Basque Families

Not all Basque families speak Euskara, and in many families, some members speak it, while others do not. In these cases, families conduct conversations in the language understood by all. Situations are common where one parent speaks Euskara, and the other speaks only Spanish. Since monolingual speakers of Euskara have disappeared, those who speak the Basque language are also bilingual in either Spanish or French. As a result, a household with linguistically mixed parents will generally communicate in Spanish. Even in homes where Euskara is spoken, Spanish is so prevalent in the surrounding society and in the media that the children will pick it up from their friends and by watching television. By the end of the twentieth century, there were several Basque-language radio stations and one Basque-language television channel, but channels that broadcast in Spanish and French far outnumbered them.

Some Basques feel that Euskara defines who they are. They believe that the only true Basque is one who speaks the language. This point of view has its basis in the preeminent role that language played in the definition of Basque nationalism generated by the founders of ETA (Euzkadi ta Askatasuna, "Basque Country and Freedom") in 1959 (Tejerina 1992). Other Basques feel that it is more important to be born and raised in the Basque country, whether one speaks the language or not. From this point of view, a family can be completely Basque and speak nothing but Spanish.

The language question has great importance in the Basque country. Many families quit speaking Euskara when Francisco Franco came to power after the Spanish Civil War. Franco made it illegal to speak any language but Spanish. Since the Basque country was on the losing side of the Civil War conflict, Basques felt particularly targeted and threatened by these prohibitions against minority languages. To protect their children, many parents insisted that only Spanish be spoken in the home. In these families, Euskara was lost.

After Franco's death, the establishment of a new Spanish constitution (in 1978) allowed Euskadi and Navarra (and the other autonomous communities of Spain) to have control over their own school systems. It then became necessary for Basque parents to decide whether their children would be educated in Spanish or in Euskara. Since fluency in Euskara is often required to obtain employment, especially for government jobs and teaching positions, many parents choose the Euskara option for schooling their children. Sometimes even parents who speak no Euskara choose to send their children to an ikastola, a school were all the subjects are taught in Euskara. Many others choose schools that teach half the day in Euskara and half in Spanish. The least favorite option in the Basque country is that of education in the Spanish language with Euskara treated as just another subject.

In Iparralde, Basque parents have four educational options. The most popular, with 85.5 percent of elementary school children enrolled, is the all-French option. Until the late 1970s, this was the only option available. Since 1983, students have been offered four options: the original all-French option; all-French with the exception of a class for learning Euskara; half of the instruction in French, the other half in Euskara; and all-Euskara in pre-school with the introduction of French in elementary school, increasing the amount of French to nine hours out of twenty-eight (Jauréguiberry 1993).

At the end of the twentieth century, despite a quarter century of efforts to reclaim Euskara, in Hegoalde three out of four residents over the age of fifteen indicated that Spanish was their first language, and in Iparralde, three out of four claimed French (Euskal Herriko 1996). Whether a family speaks Euskara or not, there has been a widespread movement during the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century to give children Basque names on their official papers. As a result, there is now an entire generation of sonorous first names such as: Gorka, "George"; Gotzon, "Angel"; Iker, "Visitation"; Koldo, "Louis;" and Unai, "Shepherd"; for boys; and Edurne, "Snow"; Maite, "Darling" or "Darlene"; Nere, "Mine" or "Mia"; Nekane, "Dolores"; and Itxaso, "Sea" for girls.