Anthology of Apologists and Detractors of the Basque Language

A thorough introduction is followed by texts from numerous authors presenting arguments on the excellence or inferiority of the Basque language. "From the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries... a number of Spanish and French authors made it their business to point out the barbarity and lack of literary development of the Basque language... On the other hand, the Basque apologists sought to legitimize the [language and foral system] through the creation of a construct, more or less mythical in essence, which with great frequency relied on the excellence of the Basque language for its justification... This anthology attempts to present the most important works of this secular polemic."