La crisis del euskera en el Valle de Egüés (Siglo XIX)

Abstract

At the end of the 18th century, the entire population of the eighteen localities that made up the area of the Egüés Valley, which borders Pamplona to the east, spoke their “native Basque language”. Education in schools was introduced later in four villages. There, the teachers taught in Spanish and required the pupils to speak this language too. After only a few years, the linguistic panorama had changed: older people continued to speak Basque only; the intermediate generation was bilingual; children and yound people opted for Romance, which in the end the priests used in their sermons. The disappearance of Basque was imminent. The turbulent political situation, with the Carlist War in the offing, did not represent a favourable climate in which to come out in defence of the Basque language.