Editing Basque language (section)

=== Dialects ===
{{Main|Basque dialects}}
[[File:Euskalkiak koldo zuazo 2008.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The modern dialects of Basque according to 21st-century dialectology. {{legend|#849D4D|Western (Biscayan)}}{{legend|#CA5655|Central (Gipuzkoan)}}{{legend|#5287C8|Upper Navarrese}}{{legend|#D0AA5A|Lower Navarrese–Lapurdian}}{{legend|#C9CA52|Souletin (Zuberoan)}}{{legend|#9B9D9A|other Basque areas ''ca'' 1850 (Bonaparte)}}]]

The modern Basque dialects show a high degree of dialectal divergence, sometimes making cross-dialect communication difficult. This is especially true in the case of Biscayan and Souletin, which are regarded as the most divergent Basque dialects.

Modern Basque dialectology distinguishes five dialects:<ref name=Zuazo2010>{{harvnb|Zuazo|2010}}</ref>
* [[Biscayan dialect|Biscayan or "Western"]]
* [[Gipuzkoan dialect|Gipuzkoan or "Central"]]
* [[Upper Navarrese dialect|Upper Navarrese]]
* [[Navarro-Lapurdian dialect|Navarro-Lapurdian]]
* [[Souletin dialect|Souletin (Zuberoan)]]

These dialects are divided in 11 subdialects, and 24 minor varieties among them.
According to [[Koldo Zuazo]],<ref name=Zuazo2003>{{cite book |last=Zuazo |first=Koldo |title=Euskalkiak. Herriaren lekukoak |language=eu |trans-title=Dialects. People's witnesses |year=2003 |publisher=Elkar |isbn=9788497830614}}</ref> the Biscayan dialect or "Western" is the most widespread dialect, with around 300,000 speakers out of a total of around 660,000 speakers. This dialect is divided in two minor subdialects: the Western Biscayan and Eastern Biscayan, plus transitional dialects.