Langue, démographie et construction identitaire au Pays Basque

There exist two Basque Countries: one situated in France (or Iparralde) and another in Spain (or Euskadi). The first is integrated into the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and is not officially recognized, whereas the second forms an autonomous Spanish community. Although the Basque world is characterized by a certain degree of cultural unity, the result of these different legal realities is that in Iparralde, the proportion of Basque speakers has been decreasing continuously since the 19th century because of failures of transmission within families; while in Euskadi, on the contrary, recognition of the co-official character of the Basque language alongside Castilian, as well as its immersive teaching within public schools, has allowed an increase in the proportion of Basque speakers in the population. Statistical analysis of the survey Basque identity and culture at the beginning of the 21st century [Identité et culture basques au début du XXIe siècle] (2005) shows that knowledge of the Basque language has an impact on the identitary construction of the population, promoting the feeling of Basque belonging. This belonging is reinforced in Euskadi by its autonomous status, which confers a certain legitimacy upon it in the attribution of the Basque identity. In Iparralde, the absence of official recognition of Basque culture has led to the decline of the language, feeding frustrations and the construction, in response, of reactive identities.