FEL 2010 Conference paper presentation by Ane Ortega and Esti Amorrortu http://www.ogmios.org/conferences/2010/index.htm

1. The Attitudes of Non-Minority Language Speakers to Minority Language
Revitalization: What are Non-Basque Speakers Prepared to Do for
Basque?
Ane Ortega
“Begoñako Andra Mari” Teacher Training College
Barrainkua 2, 48009 Bilbao. BASQUE COUNTRY
[aortega@eumbam.org]
Esti Amorrortu
Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Deusto
Avda. Universidades 24, 48007 Bilbao. BASQUE COUNTRY
[esti.amorrortu@deusto.es]
Abstract
Thanks to the political changes in Spain in the past 40 years, as well as to the commitment of Basque society, the process of
language minorization of Basque and the trend towards its loss has been reversed. However, the survival of Basque is far from
secured. Despite an increase in the number of speakers, the overall number of the non-Basque speaking population is still high. In
this situation, it is argued that the complicity and support of those who do not speak the minority language are essential for its
revitalization. In this context, knowing the attitudes, prejudices, opinions and folk-beliefs of those who do not speak Basque is
strategic, and in particular what non-Basque speakers may be ready to do to support the language. A clear diagnosis of these aspects
should then inform policy makers as well as attitude-changing campaigns. The UNESCO-Etxea Amarauna-Languages group carried
out a research project on the attitudes towards Basque of adult non-Basque speakers in the BAC (2006-2009). This paper reports on
the results related to the positioning of this group regarding the Basque language policy and their level of commitment to support the
minority language.
Keywords: language revitalization; language attitudes; minority language learning, Basque
Basque in schools and the proliferation of the
1. The situation of Basque today immersion programme (Idiazabal et al., 2007).
Basque or Euskara is a pre-Indoeuropean isolate Despite these positive figures, the percentage of those
language spoken nowadays by almost 700,000 people who do not speak the language or are passive bilinguals
(Basque Government, 2008). A minorized language for is high, especially from age 35 onwards (e.g.
centuries, a grass-root movement starting in the 1960’s percentages of Basque speakers vary from 32.7% in the
together with governmental language policy since the 35-39 age group to 22.2% in the 60-65 age group
creation in 1979 of the Basque Autonomous (Basque Government, 2008)).
Community (hereafter BAC) have managed to reverse
its dramatic situation. This, however, is not true for all With regard to language use, several studies have shown
the Basque-speaking territories, which comprise three that Basque language use has spread to the public
political-administrative entities, namely, the French administration, the mass media and the university;
Basque Country, Navarre and the BAC (For further however there has not been a significant increase in its
details on the situation in the three territories, see use in informal situations. (Soziolinguistika Klusterra,
Azurmendi et al., 2008; Azurmendi & Martínez de 2007; Basque Government, 2008). In fact, one of the
Luna, 2005; Amorrortu, 2003). greatest challenges and priorities for the normalization
process of the language in the coming years is in that
This paper focuses on the BAC, where there has been an the increased knowledge of the language is transformed
important increase in the percentage of Basque into increased use (Basque Language Advisory Board,
speakers, especially among the youngest generations 2009).
(e.g. 76.7% of children age 10-14 are bilingual,
according to the latest census data (Basque Government, The data on the public support for the efforts to promote
2008)). This has been mainly due to the introduction of Basque are also positive. Table 1 compares the results
for 1996 and those of a decade later.

