About Euskaltzaindia

This note appeared today at EITb:

Fiestas & traditions

Official Academic Institution

Euskaltzaindia: The Royal Academy of the Basque Language

11/20/2007

Basque is a non-Indo-European language whose speakers are largely found in the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, straddling the border between France and Spain, in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bay of Biscay.

The Royal Academy of the Basque Language (1919) is the official academic institution, which watches over Euskara or the Basque language. It carries out research into the language, seeks to protect it and establishes standards of use. The Basque name of this academy of language is Euskaltzaindia.

Basque is a non-Indo-European language whose speakers are largely found in the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, straddling the border between France and Spain, in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bay of Biscay. The territory the language is spoken in is spread over three distinct regions: the two autonomous communities of Euskadi and Navarre in Spain and, in the French Republic, the Département des Pyrénées Atlantiques.

Euskaltzaindia enjoys full official recognition as a royal academy in Spain (1976) and as a cultural association of public benefit within the territory of the French Republic (1995). At the same time it also enjoys widespread social recognition among the country's population. All this has brought about an intense normative activity leading to the standardisation and modernisation of the language in Basque society, especially since 1968.

The Academy of the Basque language was established within the context of the Basque Renaissance (Eusko Pizkundea, 1876 - 1936) in the framework provided by the Congress of Basque Studies held in Oñati in 1918, at a time when the Basque language was being proclaimed as a central cultural value to be protected and promoted.

Important figures from the 19th century had already demanded the setting-up of an academy in defence of the language (Ulibarri, 1832; Aizkibel, 1856; d'Abbadie and Duvoisin, 1862; Manterola, 1880 and Artiñano, 1886), and it was during the first two decades of the 20th century when various entities - some scientific and others more popular ones - also emphasised the need for its immediate creation.

The scientific contributions of major foreign figures (Bonaparte, Van Eys, Schuchardt, Dodgson, Gavel etc.) and from within the country (Campion, Azkue, Urquijo etc.), as well as the demand on the part of Basque language loyalist organisations (for example, Eusko Esnalea) created a favourable climate for the public authorities to take on the task of setting up the academy.

The first initiative in this direction came from the provincial government of Bizkaia, which the other three provincial governments in the peninsular part of the Basque Country subsequently joined (1918), with articles of association being approved and Euskaltzaindia being legally constituted in October 1919. One year later its journal Euskera was launched, the official organ for the publication of its rules and research work, which has survived to the present.

The present day internal structure and organisation can be summarised as follows: a ruling body composed of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer governs the academy. The heads of the Research and Watchdog Sections are also members. Plenary sessions must be held at least once a month. Under current rules the Academy has 24 full members and an unlimited number of associate members.

The Academy is present throughout the area where Basque is used, with a head office in Bilbao and regional offices in Bayonne (Baiona), Donostia-San Sebastián, Iruña/Pamplona and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

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