culturally.
For a language to live it needs to be used in Efforts not aimed towards this objective
all areas of society. When this is the case, will be mere approximations which, on
the language’s spontaneous and cultural their own, cannot ensure a language’s
routes are covered and its speakers are survival.
full speakers.
The speakers who form the nucleus of a
Living languages may be in different situ- speech community of a language in an AB
ations but a language that wishes to stay situation are full speakers of that language
alive needs to find itself in a particular who have become so either by the AB or
Language recovery 23
Speakers diagram:
the BA route. The former type represent
the fullest knowledge of the language
since it is the speakers’ mother tongue (A)
and they have also cultivated it (B). Yet the
latter type often presents the highest mo-
tivation, since they have made the effort
to get all the way from no knowledge of
the language to becoming full speakers. AB
Together these make up the heart and soul
of the language community, whom other
speakers must look upon as their models BA
and guides. It is up to these speakers to A
carry the language into new domains and B
effect the innovations appropriate to each Ø
period of the language’s development.
Without such speakers, how can a lan-
guage be expected to survive the twenty- language but may potentially become
first century? speakers. They should be taken into con-
sideration too since they are capable of
But this does not mean that other speak- learning the language and thus of partici-
ers are of no value. Speakers who are less pating in its recovery.
than full speakers also form part of the
language community. These include na-
tive speakers of the A type, who have
functions
edge of the language that has been passed
down orally through the generations,
and if they further undertake the cultural
route are quite capable of assimilating its
wealth too. Languages fulfill many functions in the ter-
ritories or communities in which they are
Then there are those who have learnt the spoken. Listed from “bottom to top”, these
language by the cultural route alone (B). include the identity or personal function,
If they are sufficiently motivated and they the family function, the workplace, the
become users of the language, they can local function and the ethnic or national
develop into BA speakers. function. Outside their original community
or territory some languages also have two
Finally, there is one more type of “speak- other functions: a cultural or “civilization”
er”, the Ø type, who does not know the function and an international function.
rnational Function
Inte
Civilization” Fu
l or “ nct
ltura ion
Cu ic or National Functio
n
Eth n
Local Function
la
W o r kp c e
ily Function
Fam
Personal Fu
or nc
ty
tio
i
nt
n
Ide
Any living language has the first two func- of one’s life function in the language, such
tions, serving as a vehicle for people’s in- as the family, education, public adminis-
ternal thought processes and the language tration, work, public services, the courts,
of the family. The third function is that of the mass media, cultural activities, and
the language of work, which may be spe- so on.
cialised. Then we have the language used
predominantly within the local area where If a language is not used to perform all five
we live, and finally the language that oper- functions, this means that another lan-
ates at the national level. guage fulfils one or more of such needs,
and the first language is being excluded
Some languages possess additional func- from those areas.
tions that go beyond the national ambit,
in the case of languages with official sta- A language cannot, on its own, change
tus or used as a language of culture in the language of the majority of speak-
countries other than the country of origin ers. But if the majority language is only
of the language in question. Examples of used to perform personal or family func-
some such languages are Spanish, Ger- tions, or if other languages are assigned
man, English, Russian, Chinese, French the national function (as with Spanish
or Swedish. and French in the case of the Basque
language), the way is open for the lan-
Lastly, certain languages are used for in- guage of the majority to start becoming
ternational communication. English is the a minority language. The language with
language that most notably fulfils that the national function will replace the
function today. other language.
A normalised language fully performs the Such replacement is just one step on the
first five functions, such that all the areas way towards language loss.
Language recovery 25
Language loss
bilingual because they perceive no need to
be able to speak the minority language. On
the contrary, most speakers of the minority
language become bilingual diglossic, using
Through the process of language shift, the the official language in formal domains and
original language becomes a minority lan- reserving their own language for informal
guage and is set on the road do language ones. The original monolingual speakers of
loss. The usual steps in the process of lan- this language, those of the older genera-
guage loss are as follows: tion, start to pass away, and the hangups
associated with the idea of a minority lan-
guage set in.
• Loss of functions
The monolingual minority who speak the • The “minority language
state language establish themselves on the
central stage: the nation is their nation and
complex”
theirs is the national language. Speakers with a “minority language com-
plex” assume, since their original language
is not used in the major functions, that their
• Unilateral bilingualism language is not fit for such use. It has di-
minished prestige. The way many such na-
The fewer functions there are remaining tive speakers think is that, given that their
to the minority language, the less this lan- language is no good for the “big” functions,
guage will be spoken in its own community; it is pointless to bother to use it at all. Thus
now use of the language becomes limited to the official language ends up becoming the
certain specific domains, such as the home language of the community.
• Destructuring of the out their lives in their own language, and
language community that wish may drive them to overcome
all the obstacles placed in the way of
Top-level decisions are passed down in language recovery.
the official state language, and there is
even less motivation or capacity on the
part of civil servants and the profes-
Language recovery
How can a language that is on the route to
language loss be recovered?
