Studies of the globalisation processes in the communications media have frequently emphasised the planetary-scale diffusion of the dominant cultural and linguistic models. This is undoubtedly a clearly observable tendency of our age. However, at the same time different tendencies can be observed through which globalisation is also affecting other languages and cultures, which have no choice but to globalise themselves since they belong to less favoured communities. This is the case, for example, of the languages that migrant and diasporic populations take with them on their journeys. A detailed analysis of the world panorama of satellite television makes this phenomenon clearly apparent, where the presence of those other languages makes it possible to speak of the formation of geolinguistic regions that cross geographical spaces and the frontiers of the nation state.2
In an era when the relationship between communications and physical spaces has been deeply modified, one must wonder about how these changes affect the dynamics of minority languages whose speakers are scattered throughout the territory of a hegemonic language. Joshua Fishman’s concept of ‘physical breathing space’ refers to the need of these languages to have a dense space available to them, where the language’s reproduction is in some way guaranteed. By analysing a case study on Basque language press, we will try to understand how mediacentric spaces can act as such breathing spaces. Choosing the printed press as our subject allows us to examine the correlation between the density of speakers and circulation of media. The analysis is completed with a set of in-depth interviews that illustrate some attitudes towards media in Basque among speakers in environments with a low density.
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