Agency in muda processes: transforming subjectivities and linguistic practices in the Basque context

Abstract The Basque revitalisation process is going through a crucial moment which has mobilised policy makers and language activists alike in efforts to boost the social use of the minority language. The great increase in the knowledge of Basque in the last 40 years has not been followed by a proportional increase in the use of the language. This has called for urgent action towards what has been termed in Basque sociolinguistics and grassroot movements as ‘activation’ in favour of Basque, a concept intimately related to the notion of linguistic muda (Pujolar & González, 2013), which refers to significant changes in an individual’s linguistic repertoire, also impacting in their social identity. The Participatory Action Research project discussed in this article attempts to contribute to the present challenges in the current revitalisation scenario in the Basque Country by studying processes of linguistic mudas of Basque university students. The study of mudas have proven an interesting angle from which to explore forms of agency through language. Indeed, developing agency has been crucial for participants to better understand their own subjectivities as speakers, unveil the unequal sociolinguistic order surrounding them, and make the move towards action in order to enact the changes they desired in their linguistic practices. In this article we will explore the different ways in which agency has revealed itself in our study. In doing so, we aim to shed some light on what it means to exercise agency from the perspective of speakers in contexts of ethnolinguistic minorisation.