| Description |
This thesis examines the history of the Basques (both in Europe and the United States), the ethnolinguistic vitality of Basque in the U.S. (including the role of language and language revitalization efforts), and some linguistic features of Basque today. It makes use of various articles, studies, and internet sources to attempt to define what it means to be Basque-American in the twenty-first century. Basque, both as a language and a culture, has a history that has been traced back to thousands of years ago, with the first hard evidence of the language appearing with recorded history. The Basque diaspora began in the sixteenth century and slowly continued for the next few centuries. There was a revitalization of the diaspora in the midnineteenth century with Basques immigrating to parts of South America, including Argentina, Uruguay, and, eventually, the U.S. After giving up their dreams of becoming rich by finding gold in the U.S., many of the Basques that immigrated there settled into communities in the West and started to herd sheep. Most of them moved to parts of California, Nevada, or Idaho. Although little is known about the actual size of the population until 1980 when "Basque" became a distinguished choice on the ethnicity/race section of the U.S. Census, there is now estimated to be around 54,000 Basque-Americans in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). |
