Conflicting discourses on language rights in the Basque Autonomous Community

Abstract

The handling of linguistic diversity in the Basque Autonomous Community has been an area of constant political debate since the establishment of the Basque–Spanish co-official linguistic regime and the introduction of a process to revitalize Euskara (the Basque language) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Much of that debate has materialized in claims related to the language rights of citizens. This paper analyzes discourses about language rights in three political organizations, the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV), the Abertzale Left (Ezker Abertzalea), and the Popular Party (PP), through an analysis of their electoral programs for the Basque Parliament from the first elections to the present day (1980–2016). Although the linguistic system of the Basque Autonomous Community seems consolidated, the analysis has shown that policy proposals are profoundly conditioned by the form of understanding language rights and that these in turn are influenced by distinct national projects. EAJ-PNV advocates for an effective equal opportunity to choose between Spanish and Basque in all spheres of use, motivated by its ethnocultural conception of the Basque Nation. The Ezker Abertzalea demands the right to live in Basque throughout the Basque Country with Basque as the common language of its plurilingual state project. The PP focuses on the negative side of language rights based on the common language status of Spanish and the right of citizens to remain monolingual in Spanish.