2. (Strongly) Neutral (Strongly) based on data gathering through indirect methods, such
support opposed as focus groups (Baxok eta al., 2007) or content analysis
of written essays (Larrañaga, 1995) are less common,
1996 2006 1996 2006 1996 2006 and even less so experimental indirect methods, for
46% 64.7% 38% 24% 16% 11.2% example, the matched-guise technique (Amorrortu,
2000; Echevarria, 2005). Our investigation uses both
qualitative and quantitative methods in a
complementary way:
Table 1. Attitudes towards the efforts to promote the use
of Basque in the BAC. Source: Basque Government (a) The qualitative study was designed with the aim of
1999 and Basque Government 2008 uncovering language attitudes in all their complexity
and diversity. It used focus-group methodology and
In 2006 only 11.2% were opposed or strongly opposed content analysis was performed on the transcribed
to the measures to promote Basque, although there was conversations with the assistance of the software NVivo
still a quarter of the population who did not position 7.
themselves clearly. Attracting this group to a more
favourable position would seem important in order to The outcomes of this study are: a typology of attitudes
revitalize Basque. for Basque; a rich database with the participants’ own
verbalizations catalogued by content units; and the
identification of a very interesting type of subject for the
2. The research project aims of this research, the one that has been labelled as
The general aim of the research project Erdaldunen the yes-but: those persons who, being generally in
euskararekiko aurreiritziak eta jarrerak / Actitudes y favour of Basque, show however a more lukewarm
creencias de los castellanohablantes hacia el euskera support and put limits to governmental intervention to
(Amorrortu et al., 2009) is to bring to light and describe promote Basque; this type of person tends to show
with the greatest detail possible the diversity of attitudes complex attitudes, often contradictory. It is the themes
towards Basque of the non-Basque speakers in the raised by this group of participants and their opinions
BAC. To be more precise, to identify which social and concerns which were mostly taken as the basis for
groups are prepared to make an effort in favour of the quantitative study, as shown below.
Basque and what exactly they would be prepared to do
(b) The quantitative study used a questionnaire designed
and under what circumstances.
ad hoc with the aim of (a) measuring the frequency
In this project, the term ‘linguistic attitude’ is used as a among the non-Basque speakers of the BAC of the most
broad notion comprising a diversity of components of prominent attitudes uncovered in the qualitative study,
the cognitive, affective and behaviour types, such as and (b) identifying the social groups in which these are
opinions, prejudices, beliefs, folk beliefs, evaluations, most frequent. The questionnaire is therefore
feelings, and behaviours towards Basque, language completely based on the qualitative study, to the point
diversity, and linguistic phenomena related to that the speakers’ own verbalizations were used for the
bilingualism. formulation of the items.
The term ‘non-Basque speaker’ has been used in this The sample comprised 600 non-Basque speakers aged
study and in this paper in preference to the term 18-55, and reflected the social make-up of the BAC in
‘Spanish monolingual’. A ‘non-Basque speaker’ is terms of sex, age and type of sociolinguistic area: ‘more
defined as a person with very low or no competence in Basque-speaking’ areas (≥ 47% of Basque speakers) and
Basque, unable to sustain basic communicative ‘less Basque-speaking (<47%), as per the latest
exchanges in this language. Note that this definition Sociolinguistic Map (Basque Government, 2008).
encompasses the ‘non-Basque speaker’ and the ‘passive This paper reports on the results of both the qualitative
bilingual’ groups described in the Basque Government and the quantitative studies regarding the issue at hand.
surveys.
In this paper we present some of the results of the
above-mentioned research, specifically, those related to
3. Non-Basque speakers’ degree of
the commitment of non-Basque speakers towards agreement with the language policy in
Basque and their readiness to take action. favour of Basque
Among the themes that were explored through the focus
Methodology groups, the process of Basque normalization and the
language policy in favour of Basque was especially
Attitudes towards Basque have been widely studied, productive, which permitted us to gain a fair knowledge
mainly through quantitative methods and direct of the great concerns non-Basque speakers appear to
questioning (e.g. Baxok et al., 2007; Basque share.
Government, 1999, 2008, 2009a). Qualitative studies

3. The opinions and perceptions expressed were generally preserved and developed. But it is a completely
in favour of the language policy, but in a qualified different matter to try to generalize the use of
manner. Overtly negative views of the normalization Basque to the whole population of Euskadi [the
process were not common, but very negative criticism BAC]. (GA-D, 70)
tended to be expressed indirectly by means of strategies The main issues in relation to the process of
such as third-party reporting, that is, putting one’s normalization of Basque merited further study and were
thoughts in other people’s voice. The participants’ included in the survey. Question 4 of the questionnaire
contributions fell roughly into the following main was thus designed to measure the level of agreement
themes: whether the prestige and use of Basque has among the whole adult non-Basque speaking population
improved, to what extent and in what areas; how of the BAC with certain language policy principles and
‘natural’, difficult, or even artificial it is to live ‘in measures.
