Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

things in the north

4 views
Skip to first unread message

David C Lachman

unread,
Apr 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM4/23/99
to
Larry said in a recent post that things in the north are in a bad state.

I agree with this statement, yet it is my anecdotal experience that the
precariousness of the situation of the basque language in iparralde is difficult
to overstate. My most recent incursion into iparralde left me more than a bit
demoralized and pessimistic.

A group of Banu Ikasi, me included, and Banu Euskeratu from Tutera spent last
weekend in Iruri, in part to take in this year's penultimate maskarada. As my
only previous experience in Zuberoa outside of Maule had been a few random
conversations in Santa Grazi (all in euskara), I was taken aback by the degree
to which Iruri, Idauze and Mendi are completely french-fried.

It was difficult to find euskaldunak under the age of 50, a little better luck
with baserritarrak. I did meet two or three youth who spoke euskara, but they
were defininately a minority, even among those taking part in the maskarada.
Quite a few knew songs in euskara, but even then seemed much more comfortable
singing that silly french song about the cheese of their village. Over all, it
was my impression that euskara today has a minimal presence in Iruri in the
heart of Zuberoa.

These anectodal and inexpert observations are confirmed by the recently
published socio-linguistic map of Euskal Herria (results of the 1996 survey).
The title of euskaldunon egunkaria sums up the situation perfectly, _"Etenik
gabeko galera"_.

Some statistics about the knowledge and use of euskara (of those aged 16 and up
in 1996):

Today in Iparralde, the population is 25% bilingual, 9% are passive bilinguals,
and 64% french monolingual.

The regional breakdown is as follows:
B.A.M.: 9% bilingual, 4% passive, 87% french.
Interior Lapurdi: 30%, 14%, 55%.
Nafarroa Beherea/Zuberoa: 61%, 12%, 24%

An age and use-based analysis of these numbers, however, reveals a much more
pessimistic scenario. Basque is used as a majority language only 20% of the
time among basque speakers under the age of 50, both among frends and at home,
and relegated to traditional locations such as the market and the church:

BAM: approximately 14% of people over 35 are bilingual, while only about 5% of
those under 5 years old.
Interior Lapurdi:
over 65 yrs, 47% bilingual, 3% basque monolingual, and 6% bilingual.
35 - 64yrs, 33% bilingual and 13% passive.
under 35yrs, 14% bilingual and 21% passive.
N. Beherea/Zuberoa:
over 50yrs, 75% bilingual, 6% basque monolingual, 5% passive
25 - 34yrs, 49% bilingual, 20% passive.
16 - 24yrs, 34% bilingual, 28% passive.

It is clear that the traditional chain of transmission has been broken, as
french is increasingly the language used in the family environment, and often at
least one parent doesn't know basque (79% of the time). The usage of euskara is
also declining, especially among the basque-speaking youth. Those who express
themselves mainly in basque (among those who know euskara) declines from about
60% of the time among those older than 50 to 20% of the time among those younger
than 50. In the period of 1991-1996, 13,000 people whose mother language was
euskara are no longer able to speak in basque, while only 2,000 people have
learned basque.

It seems that anything less than a complete change in the linguistic and
educational policies in Iparralde, where still only 17% of those under 16
receive any education in basque, will not be able to stem the tide towards the
complete marginalization of euskara in the north. It is indeed perverse when
one considers that euskara has perhaps a brighter future in tutera than it does
in maule (and that's not quite as big a strech of the imagination as some may
think)..

Yet the perhaps naive question remains: is there anything we as basque-speakers
worried about the situaiton in iparralde can do on a personal or collective
level?

izan huntsa (as i learned to say in urepel),
david

0 new messages