On Language Ecology in the Basque Country: the Vision of the Social Partners

This article presents a study carried out in the Basque Country to determine the vision of social partners involved in language standardization processes on the theory and approach to language ecology. The text is structured around two key research questions: Is there a significant level of knowledge about language ecology among the social partners? Are they able to relate the language ecology approach to processes of social responsibility and sketch out possible avenues of application? The methodology used to gather the data was qualitative in nature, using focus group techniques. As a draw for contacting social partners and getting them to participate in the focus group interviews, an interdisciplinary seminar on the subject of language ecology, with the participation of Professor Albert Bastardas, was organized. The seminar was structured in two parts. To begin, Professor Bastardas gave an opening lecture on language ecology.  Afterwards, the participants were gathered into three focus groups, in which a group discussion was proposed, structured so as to permit data collection. To conclude, all the participants were brought together again in a plenary for an idea-sharing session and final discussion. This paper presents the result of the interpretation of the lines of discourse, the proposals put forward, and the conclusions of the study.