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INPRIMATU
The linguistic diversity of Bizkaia and the integrating value of the Basque Country
  • On 21 October, a round table was organised at the Basque House in Bilbao, within the European Heritage Conference: “The linguistic diversity of Bizkaia and the integrative value of the Basque Country”. The date is October 21, from 19:00.
Sustatu 2021eko urriaren 15

According to the organizers, "all the languages we have in Bizkaia enrich the territory, and the Basque country can be a refuge and a bridge for all the languages that are in Bizkaia. From Euskera and Euskera we can recognize the value of all languages”·

The Cluster of Sociolinguistics presented in February of this year the map of the linguistic diversity of Bizkaia. This analysis is the image we've stuck with. In Bizkaia, except for Basque and Spanish, the ten languages with the most speakers exceed 1,400 speakers.

Despite the sums, among the languages we can identify, 25,697 inhabitants have as their native language Galician; 11,119 people speak Romanian and 7,018 inhabitants Catalan. Among the Biscayan from the Maghreb, Arabic and Tamazight are the native languages of 13,435 people (although perhaps the sum is not very appropriate in this case).

Speaking at the round table:

  • Amelia Barquín, PhD in Romanesque Philology and working at HUHEZI (Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences, Mondragon Unibertsitatea). The theme of Barquín will be interculturality: “What does a serious understanding of interculturality require in the Basque country? How does it combine? Interculturality is often limited to the diverse, but is it correct?”
  • Xabier Aierdi, PhD in Sociology and Professor at the UPV/EHU for almost forty years. He is currently retired and president of the Begirune Foundation. Your topic: “It will focus on the maps of linguistic diversity in Bizkaia, based on the socio-linguistic analysis carried out last year.”
  • Julen Zabalo Bilbao, Professor at the UPV/EHU in the department of Sociology and Social Work. What is proposed to Zabalo: “Can the Basque Country play the role of social cohesion in our current society? What are the

    possibilities and limitations? Where does rhetoric end and where do we start the challenge?”