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Basque, Spanish, French and English in the Basque Country

This paper analyzes the demographic, sociolinguistic, and educational status of Basque in the whole of the Basque country: the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), Navarre in Spain, and the Northern Basque Country in France. It also discusses English as a third language within the bilingual educational system in the BAC. In terms of demography, 22% of the population of the Basque country is bilingual and an additional 14.5% is "passive bilingual." Even though the percentage of all bilinguals (passive and otherwise) is 35% in the Northern Basque Country, the lack of institutional support for the Basque language is producing an important decline in its knowledge and use while in the BAC and Navarre the decline has already been stopped. The use of the Basque language in the BAC and Navarre has increased as it has come back into use in everyday life. The use of Basque is most influenced by the user's competence in the language and the use of Basque in the user's social networks and the sociolinguistic area where he or she resides. Basque as a medium of instruction has increased somewhat in the BAC and Navarre but is still very weak in the Northern Basque Country, across the border in France. These results confirm the crucial role played by institutional support in the revitalization and survival of lesser used languages. (Contains 19 references.) (KFT)

• Author/Creator: Cenoz, Jasone
• Date Published: 01-28
• Notes: Connect to the catalog at the library of the University of Colorado at Boulder. English Paper presented at the Seminar on Comparative Perspectives in Multicultural Europe (Oegstgeest, Netherlands, January 28-30, 2000). Document (RIE) 070 Information Analyses; 150 Speeches/Meeting Papers EDRS: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
• Year: 2000

This resource is cataloged under:

• Subject: Bilingualism
• Subject: Demography
• Subject: English (Second Language)
• Subject: Foreign Countries
• Subject: French
• Subject: Heritage Education
• Subject: Language Attitudes
• Subject: Language Maintenance
• Subject: Language Minorities
• Subject: Language Proficiency
• Subject: Language Role
• Subject: Official Languages
• Subject: Second Language Instruction
• Subject: Second Language Learning
• Subject: Sociolinguistics
• Subject: Spanish
• Subject: Uncommonly Taught Languages

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