+ Self-confidence
+ Territorial monolingualism
recovery
+ Recovery of functions
+ Legal backing
+ Compacting the language
Turning point community + optimization
Redistribute linguistic power. Political pow- The whole language community should
er reflects linguistic power. Encourage the assimilate the notion that its language,
proliferation of groups of speakers which although it has existed as a minority lan-
each have an understanding of their func- guage, has the full capacity to meet all kinds
tion and assume responsibility for it. of needs.
to exist
of passing their language along to com-
ing generations in a healthy and viable
state. When a certain number of speakers
adopt such attitudes, the language com-
The goal of any language recovery process munity may be said to possess a determi-
is for the language to become necessary, nation to exist; if so, then the next step is
to be known and used on its territory. to bring such speakers into contact with
This can only be achieved if there is a will each other.
to do so and a determination to exist is
borne out by all the successful cases of 10 Juan Carlos Etxegoien Xamar. Orekan:
language recovery, such as Albanian, Herri eta Hizkuntzen ekologiaz. Pamiela
Czech, Armenian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Argitaletxea. 2001.
Language recovery 31
As Txepetx also points out, a viable Basque is a case in point. In some parts of
language community cannot tolerate the Basque Country the Basque language
being told by other communities that stands at Level 5 (national language sta-
their own language is of less worth. At tus), while in other areas it is no higher
all times in history, the robustness of a than Level 2 (language of the family) and
given language community is founded in yet others is at Level 1 (a sub-language),
upon its conviction that its language not to mention its status outside the
is as good as any other. Such a belief Basque Country, of course. But Basque
provides support for continued devel- needs to ensure its status as a national
opment of the language as a whole, language throughout its territory, for if it
without which any language is subject does not, it will fall to the level of a local
to endangerment. And indeed, this is language (with the status of a “dialect”),
precisely the problem facing endan- at which point languages are denied ac-
gered languages today. cess to becoming languages of culture:
the struggle descends to Levels 3 and 4,
Thus the prestige of a language is a and from there to Levels 2 and 1, until lan-
necessary condition for its linguistic guage shift becomes complete.
development. But prestige is a social
value, linked to the society that con- Language recovery is necessary to escape
fers it. In truth, if a language commu- from this loop. For that, it is important to
nity does not recognise the prestige acknowledge that the language is really at
of its own language it can hardly ex- risk and to set in motion all the resources
pect other language communities to that are necessary to attain a viable equi-
do so. librium for the language.
National National
local local
Working cont. Working cont.
Family familY
personal personaL
A Language B Language
Heart, head and hands tion to the correct design of strategies,
language policies, plans and so on. Yet for
When setting in motion a mechanism for all this, little progress can be expected if a
language recovery, one may endeavour to sense of necessity and will to implement
follow a strict theoretical paradigm, and them are not there. Indeed there are times
indeed it is important to devote atten- when the necessity and the will cannot
wait for a well-designed plan to be pro-
duced, and speakers forge ahead in any
case, driven by their sense of a desperate
need to start doing something.
guage also to be used in education, litera- achieved but also involved debate and
ture, the media, public administration and polemics. In all events, the present stan-
many other domains besides. dard language grew out of the search for
a balance between the different Basque
This goal imposes the need for a stan- dialects and drew on the resources of
dard language, a form of the language all of them. Initial differences have now
which unifies its different variants. The been set aside and, in response to a grow-
lack of a written norm may pose serious ing need, the use of standard Basque has
difficulties for those attempting to write spread and won acceptance in present
in the language and results in greater day Basque society.
demands being placed on readers, who
will be required to make sense of each In this process, the unified language has
individual author’s writing “rules”. Codify- not displaced the dialects since that is
ing the language helps to overcome such not the purpose for which it was cre-
obstacles and contributes to achieving ated. The purpose of standard Basque is
greater cohesion among the language’s use in formal domains, either orally or
full speakers. in writing, such as radio and television
programmes, the press, dubbing of films,
Although Basque authors have always provision of general information, pub-
expressed concern about the language lic signs, research, teaching, literature
unification issue throughout the history or the administration. But in less formal
of Basque literature, the first steps to- domains, particularly those that were
wards Basque language standardisation already Basque-language domains, the
were not taken until the beginning of dialects are retained, for indeed loss of
the twentieth century. From that time the traditional dialects in such contexts
onwards, the drive towards language would be counter-productive, for here the
unification has largely been led by Euskal- traditional language retains its freshness
tzaindia, the Basque language academy, and diversity, which may still be drawn
which has nevertheless been assisted upon to enrich the unified language with
and often stimulated in the endeavour by further vocabulary, expressions and other
other institutions striving to modernise subtleties of expression.
the language’s corpus through their con-
tributions in such areas as popular science The standard language, then, is chiefly
writing, dictionary making, translation or characterised, virtually of necessity, by the
the media, to name a few such areas. due consideration given to the balance
between local language varieties, their
The earliest steps in Basque language diversity and the wealth or resources
unification required a consensus to be they represent.
