Re: Euskara (berriro)
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:45 am
That's something important to keep in mind. Too often people assume it takes a long time for a language to die. That's somewhat true, the actual process takes a very long time because as long as there is one native speaker left, the language is indeed 'alive'. It does take decades for a language to literally die. But reaching the point where not enough children speak it is something that can happen really quickly*. And from then on, it is only a matter of time before the language dies, no matter how many people may still be able to speak it.nooj wrote:There's so many examples of this throughout the Basque Country. In a matter of one or two generations, a language spoken by 100% of the population, a language that as late as 1904 was put forward as a required language when the town hall of Altsasu were hiring for a town pharmacist, can collapse.
In light of such examples, to go to a town where Basque is currently healthy and assume that Basque is safe is to commit a fatal mistake. It's more accurate to think that Basque is currently one step away from the grave.
Usually people wake up when it's too late. I don't know why there is so much inertia. Part of the problem, I think, is that the people in charge (politicians, head of cultural organisations, etc.) are generally older than the average population and so, they don't really understand how badly the language is doing because everyone around them (i. e. their generation) still speaks it. Another problem is that, very often, language census are not reliable because some organisations have a vested interest in inflating the numbers. That allows them to claim their action is a succes and/or that they should be given more money because their work is useful to a large number of people. While this may work for some time, it only hides the true situation the language finds itself in and prevents needed action to be taken.
And, as you say, there is no room for complacency. I read a lot about Welsh a few years ago and it is clear how much efforts it took just to stabilise the language. It seems this hard work is now paying off and that the percentage of speakers in the population is rising. But then there's the problem that a rising number of speakers often reflects the fact that more pupils are speaking it in school, it does not always translate to more people speaking it in everyday life. No room for complacency.
* I remember reading about some extreme case in which the whole adult population of one village in the Alps got together and collectively decided to stop raising the children in Occitan. That was around 1910 if I remember well. I never checked the story to see if it was true but I wouldn't be surprised if it were.