In my window, I saw the transformation of Spain. From Madrid in the central part of the country to the northern coast, empty land and grazing cows have become foggy green hills and sparkling ports full of ships. I used to drive north, but this is my first time to live in Hertaglia, a medieval fishing village with beaches, vineyards and Juan Sebastian Elcano's Baptist church. He was a local son of15th century, and he was the first person to travel around the world.
In the afternoon, in a narrow street, jellyfish sizzled on the outdoor charcoal grill, emitting hot smoke. Two men stood behind the seafood delivery truck, speaking a language I had never heard before. One day in March that year, the intermittent sound they exchanged was mixed with the slight sound of raindrops on the sidewalk. Later, I realized that they were speaking an ancient endangered language.
The Euskala language used in Navarra autonomous region in northern Spain and Basque region in northern Spain and southwest France is a mystery: it has no known origin and no relationship with any other language. This abnormal phenomenon has been puzzling language experts for many years.
"No one knows where this language comes from," said Pelo Salabru, dean and professor of Basque College of Basque University in Bilbao. . "Many years ago, scholars studied this problem, but there was no clear conclusion."
This unique language is the pride of Basques. Today, it is estimated that 700,000 people, or 35% of Basques, can speak this language. But this was the goal of the Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, who forced the use of Spanish and banned other languages, including Euskara (also known as Basque), from 1939 to 1975.
When Karmele Errekatxo was a child in1960s and1970s, she took secret courses in the basement of a church in Bilbao, Spain, the most populous city in the Basque Country and the site of the famous Guggenheim Museum. It was here that she learned Escala's taboos.
"Language is the identity of a place," said Errekatxo, who is now a teacher in Bilbao and speaks Euskara in her classroom. "If you get a language from a place, it will die. The dictatorship knows this and hopes that Euskala will disappear. "
1944, a group of parents set up a hidden Basque school, or ikastola. According to Salabru, by 1970, there were more than 8,000 students in these secret learning institutions.
Salabru was asked to be named "Pedro Maria" in the baptism of 195 1, which is the Spanish version of his Basque name. When he was a child, he only spoke Euskala. At the age of six, he learned his first Spanish word in a non-Basque school in Navarra.
At this time, the remote towns and farms along the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay still use Euskala, which is the only language known to many families. But in the city, there was silence, and the informant reported Euskala to the police.
"Euskala is classified as the private domain of the family," said El Cateso. "But in the city, even the city walls seem to be listening."
/kloc-one day in the 1940s, Errekatxo's grandmother was heard telling a food supplier in Bilbao about Euskara from her hometown of Bermeo (a seaside village 34km northeast of Bilbao). She was arrested, imprisoned and forced to pay a fine. Before she left, her jailer shaved her head to humiliate her
Therefore, her grandmother did not pass on Euskala to her children, including her father.
"This has an impact on suppressing language," said Errekatxo. "Because of fear, many families who speak Uskala are losing this language. This language has not been passed down from generation to generation. Suddenly stopped. "
But Euskala lived longer than dictatorship, just as it somehow survived for thousands of years.
Caveologist recently discovered an ancient cave in Errenteria, a small town in the province of Gipsiqua in the Basque Country, Spain, where there are pictures left by people about 14000 years ago. Other prehistoric caves in the Basque country (including Santiago de Biscay? The e and Ekain boasted by Gibbs were inhabited about 9000 years ago.
"Of course, we don't know what language is spoken in the cave," Saraburu said. "But unless we have other data to prove the contrary, we should assume that this primitive language is related to the current Basque language in some sense."
3500 years ago, when orientals or Indo-Europeans began to arrive in Europe, they brought their own languages, and most European languages originated here. But Euskara does not have the same Indo-European root, but "a completely different origin", Sarabru said. He said it was the only living language in Europe that had nothing to do with other languages.
Among several theories about the origin of Uscala, Uscala and Iberian are the same language, or both have evolved from the same language. Like Euskala, Iberian (an extinct language once spoken in the southeast of Iberian Peninsula) has little to do with the main languages in this region.
"Iberian language-perhaps several languages themselves, with different writing systems-is mainly defined as the language relative to Latin, which is used in Iberian Peninsula, roughly Spain and Portugal now. One of their writing systems was decrypted in the1920s. We don't understand it, but we know it sounds like Basque, "said Saraburu.
The milestone of Euskala happened recently because it has been used for thousands of years. Euskala's first book was not printed in Bordeaux, France until 1545. The first Basque school was opened in San Sebastian in 19 14 (only 30 years after Franco forced the Basque school to go underground); This language was standardized in 1968, paving the way for writers to write in Euskala.
"Cordo Mitt selena, the best scholar of Basque language, once said,' The miracle of Basque language is that it can survive'". "Really, it survived without literature, and there were no educated people in the Basque country. This is a miracle. "
With the passage of time, the close contact between Basques and nature shaped Euskala. Their environment inspired many words to describe their verdant valleys, magnificent peaks, blue coastlines and bluer skies. This language contains all kinds of words about scenery, animals, wind and ocean-there are about 100 kinds of "butterflies". This language may still exist, partly because its early users were geographically separated from the rest of the world by the Pyrenees.
"But I want to say that it is not as isolated as people say, because many people use this land," Saraburu said. "Basques believe that language is their most important feature as a nation. They just don't want to lose it. "
In the1960s, when Franco attacked Basque culture, he founded the terrorist organization ETA(Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, meaning "Basque homeland and freedom"). In the following decades, hundreds of people were killed to fight for the independence of Basque region from Spain and France. Euskala was used by ETA members in blackmail letters, demanding money from enterprises and individuals, and threatening to use violence against them, and was painted on the wall by sympathizers who wrote pro-ETA slogans. ETA disarmed in April 20 17.
"Euskala was used as a weapon. It has been politicized and manipulated. "People think that Euskala belongs to nationalists. I believe that a language is universal. "
In order to keep the European Union Scala language alive, the Basque regional government in Spain, where most Basques live, recently launched a campaign to encourage the use of this language. The initiative includes a website where Uskala speakers can practice their language. Students in this area can also choose whether to study Uscala, Spanish or both. Most people choose to study in Euskala, although they rarely hear it in public; For example, it is quite common to hear people speak Spanish on the streets of Bilbao.
Sarabru said: "For the first time in our history, many people who know Basque chose to speak Spanish." "It makes me feel uncomfortable. Spanish and different languages have a great influence. "
In Hertaglia, the Euskala I heard was a modern version influenced by other languages. I noticed that I also heard some Spanish voices, such as ch (written as "tx" in Euskala, such as txangurro, which means "crab"), but there is little similarity between the two languages. For example, "thank you" is eskerrik asko in Euskala and gracias in Spain.
Throughout the Basque country, the word Euskara appears on road signs and doors, paying tribute to tourists in shops and bars that supply txakoli (locally produced white wine) and pintxos (thick slices of bread with seafood or other ingredients). Languages once banned by Franco are now used on TV, sung in music, printed in newspapers and broadcast on the radio.
Sarabru said: "1975, when Franco died, I thought Basque was regarded as a symbol against him, and many people began to learn Basque and take care of the language.
Will Euskala survive?
"I said yes because I am an optimist," said Errekatxo. "Basque has its ups and downs. It goes forward and backward, just like life itself. "
After a day in Hertaglia, I drove 26 kilometers eastward along the coast of the Bay of Biscay, and arrived in San Sebastian, a Basque city famous for its restaurants and beaches. There, on the steps of St. Mary's Cathedral, a baroque building in the old city of this city18th century, a male choir sang magnificent songs with beautiful Euskala. I don't need to understand these words to appreciate their beauty.