ABSTRACT
The standardisation of Basque passed through three distinct stages: the period before the twentieth century; the first half of the twentieth century; and the period since 1964. Manuel Larramendi was opposed to standardising Basque and championed using all the dialects. Arana Goiri breathed new life into Larramendi’s thesis, and was wholly opposed to the standardisation of the language. Before the twentieth century, despite the rejection of the idea of language standardisation, the desire for orthographic unification was accepted practically unanimously. In 1910 Euzkadi, published in Bilbao, started a debate on the standardisation of Basque, under the title “The question of the dialects.” During the gestation of standard Basque, right up until his premature death in 1975, Gabriel Aresti played a key role. In June 1968, the Gerediaga cultural association in the Durango region of Bizkaia organised an assembly in Ermua, aimed at giving fresh impetus to standardisation.