The Basque experience 35
The Basque
experience
The history of
our language
The history of a language is made by its The Basques constitute a Basque-speaking
speakers and the history of the speakers is language community. This fact is reflected
that of the language. in the Basque name for the Basques (eu-
skaldunak) which defines them, amidst all
The history of the Basque language and the the other language communities of Europe,
history of the Basques are both thousands as the people of the Basque language.
of years old and there are numerous
hypotheses about their origins, none of This people inhabit a land in southwestern
which has been proven. Thus the origin Europe which covers an area of 20,664
of both the Basques and their language sq km (7,978 sq mi). Today this territory is
remains a mystery. divided between the two states of Spain
and France.
But everyone agrees that Basque is one
of the oldest languages in Europe, for The part of the Basque Country that is in the
it is one of the few languages to have Spanish state includes the Basque Autono-
been spoken continuously on this con- mous Community (Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and
tinent from antiquity down to the Araba), with a population of about two mil-
present time. lion, and Navarre (Nafarroa) with approxi-
mately 600,000 inhabitants. The remainder northeast of the Iberian Peninsula and the
of the Basque Country, called the Northern southwest of present-day France.
Basque Country (Lapurdi, Nafarroa Behera
or Lower Navarre and Zuberoa)11, whose Although we cannot know for how long
population is close to 260.000, is within Basque had been spoken in this area prior
the state of France, It does not constitute to that period, on the basis of linguistic evi-
a separate department but is a part of the dence scholars have reached the conclusion
department of Pyrénées Atlantiques. that many ideas and beliefs embedded in
the Basques’ culture are rooted in the Neo-
Prior to the creation of the political struc- lithic age, between 2000 and 3500 BC.
ture just described, the Basque-speaking
people had long dwelt on both sides of the While the prevailing Indo-European lan-
Pyrenees in a more extensive territory than guages have long shown a tendency to
that of today. expand all over the world, the Basque lan-
guage, rather than growing territorially,
At the time when Indo-Europeans spread has shown a capacity to endure over time,
across Western Europe, about three thou- without which it would not have survived
sand years ago, Basque was spoken in the to the present day despite predictions of
its imminent demise. No small part in this
11 See the map. success was played by the willingness of
The Basque experience 37
to town was knowledge of the official lan- ikastola13 in Donostia in 1914. This was the
guage, unless one’s original language could Koruko Ama School, which eventually had
be seen to be useful in town, that language 300 pupils. Similar schools opened up in
was perceived to be useless, and the ten- Navarre in the republican period as an ini-
dency was towards its abandonment. tiative of the Friends of Basque association.
In Bizkaia, a movement of “neighbourhood
schools” developed. At the same time proj-
• Language and identity ects of the kind were being started In the
Northern Basque Country.
Around the turn of the twentieth century,
after a series of devastating wars12, there But that Basque language movement was
commenced a period of reflection about wiped out by the Spanish Civil War (1936-
Basques’ identity as a people and the place 1939) and the subsequent dictatorial ré-
of language as an important means of gime of Francisco Franco (1939-1975),
preserving that identity. New cultural and which produced terrible suffering for ev-
eryone but whose persecutory language
political initiatives got underway and new,
policies were particularly catastrophic for
louder voices in support of the language
Basque speakers.
began to make themselves heard.
The purpose of the victors’ language policy
In this climate, those who were concerned
was unambiguously to wipe out the Basque
for the Basque language saw the need to language once and for all. Speaking Basque
create institutional resources to support the was forbidden in public, at church, in
language and to begin a process of unifying schools, and it even became an offence to
the language for the whole country. It was have a Basque name.
no easy task to get southerners and north-
erners to join forces but some successful Persecution of the Basque language did not
initiatives came about, culminating in the begin with Franco, but granted that such
creation of the Basque language academy, policies had already existed; the Franco ré-
Euskaltzaindia, in 1919. gime carried them to their most extreme
consequences in the hope of finishing the
Early progress in Basque language educa- job earlier Spanish governments had only
tion was also made in this period. In the started of achieving complete assimila-
South, the Muñoa family founded the first tion and stamping out all signs of Basque
identity. The language played a central role
12 Namely the Carlist Wars, the second of in this conflict: the voices of Basque speak-
which led to the abolition of the charter ers were silenced and the Basque language
(fueros) specifying historic legal conces-
sions to the Basque Country based upon 13 The ikastolak are explicitly Basque-medi-
ancient legal customs and tradition. um schools.
was denied any legal status whatsoever.
The policy’s ideological underpinning CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF
was the colonialist slogan of one nation, RECENT LANGUAGE LOSS
one language.
• Industrialisation in the nineteenth
The harsh measures introduced as part
and twentieth centuries.
of this policy meant that monolingual
Basque speakers in the southern Basque • Lack of recognition by the Spainish
Country were pushed to the fringe of so- and French government.
ciety, and even being bilingual in Basque • Impact of lack of prestige for Basque
made life difficult and was sufficient on language transmission.
to subject such speakers to public ridi- • Authorities practised persecution
cule. Basque speakers often came to feel
rather than protecting the language.
shame and embarrassment as a result.
