Basque (language)

Basque
Euskara
Native to	Spain, France
Region	Basque Country, Basque diaspora
Ethnicity	Basque
Native speakers	(550,000 cited 1991–2012) to 720,000 (2012)
Language family	Language isolate (Vasconic)
Early forms	Proto-Basque Aquitanian Basque
Dialects	Biscayan Gipuzkoan Upper Navarrese Navarro-Lapurdian dialect Eastern Navarrese Souletin (Zuberoan)
Writing system	Basque alphabet (Latin script) Basque Braille
Official status
Official language in	Basque Autonomous Community Navarre
Regulated by	Euskaltzaindia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	eu
ISO 639-2	(B)  (T)
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	basq1248
Linguasphere	40-AAA-a
Schematic dialect areas of Basque. Light-colored dialects are extinct. See dialects below for details.
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Basque (/bæsk/ or /bɑːsk/; Basque: Euskara, IPA: [eus̺ˈkaɾa]) is the language spoken by the Basques. Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the other languages of Europe and indeed, as a language isolate, any other known language. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. The Basque language is spoken by 27% of Basques in all territories (714,135 out of 2,648,998). Of these, 93% (663,035) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 7% (51,100) are in the French portion.

Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish territories and the three "ancient provinces" in France. Gipuzkoa, most of Biscay, a few municipalities of Álava, and the northern area of Navarre formed the core of the remaining Basque-speaking area before measures were introduced in the 1980s to strengthen the language. By contrast, most of Álava, the western part of Biscay and central and southern areas of Navarre are predominantly populated by native speakers of Spanish, either because Basque was replaced by Spanish over the centuries, in some areas (most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it was possibly never spoken there, in other areas (Enkarterri and southeastern Navarre).