King Alan R., Olaizola Elordi Begotxu. Colloquial Basque: A Complete Language Course

Routledge, 1996. — 256 p. — (Colloquial Series, Book 10). — ISBN10: 0415121094, ISBN13: 978-0415121095As one of Europe 's most exotic minority languages, probably unrelated genetically to any other language in the world, Basque has long fascinated linguists and non-specialists al!ke. According to our present knowledge, assuming that the Indo-European languages ultimately originatcd from outside Europe, Basque is the only truly indigenous European tongue to survive today, the remnant of a bygone age.
Basque is spoken by two-thirds of a million peopJe who constitute almost 20 per cent of the Basque Country's present population of three-and-a-half million. The proportion was much higher in the past, the sharpest drop having occurred in the last hundrcd years or so. While this may sound discouraging, there is an extensive band covering much of the northern half of the country, including most of the coastal and highland regions, where Basque, though endangered, is still the native language for most of the local population. Thanks to a recent upsurge in its political, social and economic status, even in the non-Basque-speaking regions you ean now find peop)e proud to speak what they firmly regard as their national languagc.