Being a Basque speaker created hangups • Absence of a unified standard form of
in many (the “minority complex”), and so the language.
once again native language transmission • Position of Basque as a shrinking
to the new generation was interrupted in minority language
urban and suburban areas. Once more,
Basque was limited to the home, the fam-
ily and the farm. If it survived at all, this
could only be due either to Basque speak- of monolingual Basque speakers, Fermina
ers’ awareness or to the force of inertia. and her husband always spoke Basque
to each other, although they also knew
Franco only governed in the southern French. But when they had children they
Basque Country. Yet in the North the only taught them French in the belief that
situation was not much better for Basque if they had a good command of French
speakers. The French government denied they would get along better in life.
Basque any legal status and made French
the only official language. Whether out of The interruption in the transmission of
shame and embarrassment or in the hope Basque resulted in considerable language
of giving the next generation a better fu- loss. In the nineteenth century, Basque
ture, many Basques gradually abandoned speakers in the southern provinces of
their language and only transmitted Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa made up
French to their children. 69% of their population14. A century later,
in 1981, only 21.53% of the population of
That is what happened in Fermina Jau- these provinces could speak Basque.
regi’s home in the Lapurdian town of Zi-
buru, which was featured in The Basque 14 Statistics based on data collected by the histo-
experience documentary. The daughter rian Ladislao Velasco between 1866 and 1868.
The Basque experience 41
To be sure, there were some earlier attempts • YOUNG. They were not involved in the
at Basque language recovery, but these had war, escaped its traumas and know little
mostly been individual initiatives, whereas about the prewar cultural efforts. Wanted
the moves made in the years leading up to a clean break with the past, not interest-
the Spanish Civil War were social processes ed in the old ways from before the war.
initiated collectively by substantial numbers When they talked about recovering tra-
of people. ditions, their main concern was for the
language. Subsequently the impulse to
Now the challenge to recover and start cul- break with all earlier traditions softened
tivating the Basque language was taken up and interest grew in efforts to study
with pride and enthusiasm by a generation and reestablish the things that had been
who clearly saw that Basque is the heart of done before.
the Basque Country and that as long as the
Basque language remains alive, the Basque • STUDENT. At first seminary students, and
Country will live. later university students. Interest first
started in the seminaries and was then
This awareness led to a social movement to
reorganise many aspects of social life that 15 Joan Mari Torrealdai. Euskal Kultura Gaur:
involved the language, such as schools, the liburuaren mundua. Jakin. 1997.
spread beyond them through broader ac- linguistic and literary endeavours. When
tivities and studies. starting out, the whole range of initia-
tives seemed like a single phenomenon
• MILITANT. Many of this generations forming part of the same social and po-
achievements were attained in defiance litical movement, but later on the various
of the law, and were in any case well out- activities gradually differentiated and ac-
side the agenda of the Franco-era insti- quired autonomy, becoming separate by
tutions from whom no support could be the nineteen-seventies.
expected. Most of the organisations and
activities benefitted from some support The historic task of this generation was to
from some clergymen, enabling them in establish a new, prestigious image for the
part to get started until they could stand Basque language and to carry the language
on their own two feet. The protection re- into every single domain: from infants’
ceived form certain religious orders was school all the way up to the university, from
vital for the founding of practically all literature to science, and from folk tradition
the periodical publications that appeared to the newest trends. The new generation
in the South, many of the new Basque defined Basque culture in Basque, creat-
publishing houses and the first ikastola ing its own structures that for many years
schools, which initially were very shaky in remained separate from the official institu-
legal, economic and infrastructure terms.
What was done was made possible thanks
to the modest financial contributions of
a small number of language enthusiasts,
members of the public who came out in
favour of the language movement and
much perseverance and hard work. On
the whole, the Basque cultural renais-
sance was given the cold shoulder by the
business, industrial and economic forces.
Only very late in the day did some pro-
Basque-language initiatives start to re-
ceive attention and support from public
institutions (following the creation of the
Basque Autonomous Government in the
nineteen-eighties).
tions and acted without legal recognition. guage in which mathematics could be ex-
All the key projects of the Basque move- plained and medicine practised. But lan-
ment crystallised in that period: the ikas- guages are in themselves, per se, neither
tola movement, adult Basque language and modern nor old-fashioned; languages are
literacy classes, the new Basque music, the what their speakers make them! The abil-
verse-singing (bertsolaritza) revival, peri- ity to bring a language up to date does not
odicals and publishing companies, to name reside in the language itself but belongs to
but a few. those who speak it.
