Short answers, pulled from the story.
Basque is the only language in Europe that stands completely alone, unrelated to any other known living language. The Basques are indigenous to a region straddling the westernmost Pyrenees in southwestern France and northern Spain.
The government discouraged Basque use through repressive policies that targeted both politics and culture starting before 1938. A letter from the Military Commander of Las Arenas dated the 21st of October 1938 acknowledged penalties for public use of the language.
Overall speaker count reached 806,000 up from 539,110 thirty years prior. Out of all people aged 16 and above, 30.6% spoke Basque across all territories.
Basque grammar differs markedly from Standard Average European languages through its ergative-absolutive alignment and agglutinative morphology. Among European languages, polypersonal agreement is found only in Basque and some Caucasian languages.
The five major dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, Upper Navarrese, Navarro-Lapurdian, and Souletin. These names come from historic provinces but do not align perfectly with modern political boundaries.