Euskararen kale erabilera Gasteizen (Arabatik Arabara euskaraz Jagon jardunaldia)

Abstract

The Measurement of Street­use of Basque is a long­standing, broad piece of research begun by Siadeco and today, twenty ­two years later, is conducted by the Sociolinguistics Cluster. The 1st Edition of the Measurement was carried out in 1989 and the most recent, the 6th, was done in 2011. Over twenty-two years six photos have been taken of Basque use all over the Basque Country. These photos provide an opportunity to find out what the situation is at a specific moment and, in particular, to know how Basque use has evolved over the years. As regards the evolution, a trend needs to be highlighted: on the whole, Basque use has increased but only very slightly. What is more, it is not possible to spot any trend in the speeding up of that upward evolution. By province, it is in Gipuzkoa where Basque use has intensified the most. It remains steady in the other provinces of the Southern [Peninsular or Spanish ­administered] Basque Country. In the Northern [Continental or French­ administered] Basque Country, it has fallen. As far as Vitoria-­Gasteiz is concerned, Basque use has remained the same without any significant changes. Data for Gasteiz are similar to those gathered in Bilbao or Iruñea­/Pamplona. Current Basque use is about 3% in the capital cities. There has been a significant upward trend among children and young teenagers, and that opens up a window of hope. However, that trend has stagnated in recent years, because teenagers earlier and earlier opt for Spanish first.