“What have you written the epaaaaaaa for? ! In this way, repeating so much the same letter?”, “because if you only apply it, the epa dries,” the young man replies. One of the characteristics of conversations through technology is the great repetition of letters and punctuation symbols. This was deduced by Garbiñe Bereziartua, in his work with the young people of Azpeitia.

In his doctoral thesis in Pedagogy he has worked on the theme Youth of the Basque environment and written language, in school and outside school. It has been assisted by the UPV/EHU Dream Research Group: “It was clear that I would do something about languages.” Jasone Cenoz, the tutor, gave her the clues. “The issue is quite new and has not begun to be studied.” Her work has been awarded the second prize of the Sociolinguistics Cluster, Reflection-Debate. To carry out the study, she has analyzed texts written by young people, has passed surveys to them and has also conducted discussion groups to develop the thesis.

Informal registration

Young people have no problem distinguishing informal from formal texts. This is one of the main conclusions of the thesis. It has often been said that new technologies can damage the quality of the language, and Garbiñe Bereziartua considers this fear to be normal: “Fears are partly healthy, a sign that we care. But it’s fear of the unknown.” Considers that a change of approach is needed: “As long as the language is alive, we have to change. It has to adapt to the new times, that keeps it alive. The Basque who we have today for good will surely also be an Basque with Castilian plagued for our grandparents and grandmothers.”

Therefore, young Azpeitiarras do not include in the formal texts the resources they use in technologies: “I’m not saying it won’t influence, but for that it takes more time and more research.” He does not see the reasons for the defects in writing so easily: “It can influence spelling, perhaps also language style and vocabulary, but mistakes were made earlier.” We should consider whether these errors are made to the same extent and in what kind of deficiencies they are. “The influence of the dialect, for example, already existed previously in the formal texts. If we now see these errors, what would the use of the dialect simply influence in writing or the oral use of the dialect?”

The conclusions reached in Azpeitia may indicate a trend, but Bereziartua is clear that it cannot be generalised and that more research should be done: “If we realize that this is affecting spelling a lot, let’s do studies and take action. That can no longer be said, that it does harm, or that it does not. To say that, you have to analyze it.”

The strength of the Basque and the dialect

As in the oral use, the Basque language also predominates in the written communication of the young; the dialect. “In the hypothesis I did not raise it, but I have come in more than one point to the importance of the Basque dialect.” In this sense, Bereziartua considers that the young Azpeitiarras are fortunate: “For example, expressions such as ‘horta type’ are developed in Basque. Young people have the opportunity and the environment still leads them to look for such expressions in Basque”.

In the opinion of Bereziartua, the dialect gives young people freedom in extracurricular activity: “They connect the batua with the school, and outside it, the dialect helps them to create a language of their own, without laws, freely.” He believes that this wording mixes two things: “On the one hand there is juvenile language, young people always want to use another language and a lexicon as young people, and on the other hand, the language of technologies. Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish: Why do they do this, because they're young or because they're writing through technologies? I'm not that young, and I use these strategies when I use technologies. To say how, for example, I use a lot of Zmz.”

Appropriation of luck

With the help of Euskalkia, in Azpeitia they have a register for informal situations. “In many villages there is no such possibility, and in Azpeitia we often do not realize it.” The Azpei-Tiarra pedagogue lacks the active adhesion in favor of the Basque: “We should be aware that it is a fate and that it is there for those who want to assume the responsibility that lies with us.” Bereziartua has explained that this is a disease that affects many respiratory centers and very varied. Precisely, in order to raise awareness of the importance of the Basque language, they have created an association in Azpeitia.