Corpus
Working
context Education
Public Cultural
institutions production
Local social
movements
National Media
social
movements
dialects have been recognised. While they discussed in Basque too, and the lack
enrich the language, they also divide it of uniformity stood in the way of the
and present a barrier to communication development of a scientific and techno-
between speakers on occasion. Moreover, logical corpus.
if a language is to be given a national
function and its use is to be normalised At first, the move towards standardisa-
in all areas, a form of the language that tion gave rise to arguments and contro-
can be understood by everyone is neces- versy. The biggest quarrel arose between
sary. The way in which such unification people for and against use of the letter
can be achieved will depend on each par- h. This caused a rift between those who
ticular language’s history and its speak- defended the local dialects and the pro-
ers. In the case of Basque, the need to ponents of a unified standard. Eventu-
unify has been felt most strongly since ally a set of rules was established and
the mid-twentieth century. Written pro- normalisation has been able to proceed.
duction in Basque was on the increase Amidst all the criticisms and polemics,
and the lack of a standard was result- Euskaltzaindia carried on with its work
ing in a confusing state of affairs in the of building a foundation for the future
written language. Meanwhile, use of Euskara Batua, a standard form of the
Basque in the media was also on the rise, language intended for use in schools,
and there was a need for a form of the literary production, the media and the
language that everyone in the country administration, where nowadays there
could understand. Additionally, it was is practically universal acceptance of the
now necessary for modern topics to be Euskaltzaindia-backed rules.
• The Basque Institute and Interpreters of Basque Language (EI-
ZIE), founded in 1987, now serve the needs
of University of the many professionals currently work-
Services (UZEI) ing in this field.
Basque in the houses of some of her friends In the decade between 1960 and
and acquaintances. Exclusive use of Basque
at school was not the only special feature of
1970 seventy- one such schools
the ikastolak, for Zipitria was an advocate of sprang up, mostly in bilingual
highly innovative teaching methods. towns and in the cities. Hence
the ikastola schools
Starting out with a small number of schools,
the movement grew until by the mid-sixties were urban.
ikastolak were being set up in almost every Today, the ikastolak are still locally-run
town, in spite of the fact that they were still schools that offer Basque-medium educa-
outside the law and possessed extremely
tion. They are recognised as a part of the
limited resources. In the decade between
1960 and 1970 seventy-one such schools school system, and although not belong-
sprang up, mostly in bilingual towns and ing to the public school network they re-
in the cities. Hence the ikastola schools ceive public subsidies.
were urban.
group of artists and performers called Ez sion. Oteiza drew a direct connection be-
Dok Amairu (literally, “Not Thirteen”), which tween the neolithic cave art found in the
arose during the Franco era when the dic- Basque Country and the modern artistic
tatorship was having a profound effect on avant-garde. But underpinning this whole
Basque people’s lives. movement was the fundamental sense of
the value of what we are for the present
The name of the movement was sug- and the future and of our legitimate place
gested by the sculptor Jorge Oteiza, an in the creation of new artistic currents.
avant-garde artist whose works and ideas
were particularly influential among young Inspired by the example of the contempo-
Basques. Oteiza was a passionate advocate rary Nova Cançó (“new song”) movement
for a broadening of the concept of “Basque in Catalonia, the authors and musicians of
culture” and invited artists to explore this school were determined to give the
new directions. Basque language a new pride of place in
their works.
His message was that just because Basque
music and culture were ancient, that need Thus, a new vanguard of Basque artists
not stop them from moving into the artis- turned against the sterile, static, “folklor-
tic and musical vanguard. He called for an ist” attitude that had characterised the
end to being content with just producing preceding postwar era and aimed to cre-
second-class “folklore” (such as colourful ate forms of artistic expression, consist-
provincial song-and-dance recitals) and ing principally of a new kind of Basque
second-class arts and handicrafts, and music and Basque songs reflecting the
proposed instead that these ancient roots young generation’s sense of protest and
could be transformed into innovative art, hankering for social and political freedom,
music and other forms of original expres- which was coming into prominence in the
Books sold at the Durango Basque Book Then in the eighties came the stations
and Record Fair may or may not be in Gure Irratia (“Our Radio”) in Bayonne,
Basque, but those not in Basque must be Euskadi Irratia (part of the public net-
somehow related to Basque interests. But work EITB), Irulegi Irratia and Zuberoko
only music that is sung in Basque is admit- Botza (local stations in the North). Thus
ted in the record section, and purely instru- began the era of all-Basque radio. Today,
mental albums sold must be the work of
besides Euskadi Irratia, EITB also runs
Basque artists.
a second all-Basque station targeting a
younger audience, and a bilingual mu-
• Press and media sic-only station.
In the postwar period, printed periodicals The Basque Government (i.e. the gov-
all in Basque started to appear on the ernment of the Basque Autonomous
scene in the fifties. The earliest attempts Community) created the Basque public
were produced by the seminaries, and
broadcasting company EITB (Euskal Irrati
later ones came from university circles.
