La lengua vasca en tiempos de Pedro de Fontecha y Salazar

Abstract

With regard to the linguistic context in which the Escudo de la más constante fe y lealtad de Vizcaya was drafted, we have addressed the following aspects: First, the specific situation of the Basque language spoken in the various Basque territories, with special attention to the percentages of Basque monolinguals existing throughout the eighteenth century. In addition, we looked at the levels of reading and writing that were taught in this language and, finally, we analysed the role played by the Basque language in the argumentative framework of the Escudo.