Basque’; whose responsibility the normalization of
Basque should be; evaluation of the effectiveness and A cluster analysis was performed in order to classify the
objectives of governmental language policy; and the subjects according to the agreement they showed on the
future of Basque. different items of Q.4. As a result, three clusters were
identified: aldekoagoak / the more-in-favour (25% of
Here are a couple of examples: the sample were placed in this cluster), bai-bainakoak /
I think that people are willing, they appreciate the the yes-but (45%) and kritikoagoak / the more-critical
importance of knowing Basque. In that respect great (30% of the sample). (See Amorrortu et al., 2009: 284-
steps have been taken foward, as the Basque 288 for further details.)
language is far more valued now than before; there
Figure 1 shows the mean values attained by each cluster
were times when it was even looked down upon.
(BI-A, 258) for each item. The results are discussed in Section 3.1
next.
I have no problems with Basque being promoted, it
is part of culture, and all that is culture should be
5
4
3
2
1
G4.1 G4.2 G4.3 G4.4 G4.5 G4.6 G4.8 G4.9 G4.10 G4.11 G4.12 G4.13 G4.14 G4.15 G4.16 G4.17 G4.18 G4.19 G4.20
Aldekoagoak 4,36 2,96 3,19 2,47 4,35 4,28 3,86 3,85 3,39 4,33 4,72 4,68 3,93 4,01 4,15 3,54 4,67 2,86 4,61
Bai-bainakoak 3,6 2,27 2,43 1,7 4,02 3,95 2,27 2,26 2,06 3,92 4,27 4,27 3,52 2,89 2,79 3,33 4,26 2,31 4
Kritikoagoak 2,47 1,89 1,82 1,61 3,25 2,68 2,1 2,03 1,92 2,8 3,78 3,73 2,24 3,39 2,9 2,26 4,02 2,61 3,49
Figure 1. Mean values for each cluster (range 1 to 5). Notation in language of origin, e.g. 4,36 = 4.36
Key: G (galdera) = Q (question), e.g. G4.1 = Q.4.1
Aldekoakoak: the more-in-favour; Bai-bainakoak: the yes-but; Kritikoagoak: the more-critical

4. communities or not present at all; the majority feels
3.1. In Search of the Consensus Threshold
equally Spanish and Basque; and they do not consider
A recurrent idea during the discussion groups was that themselves either Basque nationalists or non-Basque
‘things should be done by consensus’. The analysis of nationalists. Incidentally, 60% of the yes-but cluster are
Q.4 allowed exploring what the vast majority of the in the age group 26-40, that is, they are likely to have
non-Basque speaking population may agree on, in other children in school age. This makes this group strategic
words, where the threshold of consensus might be. for language policy.
High consensus. The results show that all three clusters, The more-critical mostly live in Spanish-speaking areas
that is, the more-in-favour, the yes-but and the more- with very little presence of Basque in their lives or no
critical, show a high level of agreement in general presence at all; they see Basque as one of the languages
principles and statements (around 4 in a 1 to 5 scale), of the Basque people (and not the language) and they
such as Q.4.12. ‘Basque should not be left to die’, position themselves as non-Basque nationalists.
