Autonomous communities of Spain
Spanish legislation, most notably in the Statutes of Autonomy of the bilingual communities, use the term "own language", or "language proper to a community", to refer to a language other than Spanish that originated or had historical roots in that particular territory. The Statutes of Autonomy of the respective autonomous communities have declared Basque the language proper to the Basque Country and Navarre, Catalan the language proper to Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community—where it is historically, traditionally and officially known as Valencian—and Galician to be the language proper to Galicia. There are other protected regional languages in other autonomous communities. As a percentage of total population in Spain, Basque is spoken by 2%, Catalan/Valencian by 17%, and Galician by 7% of all Spaniards. A 2016 Basque Government census revealed 700,000 fluent speakers in Spain (51,000 in Basque counties in France) and 1,185.000 total when passive speakers are included.
Spaniards
Spaniards are a Romance ethnic group and nation. They are indigenous to Spain and share a common Spanish culture, history, ancestry, and language. Within Spain, there are a number of nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history and diverse culture. Although the official language of Spain is commonly known as "Spanish", it is only one of the national languages of Spain, and is less ambiguously known as Castilian, a standard language based on the medieval romance speech of the early Kingdom of Castile in north-central Spain and the Mozarabic dialect of the Taifa of Toledo which was incorporated by the former in the 11th century. There are several commonly spoken regional languages, most notably Basque (a Paleohispanic language), Catalan and Galician (both Romance languages like Castilian). There are many populations outside Spain with ancestors who emigrated from Spain and who share a Hispanic culture; most notably in Hispanic America.