Process to unify the language: Euskara Batua

Euskaltzaindia enjoys official recognition, under the title of Royal Academy in the Spanish State (1976), and as a Body of practical acceptance in the environment of the French Republic (1995). At the same time, it also enjoys generalised social recognition among the population of the country. All of this has lead to standards being made which have led to the standardisation and modernisation of the language in the Basque-speaking society, particularly since 1968.

In 1968, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Euskaltzaindia, a Congress was held in Arantzazu (Gipuzkoa). At this meeting, the linguist Koldo Mitxelena presented the work commissioned by the Academy of Euskara, which took as a base of Standard Euskara (the unified Basque language) Euskara from Gipuzkoa, Nafarroa and Lapurdi.

This work set out the lexicographical and morphological guidelines which were intended to establish the bases of the literary unit of Euskara, completed in 1973 with a proposal on the verbal conjugation. The social debate was started in favour and against Standard Euskara. There were many criticisms, however, in the educational environment it began to be accepted and to be extended.

The opinions against were based on the excessive weighting that the dialect of Gipuzkoa had on the unified language compared with other dialectal forms, and the danger of the use of a single language for the conservation of the dialects. The arguments in favour emphasised that Euskara was a model for writing and that its creation was based on the classic authors, and therefore, the influence of Culture was well known. Furthermore, Standard Euskara would unify all the dialects and would strengthen the language.

Even though at the beginning it appeared that the opinions against were backed by more people, over time Standard Euskara has now become predominant in education, in the media and in the Administration, however, at local level the dialects are still used.