Q.4.13. ‘I agree that Basque should be supported’ and
Q.4.18. ‘The use of the Basque language should be
respected’. 3.3. Discussion
The results demonstrate that Basque is generally valued
When the statements refer to specific and concrete and the need for its support socially accepted among
measures, however, the degree of agreement diminishes. those who do not speak the language. Where there is
The yes-but group aligns itself with the more-in-favour less agreement is in relation to the specific measures
for some items and with the more-critical for other undertaken for its promotion. The cluster analysis has
items. The analysis of these alignments allowed us to shown which measures count with the support of nearly
identify which language policy principles or actions ¾ of non-Basque speakers, and which other measures
show the greater support and which the lowest: have an equal percentage against. This is interesting
Principles and actions with high support. The clusters information for policy makers and society as a whole,
of the more-in-favour and the yes-but –70% of the since it gives a clear indication of which measures may
sample– behave the same in their agreement with the be successful and which will be met by opposition.
following statements: Q.4.6. ‘If a language in danger is
to be saved, active measures in support must be taken,
4. What are non-Basque speakers
even if not everybody is in agreement with them’;
Q.4.11. ‘It is essential that public funds are used for the willing to do?
promotion of Basque’; Q.4.17 ‘The costs of the The participants in the focus groups often made
language policy in favour of Basque are reasonable’. reference to their level of commitment towards Basque
and what they personally declared they could do or were
Principles and measures with low support. The
prepared to do.
clusters of the more-critical and the yes-but –75% of the
sample– are together in the following statements, which Here is an example:
show a critical attitude: Q.4.8. ‘They have tried to I was born in 1965. I lived during the bad years [the
revitalize Basque too quickly’; Q.4.9. ‘Making Franco regime] and I did not manage to learn how to
knowledge of Basque a criterion for the job description speak Basque. I have been going to lessons but if
to become a civil servant is unacceptable because it is you can’t learn, you can´t learn. But I have made
discriminatory’; Q.4.1.0. ‘The knowledge of Basque sure that my children learn the language. (ZA-D, 9)
should not be generalized to the whole of the population
of the BAC’. (Note that these items have been recoded.) Q.5 in the questionnaire measures the level of
compliance with the actions that came up in the
discussion groups:
3.2. Description of the Clusters
After identifying the three clusters, the relation of each Q.5. Could you please tell me how ready you
cluster with different sociolinguistic variables was would be to make an effort in support of
examined and the following trends were found: Basque? Show compliance in a scale 1-4, where
1 is ‘not at all’ and 4 is ‘very ready’ to make
Amongst the more-in-favour, one in three lives in the effort.
Basque speaking areas; Basque is found to be quite or
very present in their lives, they feel more Basque than 5.3. I would make sure that my children 3.47
Spanish or only Basque; they declare themselves to be learn Basque well.
Basque nationalists; and for the majority of them 5.4. I would make sure that my children 3.35
Basque is the language of the Basque and not just one take part in Basque cultural events, for
of the languages of the Basque together with Spanish. instance, drama plays, clown shows,
The majority of the yes-but live in Spanish-speaking extracurricular activities.
areas and Basque is present very little in their

5. 5.5. I would do my best so the people 2.97 The data show that nearly 70% of adults aged 16-55
around me see the Basque language in a have tried to learn Basque at one point of their lives but
positive light. have not succeeded in doing so. This situation came up
often in the discussion groups, where the feelings of
5.2. I would learn a bit of Basque so that 2.60 frustration for not having been able to learn the
I can communicate at a basic level. language were shared by many, as this example
5.1. I would make an effort to learn 2.26 illustrates:
Basque well. Well, all my life I’ve wanted to learn Basque but it
is an unfulfilled wish... I know I’ll die without
Table 2: Willingness to make an effort in favour of realising it. It’s been a great frustration to me having
Basque (1-4) been unable to learn the language. (DO-C, 142/144)
The results of the questionnaire show that the clearest Two main types of obstacles were reported: on the one
action is to ensure that the new generations learn hand, the difficulty of the language and therefore the
Basque and become part of the Basque culture. The length of the learning process, on the other hand, the
latest school enrolment data are coherent with these type of the instruction on offer at the euskaltegi or adult
statements of intent, as 71.1% of BAC families chose Basque schools, which requiered a level of
the full immersion programme in Basque for their committment regarded as difficult to assume by many.