Telebista, “Basque Radio and Television”)
Two important periodicals that have sur-
vived from that period are the cultural in 1981. Regular television programmes
journal Jakin (“Know”) and the weekly (in Basque) began in 1983. Its television
Argia (“Light”), formerly Zeruko Argia service (ETB, Euskal Telebista, “Basque
(“Heavenly Light”). Television”) now comprises ETB1 and
ETB3, all in Basque (the latter for young
Basque radio was the next to come into
audiences), ETB2, all in Spanish, ETBSat
existence. Back in the fifties there were
already some church-produced Basque- for Europe (a bilingual service), and Ca-
language programmes on religious, sports nal Vasco for America.
or cultural subjects. Other kinds of radio
Additionally, a considerable number of
programmes were first made in the sixties;
the forerunner was Loiolako Herri Irratia local Basque-language magazines and
(“Loiola People’s Radio” station), which radio and TV stations have grown up
set out to move Basque out of the rural around the Basque Country since the
ghetto and forge its use as a language for eighties, as initiatives of local Basque
town life too. In the North, the first Basque associations and today under the ae-
programmes were broadcast on Bayonne’s gis of the umbrella organisation Topa-
FR-3 Pays Basque station in 1963. gunea (literally “meeting place”). At
In 1976 the Donostia and Loiola Herri present they consist of thirty-three
Irratia stations jointly organised an event local magazines with a joint circula-
to raise support for an all-Basque radio tion of about 260,000 readers, not to
station, called 24 Orduak Euskaraz (“24 mention six radio stations and seven
Hours in Basque”). television channels.
• The first daily Basque- Two years after the closure of Euskaldunon
language newspaper Egunkaria, the Basque Communications
Group (EKT) was founded, its aim being to
One of the most important things that create and support Basque-language news
were done in the twentieth century to media. The principal projects covered by EKT
further Basque language recovery was the at this time are the Berria newspaper, the
founding of Euskaldunon Egunkaria (“the www.berria.info web portal and a network
Basques’ daily”) an all-Basque-language, of local newspapers called Hitza (“word”).
Basque-Country-wide daily newspaper. In-
augurated in 1990 as an initiative of jour-
nalists from the weekly magazine Argia, • Basques supporting
the “Egunkaria” became a common refer-
ence point for the entire Basque language
their language
community. Then, on the 20th of Febru- As the Basque language movement built
ary, 2003, the Spanish Supreme Court up, more and more people gained an
ordered its closure and the arrest of some awareness of the language issue. One of
members of its staff. This was received by the landmarks in this growing trend was
Basque language supporters everywhere Euskaltzaindia’s 1978 Bai Euskarari (“Yes
as a direct attack against themselves, and To Basque”) campaign culminating in an
resulted the most massive demonstrations event held in Bilbaos San Mamés football
and acts of protest ever seen. A gigantic stadium that drew 40,000 people. Twenty
wave of popular reaction set in, and almost years later, the pro-Basque umbrella or-
immediately, town by town and nationally ganisation Kontseilua was to organise an-
across the whole Basque Country, a drive other campaign with the same slogan that
for a new Basque-language newspaper was was attended by 120,000 supporters of the
set into motion. Following the same strat- Basque language who filled five football
egy as when Euskaldunon Egunkaria had stadiums across the length and breadth of
been established, support groups sprang the Basque Country.
up to organise public events, sell shares
and recruit subscribers. In the meantime, Other mammoth demonstrations of
journalists carried on informing the public, Basques’ firm support for their language
in Basque, through a daily printed bulletin are organised on a yearly basis by the ikas-
called Egunero (“every day”). After one year, tola schools. The first of these was held
the first issue of a new Basque-language in 1977 as a fund-raising event for the
national newspaper hit the streets; its name ikastolak of Gipuzkoa province called Ki-
was Berria (which, ambiguously, may be lometroak. This was followed by a similar
translated as “the new one”, or may refer annual event in the province of Bizkaia (Ib-
to “news”). Thus grassroots initiative once ilaldia) starting in 1978; another in Araba
again was responsible for the setting in mo- (Araba Euskaraz) as of 1980, yet another
tion of a new Basque-language newspaper. in Nafarroa (Nafarroa Oinez) as of 1981,
The Basque experience 53
The singer Mikel Laboa (1934-2008) running in the sixth edition of “Korrika”, in 1989.
federation of Basque associations, called Another significant
Topagunea (mentioned earlier), which
provides support and organises a number
innovative attempt to put
of services for such Basque associations, Txepetx´s theory
such as the design and development of lo- into practice was the Kafe
cal Basque revitalisation projects, bringing Antzokia (“Café Theatre”).
Basque speakers together, programmes to
encourage learners of Basque to get to- Basque organisations that came into being
gether and practise the language, local and during this period, such as the Ttakun (in
regional information services via the media, Lasarte-Oria), Bagera (in Donostia), Galtza-
providing Basque-language leisure activi- undi (in Tolosa), etc.
ties for children and young adults, organis-
ing Basque-language cultural events, and a Another significant innovative attempt
system of voluntary agreements with local to put Txepetx´s theory into practice was
organisations and entities on the promo- the Kafe Antzokia (“Café Theatre”). The
tion of Basque language use. Topagunea first such undertaking opened its doors in
was started in 1996 and has since taken Bilbao in 1995 as an initiative of the lo-
on responsibility for a number of functions cal Basque association, the Zenbat Gara.
including the supervision of local Basque- This was a meeting place where the
language media, implementation of the thousands of Basque speakers living in
Basque language in public bodies, cultural this chiefly Spanish-speaking city could
activities, and special activities targeting go to hear and speak Basque, whether
children, adolescents and adult Basque they were native Basque speakers, non-
language learners. native speakers or language learners, all
coming together as one language com-
Following the success in Arrasate of AED, it munity. Sharing the premises of the Kafe
served as a model for other local associa- Antzokia, Zenbat Gara brings together the
tions most of which were created in the Bilbo Hiria Basque-language radio station,
nineties, during which period the Arrasate the Gabriel Aresti adult Basque language
group set up a seminar called Adorez ta school and the Gara publishing company.
