ABSTRACT
The Basque language has undergone profound changes in the past three decades. In the 1960s, Basque nationalism redefined its discourse so that the language became the key element of collective identity and distinctiveness. This chapter discusses the conflicts as it traces the recuperation and vitality of the Basque language in recent years. The first twenty years of the Franco period had seen the spread of a feeling that Basque nationalism was dying, and the most visible feature of this was the decline of the language. During the process of political transition to democracy, and under the pressure of a growing demand for the democratisation of social structures as well as policies which already existed, two basic problems arose. Basque nationalism was the driving force behind the need to recover the Basque language, as opposed to other social movements which did not give such importance to this objective.