children at Pre-school stage during 2009-2010 (whilst
around 23.9% of parents chose the bilingual programme I did attend lessons but I had to give it up, I just
and only 4.9% chose the Spanish language programme) could not cope with it all... Yes, the lack of time, of
(Basque Government, 2009b). Note that in the BAC hours: work, study... And later I had children and I
context this is a clear indication of the linguistic just did not have the time. But well, I now speak
programme the children will follow during the whole of with the children the little Basque I know. (DU-A,
their compulsory education. (For a discussion on the 102/106)
reasons why non-Basque speaking parents choose these
programmes, see Amorrortu & Ortega, in press). The only course choice was two hours every day, it
is not that they made it easy for you... They were too
The items related to learning Basque themselves feature ‘militant’. I just wanted to learn a bit to be able to
last in the list. Learning ‘a bit’ of Basque was included communicate. I would be happy with that: just learn
because it is less impossing as an objective than to speak, just to be able to say simple things. (BI-B,
learning Basque ‘well’, but still it did not rank high. 181)
The percentage of those learning at the moment is very
5. Adult Learning of Basque low, less than 10% of the sample, a figure even more
This section discusses the results concerning the number striking if compared with the percentage of those who
of people learning Basque, their motivations, the did try in the past. But on the other hand, more than half
circumstances in which they would be willing to learn, declared to be willing to learn. The policy makers and
and reasons not to do it: Questions 6-8 of the Basque learning providers should consider what could
questionnaire. be done to encourage them to make the effort, perhaps
by proposing alternative ways of learning.
5.1. Non-Basque speakers learning Basque
or willing to learn 5.2. Motivations to learn Basque
The following table shows the data on Basque learning The discussion groups brought to light a number of
by adult non-Basque speakers in the survey: motivations or reasons to learn Basque, such as the ones
% of non-Basque speakers who have tried to learn in these examples:
I would like to learn Basque for the sake of my
Have tried: 67.7% Have not tried: 34.4%
children. Right now they are only little but when
% of non-Basque speakers who are learning they are older I would like to help them with their
homework, those kinds of things. (BA-E, 7)
Are learning: 8.9% Are not learning: 91.1%
At then end, this is an inner feeling. Why do you
% of non-Basque speakers who would like to learn wish you could speak Basque? Why do you want
Would like: 53% Would not like: 47% your children to speak Basque? Because they are
living here, so that they have this culture, these
roots, and so that they are maintained. (BA-E, 165)
Table 3: Basque learning by the adults participating in
The motivations highlighted in the focus groups were
the survey (%)
included in Q.7 of the survey, where the respondents

6. had to choose the 1st and 2nd most important motivations well as to external motivations or external pressure (e.g.
for them when considering learning Basque. 7.6). The results show that all types have been chosen as
1st or 2nd option by a fair number of speakers. This
Please tell me how important these aspects are for your suggests that all types of motivations have the potential
decision to learn Basque. Choose the two that are most to mobilize the non-Basque population and should
relevant to you and rank them as 1st and 2nd choice. therefore be taken into account.
I have tried to learn Basque or I Ranked Ranked
would like to learn Basque... 1st (%) 2nd (%) 5.3. Circumstances in which non-Basque
7.1. Because it is our language 23.7 7.3 speakers may decide to learn Basque
7.4. To be able to help my 23.1 11.4
children with their homework Q. 8 of the survey measured the readiness to learn
Basque by some if some conditions were met. Note that
7.6. To have access to a wider 17.3 14.9
those who answered negatively to Q.6.3 on whether
choice of jobs
they would consider learning Basque did not answer this
7.5. To be able to communicate 12.6 18.1
question. Therefore the results in Figure 2 correspond to
with Basque speakers
the 53% who expressed a willingness to learn (Table 3).
