View source for Standard Basque

{{Short description|Standard variety of Basque, heavily based on Central Basque}}
[[File:Euskalkiak koldo zuazo 2008.png|thumb|240px|Basque dialects, according to the 21st-century classification by [[Koldo Zuazo]] {{legend|#849D4D|Western (Biscayan)}}{{legend|#CA5655|Central (Gipuzkoan)}}{{legend|#5287C8|(Upper) Navarrese}}{{legend|#D0AA5A|Navarro-Lapurdian}}{{legend|#C9CA52|Zuberoan}}{{legend|#9B9D9A|other Basque areas ''ca'' 1850 (Bonaparte)}}]]
'''Standard Basque''' ({{Langx|eu|euskara batua|lit=united Basque}}) is a [[Standard language|standardised version]] of the [[Basque language]], developed by the [[Euskaltzaindia|Basque Language Academy]] in the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version throughout the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]]. Heavily based on the literary tradition of the central areas ([[Gipuzkoan]] and [[Navarro-Lapurdian dialect|Lapurdian]] dialects), it is the version of the language that is commonly used in education at all levels, from elementary school to university, on television and radio, and in the vast majority of all written production in Basque.<ref name="HualdeZuazo2007">{{Cite journal |last1=Hualde |first1=José Ignacio |author-link=José Ignacio Hualde |last2=Zuazo |first2=Koldo |author-link2=Koldo Zuazo |date=2007 |title=The standardization of the Basque language |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233647140 |journal=Language Problems and Language Planning |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=142–168 |doi=10.1075/lplp.31.2.04hua |issn=0272-2690}}</ref>

It is also used in common parlance by new speakers that have not learnt any local dialect, especially in the cities, whereas in the countryside, with more elderly speakers, people remain attached to the natural dialects to a higher degree, especially in informal situations; i.e. Basque traditional dialects are still used in the situations where they always were used (native Basque speakers speaking in informal situations), while ''batua'' has conquered new fields for the Basque language: the formal situations (where Basque was seldom used, apart from religion) and a lot of new speakers that otherwise would not have learned Basque.

''Euskara batua'' enjoys [[official language]] status in [[Spain]] (in the whole [[Basque Autonomous Community]] and in the northern sections of [[Navarre]]) but remains unrecognised as an official language in [[France]], the only language officially recognised by that country being [[French language|French]].

== History ==
The standard version of Basque was created in the 1970s by the [[Euskaltzaindia]] (Royal Academy of the Basque Language), mainly based on the central Basque dialect and on the written tradition. Having been for centuries pressured by [[acculturation]] from both [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[French language|French]], and particularly under the rule of [[Francisco Franco|Franco]] in which the Basque language was prohibited and came closer to extinction in [[Spain]], the Academy felt the need to create a unified dialect of Basque, so that the language had a greater chance of survival.

The 1968 [[Arantzazu Congress]] took place in the [[sanctuary of Arantzazu]], a shrine perched in the highlands of [[Gipuzkoa]] and a dynamic Basque cultural focus, where the basic guidelines were laid down for achieving that objective in a systematic way (lexicon, morphology, declension and spelling). A further step was taken in 1973 with a proposal to establish a standard conjugation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trask|first=R. L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34514667|title=The history of Basque|date=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-13116-2|location=London|oclc=34514667}}</ref>

The debate arising from this new set of standard language rules (1968–1976) did not prevent Standard Basque from becoming increasingly accepted as the Basque standard language in teaching, the media, and administration (1976–1983), within the context of burgeoning regional government ([[Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country]], 1979; Improvement of the Charter of [[Navarre]], 1982).

