History

Foundation

Personalities of note from the Basque Country (people who love and defend Basque culture) from the 19th century had, by then, pointed out the need to create an academy for the language (Ulibarri, 1832; Aizkibel, 1856; Abadia and Duvoisin, 1862; Manterola, 1880; Artiñano, 1886) and, in the first decades of the 20th century, illustrious personalities and citizens urged that an institution of these characteristics be created.

In the end, both foreign researchers (Bonaparte, Van Eys, Schuchardt, Dodgson, Gavel, etc.) and Basque Country's own (Campión, Azkue, Urkixo, etc.) supported the project, along with Basque-speaking civil associations of the time (Euskal Esnaleak, for instance). Thanks to all of the above, the appropriate environment was created for the creation of the Academy of the Language by the administrations of the historical territories.

The first initiative was born in the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and, later, the Provincial Councils of Álava, Gipuzkoa and Navarra joined (1918). As a result, the first Regulation was drawn up and Euskaltzaindia was legally constituted (October 1919). A year later, publication of Euskera began, the official bulletin where the standards and research developed by the Academy have been collected.

Collaboration between Azkue and Krutwig

1919-1936

Euskaltzaindia managed to consolidate its purpose during the years prior to the Civil War. In this way, to the work of normalizing the language was added that of creating a standardized literary language, although this objective was not achieved through stable and solid academic work (1922). On the contrary, during that time, a great deal of work was carried out in the field of dissemination and knowledge of Basque thanks to both the masterpieces of Azkue (Basque Morphology, 1923-1934) and the extensive field work based on phonetic questionnaires, morphological and lexicographical studies to Basque speakers (Erizkizundi Irukoitza, 1922 and following). The works from this period can be consulted in the Euskera publication, a faithful witness of its time.

1936 and the later years

The activity of previous years ceased entirely until the beginning of the collaboration between Azkue and Krutwig, at the beginning of the 1950s (which was not exactly a propitious context), at which time work as usual was resumed. At that time (1954) the regulations were renewed and new full academics were appointed and, from 1956 onwards, Euskaltzaindia enjoyed a more peaceful time both in its internal activity and in internal meetings and public meetings (the first after the war was in Arantzazu, in 1956).

Expansion

1956-1968

The following decades gave rise to renewed energy and working practices: firstly, the renewal of the members of Euskaltzaindia with a new generation of workers, then the incorporation of Basque into education through the ikastolas (schools), the revitalization of the press in Basque, literacy for Basque speakers, etc.

The proliferation and diffusion of texts written in Basque meant that Euskaltzaindia had to update its linguistic regulations. The Arantzazu Congress (1968), without going any further, was convened to respond to this social demand, and in this congress more systematic basic norms were offered for the unification of the written language (spelling, vocabulary, morphology and declension). All this work was completed in 1973 with the proposal of a regulation for the unified language.

1968-1976

The debate that arose around this set of academic norms did not prevent their social acceptance from prospering in education, the media and administration (1976-1983), in the context of the newly constituted autonomous governments (Statute of Euskadi, 1979; Improvement of the Fuero de Navarra, 1982).

Euskaltzaindia currently has a more complex internal organization and a larger group of staff, always trying to contribute to the unification and modernization of Basque and seeking a more complete level of linguistic knowledge (dictionary, dialects: linguistic atlas; onomastics, grammar, literature…).