7.8. For personal enrichment 10.2 19.6
7.2. To help prevent it from dying 7.0 9.9
The reason for choosing these items was again that
7.7. Because people in my 2.3 5.6 these were the ones that the participants in the focus
environment speak it groups mentioned as favourable circumstances to make
7.3. Out of respect for Basque 2.0 3.8 the effort to learn Basque. It should be noted that they
speakers all point out to alternative ways of learning, in
7.9. To be able to take part in the 1.2 6.7 meaningful or less demanding situations, or, if it had to
Basque culture be through classroom instruction, only if the time to do
it was given (as it is the case for civil servants).
Table 4. Reasons given in 1st and 2nd place for studying
Basque (%) As seen in Figure 2, all four proposed conditions where
confirmed as favourable circumstances, as they were
Note that the reasons given are of different types: selected by the majority of the respondents.
integrative (e.g. 7.1) as well as instrumental (e.g. 7.4,
7.6), and related to inner motivations (e.g. 7.1, 7.8) as
I would be willing to learn Basque…
If I were given the time off to do it (as it 80.1
is done for the civil servants)
If it were linked to activities that my 76
children do
If it were in combination with an activity
73
I enjoy
If it did not require me to attend lessons 72.5
for two hours a day
I would not learn Basque under any 2.9
circumstances
0 25 50 75 100
Figure 2. Conditions under which non-Basque adults would be prepared to learn Basque (%)
But I tell you that I am not prepared to spend three
5.4. Reasons not to learn Basque hours a day five days a week for five years just to try
to learn the language, because I have enough on my
The participants in the discussion groups were keen to plate as it is, with work and all the rest. (GA-B, 74)
explore the difficulties for learning Basque.
Contributions like the following one were common: The items in Q.9 reflect the most often mentioned
reasons. Consider Figure 3.

7. I do not learn Basque...
Because I don´t have the time 60.4
Because I have other priorities 31.9
Because I think Basque is very difficult 31.6
Because I am not sufficiently motivated 18.9
Because I don't get sufficient support/help 17.2
Because I'm not good at learning languages 16.6
Because the effort isn't worth my while 9.7
Because I do not think I would be capable of
9.2
learning enough
Because I have absolutely no interest 5.7
Other 2.5
No answer 7
0 25 50 75 100
Figure 3. Reasons why non-Basque speakers do not learn Basque (%)
discussed three groups: the more-in-favour (about 30%,
The most common reason is by far lack of time. This is
according to our data), a group that mostly for
related to the type of courses on offer, which tend to be
ideological reasons and contact with the Basque
intensive, many of them requiring attending lessons five
language tends to be in favour of every action
days a week for two hours a day. However, this reason
performed; the more-critical (also about 30%), those
may also be an excuse to justify not enough interest.
who tend to disagree with the measures, mostly when
they affect them; and a third group, the one labelled as
A reason worth mentioning is the one based on the
the yes-but (of slightly larger proportion, around 40%),
difficulty of Basque itself and of learning a second
which includes those who position themselves in favour
language as an adult. These folk beliefs are well spread
or against depending on the measure itself. They tend to
among the population. The discussion of how these
be in favour of the language but put limits to what
prejudices affect Basque normalization is beyond the
should be done in the name of Basque normalization.
scope of this paper, but efforts should be made to
weaken these particular beliefs because of the negative
We argue that the future direction of the language
effects on the learning of Basque.
policy for Basque should take into account what policies
enjoy general support and which would face opposition
6. Final discussion by some of the population, and that those less popular
should be approached with sensitivity and a practical
Given the strategic importance of non-speakers of the mind. It would seem particularly interesting to pay
minority language for its survival and development, it is attention to the yes-but and make sure that they are
of crucial importance to make a diagnosis of the brought closer to Basque and that they are not allowed
attitudes of this group. This paper has presented data to be lost for the normalization of the language. As
towards such diagnosis with regard to Basque. The mentioned in this paper, many of the yes-but are
attitudes of the non-Basque speakers have been individuals in the age of parenting, which makes them
described in relation to two aspects: (a) how they view even more strategic.