== Reasons for basing on the central dialect ==
Here are the reasons for basing the standardised Basque on the central dialect, the [[Gipuzkoan]], according to [[Koldo Zuazo]]:<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Zuazo |first=Koldo |date=2008 |title=Euskara normaltzeko bideak |url=https://www.euskaltzaindia.eus/dok/ikerbilduma/69832.pdf |conference=Euskalgintza XXI. Mendeari Buruz. Euskaltzaindiaren nazioarteko XV. Biltzarra
 |language=Basque |publisher=Euskaltzaindia |pages=3–13 }}</ref>

# Linguistic: the central dialect is the meeting point of all Basque speakers. The westernmost dialect, [[Biscayan]], is difficult to understand for the speakers from other dialects; and the same occurs with the easternmost dialect, [[Zuberoan]].
# Demolinguistic: the central area and the western area were in 1968 and still are the zones in which most Basque speakers live. Moreover, it was and is in [[Gipuzkoa]] and the surrounding areas that Basque is strongest.
# Sociolinguistic: since the 18th century, the central dialect, more precisely, the Beterri sub-dialect, is most prestigious.
# Economic and cultural: [[Bilbao]] is certainly the most important Basque city, but it is not Basque speaking. The same is true for [[Gasteiz]], [[Iruñea]], and [[Bayonne|Baiona]]-[[Angelu]]-[[Biarritz]]. This left [[Gipuzkoa]], the only Basque province with a multipolar structure and no powerful city.

Koldo Zuazo (a scholar and supporter of Basque dialects, especially his own, [[Biscayan]]) said that "taking all these characteristics into account, I think that it is fair and sensible having based the ''euskara batua'' on the central Basque dialect, and undoubtedly that is the reason of the Batua being so successful".{{refn|"Ezaugarri hauek guztiok kontuan izanda, zuzena eta zentzuzkoa begitantzen zait Euskara Batua erdialdeko euskalkian oinarritu izana, eta horren ondorioa da, ezbairik gabe, lortu duen arrakasta."<ref>{{harvp|Zuazo|2008|p=4}}</ref>}}

== Usage ==
In the 21st century, almost all texts in Basque are published in the standard variety, i.e. administrative texts, education textbooks, media publications,<ref>{{Cite web|title=EITB Euskal Irrati Telebista|url=https://www.eitb.eus/|access-date=2021-04-14|website=EITB Euskal Irrati Telebista|language=eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=ARGIA Kazetaritza independientea. Txikitik eragiten|url=https://www.argia.eus/|access-date=2021-04-14|website=Argia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Berria.eus|title=Berria - Euskal Herriko euskarazko egunkaria|url=https://www.berria.eus/|access-date=2021-04-14|website=Berria|language=eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Iparraldeko Hitza.eus|url=https://iparraldekohitza.eus/|access-date=2021-04-14|language=eu}}</ref> literary texts, etc. 

The most widely used [[List of ISO 639-2 codes|ISO 639-2]] code is the <code>EU</code> code that always refers to standard Basque. [[ISO 639-3]] code is <code>EUS</code>. The <code>Eu-ES</code> and <code>Eu-FR</code> codes have also been used, but the standard Basque used in Spain and France forms just one language, and most [[Language localisation|software translators]] prefer the <code>EU</code> code.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Use "eu" instead of "eu-ES" for Basque locale · Issue #3956 · Chocobozzz/PeerTube|url=https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues/3956|access-date=2021-04-14|website=GitHub|language=en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=May 2022|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).}}

Currently the standard form of the language is widely used in education. In the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Autonomous Community]] and in the north of peninsular [[Navarre]], Standard Basque is the most widely used working language. In the [[French Basque Country]], Basque is used in several [[ikastola]]s and in one [[lyceum]], but its use lags far behind [[French language|French]], [[Language policy in France|the only official language of France]]. 

Nowadays all school materials and all the written productions of teachers and students are always written in the standard form of Basque.

Different university studies are currently offered in (standard) Basque at some universities in Spain, France and the USA.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Etxepare Lizeoa – Le lycée|url=http://www.betxepare.eus/fr/lizeoa|access-date=2021-04-15|language=fr|website=www.betxepare.eus|archive-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415113431/http://www.betxepare.eus/fr/lizeoa|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=University of the Basque Country|url=https://www.ehu.eus/en/en-home|access-date=2021-04-15|website=UPV/EHU|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mondragon University|url=https://www.mondragon.edu/en/home|access-date=2021-04-15|website=Mondragon Unibertsitatea|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= Deusto University|url=https://www.deusto.es/cs/Satellite/deusto/en/university-deusto/degree-programmes|access-date=2021-04-15|website=www.deusto.es|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.euskadi.eus/contenidos/informacion/dia6/en_2027/adjuntos/publications_in_english/basque_language_in_education_in_france_1998_en.pdf ''The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning'', (2007). ISSN: 1570 – 1239.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=About the Center for Basque Studies {{!}} Center for Basque Studies|url=https://www.unr.edu/basque-studies/about|access-date=2021-04-15|website=University of Nevada, Reno|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Basque Studies at the University Level|url=https://nabasque.eus/university_level_studies.html|access-date=2021-04-15|website=nabasque.eus}}</ref>