Atseginez (“Passion and Pleasure”) teach-
In 2002, the association participated in
ing the theory of Jose María Sanchez
the opening of another Kafe Antzokia in
Carrión Txepetx22, which was attended
Ondarru (Bizkaia province). The Plateru-
by many language activists including
ena Kafe Antzokia was created in Durango
the founders and promoters of the local
(Bizkaia) along similar lines, as an initiative
22 Jose María Sanchez Carrión. Un futuro para of the local Berbaro Basque association, in
nuestro pasado: claves de la recuperación 2006. Meanwhile, Doka Kafe Antzokia in
del Euskara y teoría social de las lenguas. Donostia-San Sebastian opened its doors
Second edition, 1991. in 2007.
The Basque experience 55
activism
opportunities.
SUMMARY: THE
MAIN LESSONS
Some keys in the a culture but it is its vehicle and its mate-
rial, the central axis where one’s way of
basque language
of intellectual, sentimental and practi-
cal creation of the life of a people, and
its cultural continuity is founded on it.
Whatever elements make up a people’s
world view, its relationship with the earth,
• The language is the its economy, its rites, creations and other
cultural elements are centred around the
nucleus language it speaks.
The Basque experience confirms a basic When a language dies, the axis of conti-
intuition: that the language is the heart nuity of a people vanishes. Some philo-
of a people, the central vehicle of a cul- sophical, folk or cultural elements may
survive in isolation or linked together, but inertia that impedes us from living in our
what remains is not the people as such but own language. To throw off the yoke of
merely a part of another people that con- contempt imposed on one requires force-
serves certain assimilated features. fulness. Communities subjected to domina-
tion need to activate positive feelings, to
• The importance of feel pride (even, indeed, to feel at times that
they are something special in comparison
feelings with the dominant culture to which they
have been subjected), and to dream.
Collective feelings play an important part in
the recovery of a language and identity. It is Artists, writers and musicians can exert in-
collective feelings that lead to political and fluence in this domain of feelings. Poetry,
cultural strategies for developing identity. In novels, songs, festivals, pictures, theatre and
the Basque experience there were historical dance can all rouse pride, activate dreams
occasions when a qualitative leap occurred and provoke emotions that subsequently
in the community’s feelings, in response affect the community’s ability to act to re-
to certain key individuals who stimulated vitalise its identity.
them. Such leaps form a basis for political
and cultural action.
be made between letting the language Bilingualism is often a trap for native
die or creating full speakers. The second languages. Bilingual schools or bilingual
option is a must, and even so the future media are usually systems that tend
health of the language is not a certainty. to strengthen the bigger language and
But there was no viable middle road. To- weaken the native language. In bilingual
day, for other native languages, there is systems it is always the strongest lan-
also no middle road. guage that comes out on top, there is no
such thing as equal treatment, and so it
Our parents’ generation have the merit has been throughout history. The Basque
for having made the decision they did. experience also shows that the only
They dared to imagin their sons and strategies to have worked in favour of
daughters as full Basque speakers. They, language recovery have been hegemonic
as native Basque speakers, realised that spaces for the native language.
we would have to be fuller speakers than
they themselves. The only way a language can live is by
having its own hegemonic spaces. Bi-
No language is destined to be a second- lingual schools, publications, television
class language. Any language that does and so on are not useful for recovering
not produce full speakers has no chance a native language. Why? Because in re-
of survival in the twenty-first century, ality they are hegemonic spaces for the
when access to information and technol- bigger language; real bilingualism doesn’t
ogy will become more widespread. Native exist. Bilingualism is nearly always false.
languages that lack standard spelling, a In each school or television station or pe-
primary role in education and access to riodical or organisation or family, there is
the information society and its technol- one primary language; other languages
ogy are unlikely to endure longer than are used in a subordinate role. The ques-
a few decades. This century will be the tion is: which is the primary (or hege-
make all or break all for most native lan- monic) language that we wish to occupy
guages in the world. The key to survival each space?
