VII. The results of the Sociolinguistic Survey have been published. First the Navarros were published and two weeks ago the Basques. The Iparralde people have also arrived. Today I bring the conclusions of the most significant data of the CAPV. I have classified into five groups: knowledge, dispersion of speakers, ease of Basques, transmission of parents and linguistic attitudes.
As for linguistic competence, 36.2% of the CAPV over 16 years is Euskaldun. In five years the percentage of Euskaldunes has grown by 2.3 points, almost 50,000 more speakers. By territory, the Basques represent 22.4% in Álava, 30.6% in Bizkaia and 51.8% in Gipuzkoa. The Basque recipient is one in five inhabitants.
Compared to data five years ago, Basques have grown 3.2 points in Álava, 3 points in Bizkaia and 1.2 points in Gipuzkoa.
As for socio-linguistic areas, the distribution of Euskaldunes has varied greatly over the past 30 years. In socio-linguistic area 1 (less than 25% of Euskaldunes) one third of the Basques live, 13 points more than 30 years ago. In sociolinguistic area 3 has dropped 6 points and 4.ean almost 10 points. In other words, there are fewer vasco-speakers living in respiratory areas and more and more erdaldunes. We are increasingly Basque, but we are more dispersed. And that affects usage, of course. That is why it is so important that Euskaldunes in the Erdaldunes do not get in and do not disperse. In the case of Basque children, the situation plays a fundamental role.
As for ease, Euskaldunes that are more easily deployed in Euskera have dropped 7 points in 30 years. Bilingual Castilian speakers have risen 6 points.
The predominance of bilingual languages facilitates the understanding of the gap between use and knowledge
By region, in Álava only 8.5% of Euskaldunes are better developed in Basque than in Spanish, in Bizkaia almost 20% and in Gipuzkoa 38.7%. The predominance of bilingual languages facilitates the understanding of the gap between use and knowledge. There are more young Vascospeakers, but these speakers do better in Spanish.
As for parental transmission, when both are Basque, transmission is practically guaranteed.
Conversely, when only one parent is Euskaldun, transmission drops considerably: 57.4% of young people between 16 and 34 years old have received Euskera, while among those between 35 and 64 years of age 50.8% and among those over 65 years a quarter.
When the two parents are Euskaldunberris, 29% do so only in Spanish, although Euskera knows.
Finally, I would like to mention attitude and adherence to language, as the survey has revealed worrying data: 22.7% of the Basque population considers that learning English is more important than learning Basque, while 24.8% is the same. The supporters of Euskera being greater on radio and television are only half, and 22.7% do not want more Euskera.
In short, knowledge advances, more and more speakers live scattered in Castilian speaking spaces and, although we are increasingly Basque, these Euskaldunes are better developed in Spanish. Adherence to the Basque language has been reduced and more and more languages are prioritized as English versus Basque.
Mitxel Elortza