El vascuence en Aoiz (siglos XVIII-XIX)

Abstract

During the XVIII th. Century the village of Aoiz continued to be bilingual. Most of is inhabitants spoke Spanish; compulsory at school, and Basque; the language preferred by children at home and on the street, by the rural sector and the craft industry and by many people for confession. The fourteen vicars (9 titular and 5 temporary) were ~Basque-speaking, although the last one of the century had to learn the language to have access to the post. By that time it appears a small group of neighbours, a notary among them, who did not speak Basque. During the first part of the XIXth. Century begins the decline of the Basque language, being completed its extinction during the same century.