resides in whether or not full speakers are
created. Normally a native language is unable to
occupy all these spaces. If it can only oc-
• Creating open cupy a few of them, one must begin with
those few. The important thing is that it
hegemonic spaces should have some spaces (it is preferable
to have a few hegemonic spaces than
The model of coexistence between a lot of subordinate roles in bilingual
languages is a model of interculturality spaces), and to gradually open up new
based on hegemonic spaces for each lan- spaces. That is the only real way for mul-
guage, with certain shared spaces. tilingualism or interculturality. Otherwise,
so-called interculturality is nothing more nicative aspects, its creative dimensions,
than a fancy disguise for domination by its recreational and philosophical as-
the imposed language. pects. A language is there to be enjoyed
and used as a means to communicate,
In the case of Basque, only schools or engage in artistic creation, and acquire
spaces with native language hegemony wisdom and knowledge.
have been good for language recovery. • It is important to develop one’s lan-
These spaces may at the same time be guage continually and to transmit it
open spaces where there is a place for in all its splendour. That is why a lan-
other languages and for the study of guage has a unique added value. Each
these (such as Spanish). language comes equipped with its own
special range of poetic, philosophical,
• Quantity and quality regional or domestic resonances. All
that wealth and versatility of com-
munication and expression must be
• In the history of Basque revitalisation
transmitted, recreated and further
strategies there have been both good developed.
judgments and some mistakes or areas
where improvement is possible. Among
the latter we might include a tendency
to overemphasise the target of having • The chief tools of
a large number of speakers or to stress language recovery
quantity generally (how many books?
how many publications? how many There are four major tools involved in a
products? etc.) at the expense of qual- language recovery process. There are also
ity. This has led to problems: for exam- many other strategies and actions to be
ple, many children and adults who have taken, but these four are the most basic
studied Basque have failed to learn to and important in Basque language recov-
express themselves well enough to use ery. They may be equally basic for native
it communicatively to full potential. languages if they are to survive the pres-
They have failed to achieve the mini- ent century:
mum quality required.
• Corpus planning: standardisation and
• More recently there has been a rising development of a language’s corpus,
awareness of the importance of lan- i.e. the unification and standardisa-
guage quality. Language may be the axis tion of the writing system or systems,
of cultural identity indeed, but it is also development of new terminology and
a complex and productive medium of generally all strategies for preparing
communication. It is necessary to culti- the language for its present and future
vate and develop a language’s commu- functions. This is a basic step, necessary
Summary: the main lessons 65
in order to be able to carry out educa- writes, sings, symbolises and celebrates
tion in the native language and other all that a community is, aspires to and
fundamental actions. dreams of. In the case of Basque, lit-
erature, verse improvisation and song
• Education: create education systems played important roles reinforcing the
primarily in the native language, pro- cultural revitalisation effort, without
viding an education that aims to bring which it is hard for a native language
up full speakers of the native language community in a minority situation to
(bilingual education that relegates the summon the strength and motivation
native language to a secondary status needed to revitalise its identity.
is no use), starting at the elementary
school level and continuing all the way
to university. This is the most important
and most basic influence for the future
life of a native language and its culture. Messages from our
• Press and media: create native-lan- experience with
guage systems of television, radio,
press and internet communication.
Here again, on the whole, bilingual
the language
approaches are ineffective and open
hegemonic spaces are what is needed. Based on the experience of the Basque
At the present stage of technology in language recovery process and an analy-
which we are immersed, it is vital that sis of the actual situation of native lan-
a language perform functions in press guages worldwide, we would like to send
and/or the media if it is to survive. out the following three messages to in-
digenous organisations and institutions
• Cultural creation: creativity in music, of all continents:
literature, the arts, audiovisual produc-
tions and all other forms of cultural ex- • A message of warning: native lan-
pression based in the native language guages are now in grave danger, and
must be cultivated. Through such cre- this loss of transmission may be ir-
ation a native language and culture reversible according to the experience
continue to reproduce their unique and understanding of the history of
added value, thereby strengthening the many now-extinct languages. The situ-
will of the language community to live ation is very serious, and perhaps the
on as a native people, maintaining its worst part is the lack of awareness of
self-esteem, keeping its past and future its seriousness on the part of so-called
dreams alive. Cultural creation is the “indigenous” organisations led astray
symbolic fuel of a community which by other types of discourse about iden-
Languages are the chief comprehended. Languages are the chief
carriers of cultures; the heart carriers of cultures; the heart of a culture
is its language. When a language is lost,
of a culture is its language.
so is a people because the kernel of its
When a language is lost, so is identity is gone. What remains afterwards
a people because the kernel will be mere fragments: some ideas, some
of its identity is gone. remnants of a world view, certain cus-
toms, bits of folklore… All very curious
tity. There must be a new awareness of for the anthropologists, very exotic for
how serious this situation is. the tourists, very fascinating to produce
books about, and possibly even very use-
• A message of hope: it is possible to
ful as a pretext for “indigenous leaders”
revitalise native languages. The expe-
to lay claim to funds and get projects as-
rience of Basque and other languages
has shown that effective strategies ex- signed to them. But the culture will have
ist for recovering part of the life of a vanished because it was the language
language. It is always a long and ardu- that kept the culture alive, held the cul-
ous struggle involving numerous com- ture together, gave the culture its form
plicated factors, but if a people has a of expression, and digested the culture
will to live its revitalisation is possible. within itself.