== Advantages of Standard Basque ==
According to [[Koldo Zuazo]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Euskara batua: ezina ekinez egina |last=Zuazo |first=Koldo |publisher=Elkar |year=2005 |isbn=978-84-9783-316-5 |language=Basque |author-link=Koldo Zuazo}}</ref> there are six main advantages that ''euskara batua'' has brought to the Basque language:

#Basque-speakers can easily understand each other when they use ''batua''. When they use traditional dialects, difficulties in understand one another increase, especially between speakers of non-central dialects.
#Before the creation of ''batua'', Basque speakers had to turn to Spanish or French to discuss modern topics or work subjects: Euskara Batua gives them a suitable tool to do so.
#''Batua'' has made more adult people than ever able to learn the Basque language.
#The geographic reach of the Basque language has been in retreat for centuries. Old maps reveal that Basque was formerly spoken in a significantly larger area than today. However, now, thanks to the [[euskaltegi]]s and [[ikastola]]s, thanks to primary schools, high schools and universities that teach ''batua'', the Basque-speaking area is expanding anew, as Basque speakers can now be found in any part of the Basque Country, and at times even outside it.
#''Batua'' has given prestige to Basque because it can now be used in high-level usages of society.
#Basque speakers are more united: since ''batua'' was made, the internal boundaries of the language have also been broken, and the sense of being a community is more alive. With a stronger speakers' community, Basque language becomes stronger.

All of those advantages have been widely recognised and so have been used by Badihardugu, an organisation supporting the traditional dialects.<ref>[http://www.badihardugu.com/elkartea/agiria "Euskalkien Aldeko Agiria"] ("Document in favor of Basque Dialects"), from the Badihardugu website. Retrieved 2010-11-25.</ref>

== Criticism ==
Standard Basque has been described as an "[[artificial language]]" by its critics,{{Who|date=July 2011}} a "plastified Euskeranto",<ref name="Herodote">"Euskeranto" is [[portmanteau]] of ''Euskera'' and ''[[Esperanto]]'', a constructed language taking vocabulary from several European languages. ''[https://www.cairn.info/revue-herodote-2002-2-page-85.htm#pa29 La politisation des langues régionales en France]'' {{in lang|fr}}, ''[[Hérodote]]'', [[Philippe Blanchet]], page 29, 2002/2 (N°105)</ref><ref name="ABC">{{Cite news |last=Múgica |first=José Ignacio |date=1982-05-01 |title=El euskañol o el euskeranto |language=es |trans-title=Euskañol or euskeranto |page=19 |work=[[ABC (Madrid)]] |url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1982/05/01/019.html}}</ref> as it is at times hardly [[mutually intelligible]] with the dialects at the extremes (namely the westernmost one or [[Biscayan]], and the easternmost one or [[Zuberoan]]). Moreover, Basque purists (such as [[Oskillaso]] and [[Matías Múgica]]) have argued that its existence and proliferation will kill the historic and genuine Basque languages. Others argue that standard Basque has safeguarded the future of a language that competes with [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

Research by the Euskaltzaindia shows that Basque is growing most in the areas where ''euskara batua'' has been introduced and taught in preference of local dialects. Indeed, this has permitted a revival in the speaking of Basque, since many of the current elder generations cannot speak the language in part due to the suppression of public use during most of [[Francisco Franco]]'s dictatorship.

Another point of contention was the spelling of ⟨h⟩. Northeastern dialects pronounce it as an aspiration while the rest do not use it. Standard Basque requires it in writing but allows a silent pronunciation. Opponents complained that many speakers would have to relearn their vocabulary by rote.

