euskara

Euskara, or Basque, is a language spoken in the Basque Country and neighboring areas of Spain and France. It is widely regarded as a language isolate, meaning it is not demonstrably related to any other known language. The origins of Euskara are uncertain, with its earliest written records dating from the medieval period.

Today, Euskara is spoken primarily in the Basque Autonomous Community and in Navarre (where Basque has co-official status in parts of the territory), and in the Northern Basque Country in France. It has several dialects, including varieties in Biscay, Gipuzkoa, and Navarre, as well as in the French Basque Country (Lapurdi and Zuberoa). In the 20th century, a standardized form, Euskara Batua, was developed by Euskaltzaindia to unify diverse dialects for education and media.

In Spain, Basque enjoys official status alongside Spanish in the Basque Autonomous Community; in Navarre, co-official status exists where Basque is recognized. In France, Basque is not an official language at national level, but Basque education and cultural institutions operate locally. The Basque language uses the Latin alphabet; Batua orthography is largely phonemic and includes digraphs such as tx and x to represent distinct sounds. Basque features ergative–absolutive alignment and an agglutinative morphology, with extensive use of postpositions and suffixes.

Efforts since mid-20th century, including immersion schools (ikastolas) and media in Basque, have supported revival and increasing transmission to children, though vitality varies by region.