Basque Language Is Fighting for Survival in France

A side street of this ancient capital of the French Basque country boasts what may be the world’s only Basque-language punk rock bar.

Knock twice, mumble a greeting in the Basque tongue Euskera and the door opens on one of the most bizarre strongholds of the mysterious language.

Against a backdrop of framed goat heads spattered with blood, twisted metal sculptures and scrawled political slogans, the clientele drink, dance and sing to the latest Basque-language hits imported from Spain.

But if “Bil Txoco” (the Meeting Place) shows that Euskera is still alive on the French side of the Pyrenees, it also highlights its isolation from the mainstream of French-dominated society.

Fears of Becoming Folklore

Though there are a few French Basque speakers, most of the bar’s regulars are refugees from Spain, many of them active on the anarchist fringes of the Basque separatist cause.

“It’s either this or the museum,” said one Euskera teacher, referring to a nearby “Basque Museum” displaying dust-covered traditional costumes, cooking utensils and other artifacts.

“We are fighting to avoid becoming just folklore.”

While more than 380,000 people speak Euskera and as many understand or are studying it in the Spanish Basque region, only about 70,000 speak the tongue in the three Basque provinces north of the border.

French Dominates

Few of these can read or write the language, which has no links with any of the world’s known language groups and has defied researchers’ efforts to pinpoint its enigmatic origins.

The tongue can still be heard in many of the cafes in the old quarter of Bayonne and the secluded villages of the Pyrenees, but even its most optimistic supporters acknowledge the unassailable dominance of French.

“Centuries of scorn and emphasis on French as the national language have completely marginalized the use of Basque,” said Jose Etxeberri, a leader of the Seaska federation of Basque language schools.

“If you try and write a check in Basque rather than French, most shopkeepers won’t touch it,” she said.

Taught as Second Language

Since opening its first nursery school with eight pupils in 1969, Seaska (the cradle) has expanded to include 21 other nursery schools, nine primary schools and one secondary college.

Last year, 850 pupils enrolled in the privately funded schools, where most classes are in Basque with French being taught as a second language.

The establishment of three private Basque-language radio stations in France and a weekly magazine has also helped comfort those struggling to preserve the tongue.

But despite these efforts, Etxeberri and others are still pessimistic about the future of Euskera as a living language.

“It is still in danger. For all our efforts, we still haven’t managed to halt the decline. . . . We can only replaster a few cracks here and plug a few holes there,” she said.

Financial Problems

The Seaska schools face growing financial problems that could threaten their existence unless new funding is found to fill an annual deficit of some $42,850.

Unlike private religious schools, the Basque schools have never been integrated into the state system and are funded almost entirely from private donations and fees.

“To save Basque, there must be a political will,” said Etxeberri.

But such will is unlikely. Unlike Spain, Basque separatist feeling is weak in France with militant candidates never winning more than 5% of the Basque region vote in parliamentary elections.

Punishment Given

As the most centralized system of government in Western Europe, the French state has fought a long war of attrition against regional languages and separatist sentiment.

Until the 1950s, the elimination of Basque, Breton and other tongues was still official policy, and many Basques recount tales of elaborate systems of punishment devised for pupils who spoke anything other than French in the classroom.

They say that in many state schools, a wooden baton was passed between students caught speaking Basque and the pupil left with the baton at the end of the day would be punished.

In an effort to repair some of the damage, France’s previous Socialist government promoted Basque and other tongues as second language alternatives to English and Spanish.

Ruled Unconstitutional

A plan to provide state funding to Basque schools was dropped, however, when France’s highest watchdog body, the Constitutional Council, ruled the scheme unconstitutional.

Officials, pointing to the fact that only 900 pupils in state schools enrolled to study Basque in 1985, say the language can never be considered a realistic alternative to French or other European languages.