Alternate Names: Euskara, Euskera, Vascuense
Dialects: Alavan, Alto Navarro Meridional, Alto Navarro Septentrional (High Navarrese, Upper Navarran), Biscayan (Vizcaino), Gipuzkera (Gipuzkoan, Guipuzcoan, Guipuzcoano), Roncalese. Some inherent intelligibility among regional varieties except Souletin. Regional varieties sometimes preferred for oral use, but strong desire for Batua unified standard.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 468,000 in Spain (ELDIA 2012). Population total all countries: 545,872. Ethnic population: 2,000,000 residents of 3 provinces of Basque territory; 25% born outside territory, 40% in territory born to Basque parents. 4,400,000 in Spain have Basque surname; 19% live in Basque country.
Language Use: All ages. Also use Spanish [spa].
Language Development: Newspapers. New media. Radio programs. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1855–1998.
Typology: SOV; prepositions; genitives, articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives after noun heads; question word initial; verb affix gender agreement obligatory; prefix marks causative; comparative shown lexically.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Spain
Other Comments: ‘Euskadi’ is name of Basque region, not the language. Alavan no longer spoken. Christian.