[[Federico Krutwig]] also promoted the creation of an alternative literary dialect, this time based on the [[Renaissance]] [[Lapurdian|Labourdine]] used by [[Joanes Leizarraga]], the first translator of the [[Protestant]] [[Bible]]. It also featured an [[etymology|etymological]] [[orthography|spelling]].

The mainstream opinion accepts the ''batua'' variant because of the benefits it has brought:

{{cquote|The benefits that the Academy's standard has brought to Basque society are widely recognized. First of all, it made possible for Basque speakers to discuss any topic in their language. Secondly, it has eliminated the (sometimes serious) obstacles that previously existed in communication between speakers from different areas of the Basque Country. At the same time, ''euskara batua'' is still nobody's "real" native language, a situation that not uncommonly creates feelings of linguistic insecurity, together with a willingness to accept external norms of linguistic use.|200px||[[José Ignacio Hualde]] and [[Koldo Zuazo]]<ref name="HualdeZuazo2007" />}}

On the other hand, some Basque authors or translators such as Matías Múgica characterize ''batua'' works as a mere [[pidgin]] with a severe loss of spontaneity and linguistic quality over the traditional dialects.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://elpais.com/politica/2015/09/22/actualidad/1442936658_416697.html |title=Euskaldunizar a la fuerza |last=Barbería |first=José Luis |date=2015-09-24 |work=El País |access-date=2015-10-19 |language=es}}</ref>

== Basque dialects ==
{{Main|Basque dialects}}

The relation between the Standard Basque and the local dialects is well summarized as follows by William Haddican:<ref>William Haddican is a lecturer in the Department of Language of Language and Linguistic Science of the University of York, whose research focuses on language change, syntax and language contact particularly as they relate to Basque and dialects of English. See [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/lang/people/pages/haddican.htm his page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530134151/http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/lang/people/pages/haddican.htm |date=2009-05-30 }} in the website of the University of York (retrieved 2010-09-03).</ref>

{{cquote|Batua was not primarily intended as a replacement for local dialects, but rather to complement them as a written standard and for inter-dialectal communication. Nevertheless, dialect speakers often view Batua as more objectively "correct" than their own dialect.|200px||William Haddican<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haddican |first=William |date=2005 |title=Standardization and Language Change in Basque |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol11/iss2/6 |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=105–118}}</ref>}}

The following dialects were the pre-''batua'' Basque and make up the colloquial or casual [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]] of Basque, the ''euskara batua'' being the formal one. They were created in the Middle Ages from a previously quite unified Basque language and diverged from each other since then because of the administrative and political division that happened in the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mitxelena |first=Koldo |year=1981 |title=Lengua común y dialectos vascos |trans-title=Common language and Basque dialects |url=https://www.ehu.eus/seg/_media/gizt/2/1/2/7578-28392-1-pb.pdf |journal=Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo |language=Spanish |volume=15 |pages=291–313 |via=University of the Basque Country}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zuazo|first=Koldo|title=El euskera y sus dialectos|year=2010|publisher=Alberdania|isbn=978-84-9868-202-1}}</ref>

They are spoken in the Spanish and French Basque regions. Standard Basque was then created using Gipuzkoan as a basis, also bringing scattered elements from the other dialects. They are typically used in the region after which they are named, but have  [[Dialect continuum|many linguistic similarities]].

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
;Spain
*[[Biscayan]]
*[[Gipuzkoan]]
*[[Upper Navarrese]]
{{col-break}}
;France
*[[Lower Navarrese]]
*[[Lapurdian]]
*[[Zuberoan]]

{{col-end}}

== See also ==
* ''[[Egunkaria]]'' newspaper, and its successor ''[[Berria]]''.
*[[EITB]], Basque television and radio broadcasting corporation
*[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/ethno/Spai.html#BSQ Ethnologue] on languages in Spain
* [[Languages of the European Union]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |first=Rudolf P.G. de | last=Rijk|author-link=Rudolf de Rijk |title=Standard Basque: A Progressive Grammar |publisher=[[MIT Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=2008 }}

==External links==
* [https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-05-16/how-has-basque-language-survived How the Basque language has survived] (audio documentary)

[[Category:Basque language]]
[[Category:Basque dialects]]
[[Category:Standard languages]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 1960s]]