the measures taken by the public institutions in the
process of normalization of Basque, and (b) what they The second aspect of the paper discusses what the non-
are prepared to do to help with this process. Basque speakers are prepared to do. The actions most
favoured are those involving the children: ensuring that
In relation to the first aspect, the paper shows that the their children become Basque speakers and part of the
Basque society generally supports the language. This Basque culture.
must be interpreted in terms of real advancement, since
not so long ago Basque was a language ignored by Whilst learning the language themselves did not seem as
many or looked down upon. However, after 40 years of an objective of the respondents initially, the analysis of
active measures in favour of the language, not all of the the different questions indicated that many would in fact
measures enjoy the same degree of support amongst consider it. The study of the motivations showed an
those who do not speak Basque. The paper has interesting mixture with regard to the nature of such

8. motivations. The variety found proves that motivations Spanish version: Actitudes y creencias de los
of very different nature can in fact mobilize people into castellanohablantes hacia el euskera (2009)
action and therefore all should be seen as legitimate by
Azurmendi, M. J. & Martínez de Luna, I. (eds.) (2005).
society and be taken into account by policy makers.
The Case of Basque: From the Past Toward the
Future. Special Issue of the International Journal of
As for the circumstances in which non-Basque speakers
the Sociology of Language, 174. Berlin: Mouton de
may contemplate learning the language, it appears that
Gruyter.
formal and traditional instruction tends not to be an
option, but some or many may decide to learn at least a Azurmendi, M. J., Larrañaga, N., & Apalategi, J.
bit if it is for their own purposes, and in combination (2008). Bilingualism, identity, and citizenship in the
with activities that are meaningful or interesting to Basque Country. In M. Niño-Murcia & J. Rothman
them. The children again appear to be a strong (eds.) Bilingualism and Identity (pp. 35--62).
motivator for these adults (learning with them, in Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
activities linked to theirs, with the aim of helping them
Basque Government (1999). Encuesta Sociolingüística
with their studies). The paper also informs of the main
de Euskal Herria 1996. La Continuidad del Euskera
reasons why the non-Basque speakers do not learn
II. Comunidad Autónoma Vasca. Vitoria-Gasteiz:
Basque, lack of time being the main obstacle. Whilst
Basque Government.
there is now a number of iniciatives to help non-Basque
speaking adults familiarize with the Basque language ___ (2008). IV Encuesta Sociolingüistica. Vitoria-
and culture in alternative and creative ways, the data in Gasteiz: Basque Government.
our study gives a firm indication of the need to continue
___ (2009a). IV Mapa Sociolingüístico. Vitoria-Gasteiz:
making efforts in this direction.
Basque Government.
It is hoped that this paper will contribute to a better ___ (2009b). Department of Education,
understanding of the role of non-minority language www.euskadi.net, (Last access: 2009 / 09 / 04).
speakers in minority language revitalization.
Basque Language Advisory Board (2009). Basis for a
Language Policy for the Early 21st Century.
Acknowledgments Towards a Renewed Agreement. Vitoria-Gasteiz:
Basque Government.
The authors would like to thank the other members of
the UNESCO-Etxea Amarauna group (www.amarauna- Baxok, E., Etxegoin, P., Lekunberri, T., Martínez de
languages.com) and of the UNESCO Chair on World Luna, I., Mendizabal, L., Ahedo, I., Itzaina, X., &
Language Heritage of the University of the Basque Jimeno, R. (2006) Euskal nortasuna eta kultura XXI.
Country (EHU-UPV) (http://www.unesco-hizkuntza- mendearen hasieran, Donostia-San Sebastián: Eusko
katedra.ehu.es, especially Itziar Idiazabal, Andoni Ikaskuntza.
Barreña and Belen Uranga. Thanks also to the Language Soziolinguistika klusterra (2007). Kale neurketaren V.
Policy Office of the Basque Government, who funded neurketa, 2006. Special Issue of the BAT
the investigation, and to all members of the public who Soziolinguistika Aldizkaria, 64. Andoain:
participated, be it in the focus groups, or in the survey. Soziolinguistika Klusterra.
Echeverria, B. (2005). Language Attitudes in San
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