NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusion
Language
transmission
Identity and attitude
Over half of the inhabitants of the Northern
Basque Country consider themselves to be
Basque and French, one third consider
themselves to be French and one out of
every ten consider themselves to be
Basque
BASQUE COUNTRY
BAC
NAVARRE
NORTHERN BASQUE COUNTRY
TREVIÑO
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Identity and attitude
Sociopolitical identity (%)
Over half of the inhabitants of the
Northern Basque Country consider
themselves to be Basque and French,
one third consider themselves to be
French and one out of every ten
consider themselves to be Basque
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
As Basque
as French
54%
Identity
TA B L E
54% of inhabitants of the
Northern Basque Country
consider themselves to be
both Basque and French.
32% consider themselves to
be French and 10% see
themselves as Basque.
Don't know
4%
Basque
10%
French
32%
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Over half of the inhabitants of the Northern Basque
Country consider themselves to be Basque and
French, one third consider themselves to be French
and one out of every ten consider themselves to be
Basque
Identity and attitude
Sociopolitical identity
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
(n)
(Thousands)
(%)
1.717
222
100
SOCIOPOLITICAL IDENTITY
Basque
22
9,7
More Basque than French
15
6,8
As Basque as French
68
30,8
More French than Basque
37
16,5
French
70
31,7
Don't know
10
4,4
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Over half of the inhabitants of the Northern Basque
Country consider themselves to be Basque and
French, one third consider themselves to be French
and one out of every ten consider themselves to be
Basque
Significant differences were observed between the various geographical zones.
In the BAB zone less than half of the population consider themselves to be both Basque and French
(49%), a similar percentage consider themselves to be French (43%) and only 3% consider themselves to
be Basque.
In Lapurdi hinterland 56% consider themselves to be both Basque and French, 26% see themselves
as French and 14% see themselves as Basque.
In the case of Lower Navarre and Zuberoa the percentages are as follows: French and Basque 65%,
French 14% and Basque 17%.
When people were asked whether it was necessary to speak Basque in order to be a true Basque citizen,
half of the population (53%) replied in the affirmative. If we analyse responses according to geographical
zones, the results for the BAB zone and Lapurdi hinterland were similar to those for the Northern Basque
Country in general. In the case of Lower Navarre and Zuberoa, 66% of the population replied in the
affirmative.
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
42% of the population of the Northern Basque
Country are in favour of teaching Basque at school
and support the promotion of Basque language use.
Those against account for 17%
Attitude
When analysing the general attitude towards the teaching and promotion of the Basque language, the
opinions of the population regarding various Basque language promotion initiatives in a number of different
fields were taken into consideration.
In general, the initiatives aimed at teaching Basque to young people were the most widely accepted:
among inhabitants with school-age children, 44% said they would opt for the bilingual educational model,
as opposed to 34% who said they would opt for a monolingual French model in which a number of teaching
hours were dedicated to learning Basque as a foreign language. 46% said they accepted and supported the
following statement: 'it is important that all children learn Basque'.
As regards the Basquisation of the public administration, half of the population (51%) were of the opinion
that 'in order to work in the public administration it is necessary to speak Basque'. A similar percentage
(51%) agreed with the statement that 'all radio and television stations should offer many more programmes
in Basque'.
The percentages of the population who agreed and disagreed with the statement 'I would prefer to learn
English than to learn or perfect my Basque' were similar (39% and 38% respectively).
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Identity and attitude
Attitude towards the promotion of Basque use (%)
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
42% of the population of
the Northern Basque
Country are in favour of
teaching Basque at school
and support the promotion
of Basque language use.
Those against account for
17%
For
32%
Totally for
10%
Totally against
2%
TA B L E
Against
15%
Neither for
nor against
42%
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
42% of the population of the Northern Basque
Country are in favour of teaching Basque at school
and support the promotion of Basque language use.
Those against account for 17%
Attitude towards the
promotion of Basque use
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
(n)
(Thousands)
(%)
1.717
222
100
TYPE ACCORDING TO ATTITUDE
Totally for
21
9,6
For
71
32,1
Neither for nor against
93
41,9
Against
32
14,6
Totally against
4
1,8
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Fewer people are in favour of Basque language
promotion in the BAB zone than in the other two
areas. Attitude is linked to language competence
and origin
Bearing in mind all these responses, we can state that 42% of the population of the Northern Basque
Country is in favour of Basque language teaching and promotion initiatives, while just 17% are against such
measures. The remaining 42% are neither in favour nor against.
Finally, we should underline that one out of every five citizens (21%) has tried at some point to learn
Basque outside the formal education system. Two reasons were given for this: 'because it is the language
of the Basque Country' and 'in order to talk to Basque speakers'.
In the BAB zone, the percentage of people in favour of Basque language teaching and promotion (24%)
is similar to the percentage of those against such initiatives (23%). The majority of the population of this
zone (52%) said they were neither in favour nor against.
In the two other zones, the population is clearly in favour of Basque language teaching and promotion
initiatives: 52% in Lapurdi hinterland and 65% in Lower Navarre and Zuberoa. Furthermore, the percentage
of those against such initiatives is very low (13% and 6% respectively).
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Fewer people are in favour of Basque language
promotion in the BAB zone than in the other two
areas. Attitude is linked to language competence
and origin
Attitude to the Basque language is directly related to origin and language competence. While the majority
of the native population (58%) are in favour of the aforementioned initiatives, only 23% of the immigrant
population held a similar attitude.
As regards language competence, 83% of bilingual speakers are in favour of Basque language teaching
and promotion initiatives, as opposed to just 2% against. Among monolingual French speakers, on the other
hand, similar percentages were recorded for both those in favour (25%) and those against (24%).
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Identity and attitude
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Attitude towards the promotion of Basque use according to zone (%)
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
21%
BAB zone
3%
2%
40%
12%
Fewer people are in
favour of Basque
language promotion
in the BAB zone than
in the other two
areas. Attitude is
linked to language
competence and
origin
21%
2%
11%
52%
LAPURDI
HINTERLAND
36%
22%
43%
0%
6%
LOWER NAVARRE
AND ZUBEROA
Totally for
28%
For
TA B L E
Neither for nor against
Against
Totally against
Note: the size of the circles corresponds
to the number of inhabitants in each
zone.
NORTHERN BASQUE
COUNTRY
Introduction
Language
competence
Basque use
Conclusions
Language
transmission
Fewer people are in favour of Basque language
promotion in the BAB zone than in the other two
areas. Attitude is linked to language competence
and origin
Identity and attitude
Attitude towards the promotion
of Basque use according to zone
(Northern Basque Country, 2001)
ZONE
BAB
zone
Lapurdi
hinterland
Lower-Navarre
and Zuberoa
(n)
623
553
541
(Thousands)
(%)
95
100
94
100
32
100
3
3,2
11
11,8
7
22,5
For
20
20,9
37
39,6
14
43,1
Neither for nor against
50
52,4
34
36,0
9
27,7
Against
20
21,0
10
11,0
2
6,4
2
2,5
2
1,6
0
0,4
TYPE ACCORDING TO ATTITUDE
Totally for
Totally against