Presentation

 Why was it set up?

The Sociolinguistics Cluster has been set up to respond with a new dynamic to the needs and deficiencies we have in the research, diffusion and application of sociolinguistic knowledge. It will run projects to make data, methodologies and other materials from the applied science field available to private, public or social organisations and groups involved in the language normalisation process in the Basque Country. The aim is to improve the knowledge about the way of working and, in turn, the results of efforts to normalise the Basque language.

Where did it originate?

The first steps in this project began with reflections on an idea put forward by Dr. Erramun Baxok on his return from Quebec: that it would be appropriate to set up a centre similar to the ICRB (International Center for Research on Bilingualism) in our country.

In November 2000 the “Euskal Soziolinguistika Institutua Sortzen” SYMPOSIUM was held in Gasteiz (Vitoria) to set up a Basque Institute of Sociolinguistics. In it a broad-based group of officers and experts in the field concurred with that diagnosis, and this led to cooperation among a number of organisations (Cooperation Protocol I and II), which was later specified and added to.