On the links between nature's values and language

1. Recent research into the plural values about nature is focusing on relational values as a concept through which to better understand the breadth and importance of situated human– nature relations. However, potential relevance of language as a mediating factor in relational values has not been sufficiently examined. 2. To investigate the links between language and values, we explore the influence of the ancient non- Indo- European Basque language (‘Euskara’) upon people's relationships with mountain forests in the Western Pyrenees of the Basque Country. 3. Results based on triangulation of data from Q- methodology, focus groups and a socio- demographic survey indicate that while relational values are highly rated in all principal viewpoints about local forests, there is an emergent perspective that emphasises Euskara's key role in relations with the forest via cultural identity and place attachment. 4. We conclude that positive relational values linked to Euskara may be seen as key levers for local sustainability transitions. 5. The fact that positive rapports with language can have a meaningful role in human– nature relations points to the need for further research into the consequential links between biological and linguistic diversity.

through interdisciplinary environmental scholarship has been voiced (LeVasseur, 2015). Although recently language has been discussed in the literature on environmental values as an important variable in ethical research (Saxena et al., 2018) and has been highlighted in terms of its role in harbouring indigenous and subaltern epistemologies and worldviews (Gould et al., 2019), little attention has been paid to the potential of languages to tangibly influence people's human-human and human-nature relations (Bridgewater & Rotherham, 2019). This may be partly explained by the fact that while there is ample literature on the interlinkages between cultural identity, place and nature (Hay, 1998;Hernandez et al., 1998;Ives et al., 2017;Raymond et al., 2010), this literature has rarely focused on the role of language in shaping environmental values (Hanks, 1990).
Here we set out to explore whether and in which ways language influences people's rapports with nature. More specifically, we ask the following questions: is language a salient variable in people's values about nature? And, are relational values about nature, beyond the traditional dichotomy between intrinsic and instrumental categories of values, shaped by the role of language? (and if so how?). We tackle these questions by means of an empirical study into the links between the Basque language ('Euskara') and the values of and about mountain forests in a multilingual region of the Western Pyrenees in the Basque Country (bordering France and Spain). Possessing a base vocabulary and syntax highly distinct from French and Spanish, Euskara is a language isolate and is widely considered as the last remnant of pre-Indo-European language in Western Europe (Hualde et al., 1996). We conduct an empirical analysis based on a mixedmethods approach using the semi-quantitative Q-methodology (Zabala, 2014;Zabala et al., 2018) and qualitative methods (e.g. indepth interviews with key informants and focus group discussions) to obtain as comprehensive picture as possible of the role of language within value systems about (local) forests.
In the next section, we present a conceptual framework that introduces and links key concepts about plurality of values (emphasising relational values) and language, as mediated by culture, identity and place. Section 3 presents a brief overview of nature in the case study area and provides contextual information about the Basque language. Section 4 introduces the methodological approach including the use of the Q-method. Results are described and discussed in Sections 5 and 6, respectively, with emphasis on the links between Euskara and relational values, as reflective of meaningful relations with nature through learning and living the Basque language. We conclude by highlighting the link found been between language and relational values and call for further study into how rapports with language can act as levers for more sustainable ways of life.

| CON CEP TUAL FR AME WORK : LINK ING L ANG UAG E AND REL ATIONAL VALUE S
The exploration of the links between language and values about nature (and more specifically relational values) can be facilitated by a conceptual framework that draws on different research traditions.
Although relational values associated with the idea of personal flourishing (Knippenberg et al., 2018) and care (West et al., 2018) may be articulated through rapports with language, the conceptual framework that we develop here focuses mostly on relational values about nature as connected to cultural identity and place attachment, and their explicit links with language.

| Relational values
Theories of relationality as regards human-nature interactions include hybrid geographies (Whatmore, 2002) and vibrant materialism (Bennett, 2010). While many social scientists call for an overhauling of the human-nature binary (see e.g. Descola, 2013;Haila, 2000), interdisciplinary sustainability science retains the broad socially recognised categories of humans/culture and nature/environment while endeavouring to raise societal awareness of complex human-nature interdependencies (Fischer et al., 2015;West et al., 2020). Nature's values tend to be understood in a simplistic binary way, that is, as either instrumental or intrinsic, and this framing dominates large tracts of the global conservation policy landscape . This binary understanding of values is being broadened by explicitly recognising the diverse contributions nature makes to people's good quality of life, both individually and collectively. One way to move beyond this dichotomy is through the concept of relational values (RVs; Chan et al. 2016Chan et al. , 2018Pascual et al., 2017).
Relational values encompass preferences (e.g. worth and/or importance of local nature connected to other-regarding, bequest, preferences) and guiding principles (e.g. caring as the 'right thing to do') which to a large extent can determine human relationships with living nature (Chan et al., 2016Díaz et al. 2018;Pascual et al., 2021). Largely informed by the treatment of human well-being in the social sciences, including research into indigenous and local relational ontologies (Gould et al., 2019), the concept of RVs encourages research into the importance of desirable relations with nature and among people through nature (Himes & Muraca, 2018;Klain et al., 2017).
Although all values are relational in origin (values of things arise by means of relating to those things), RVs are here seen as specifically those whose worth originates in the relationships themselves with nature or with humans through nature (Chan et al., 2016. As a concept to frame the need for conservation and more desirable human-nature rapports, RVs are being researched in terms of their base concepts (Chan et al.,201), components (Jax et al., 2018), cultural roots-including local and indigenous cosmologies (Gould et al., 2019;Sheremata, 2018)-and applications in policy and practice (e.g. Bremer et al., 2018;Chapman et al., 2019).
Relational values are generally seen as combining general value concepts and context specific to place and, unlike instrumental values, are not readily substitutable, in part due to incommensurability Pascual et al. 2017). The emergent literature on RVs focuses on the importance of connectedness, care, responsibility, stewardship, kinship, community and identity (individual and collective) and personal flourishing ('eudaimonia') in connection to how people experience nature (Chan et al., 2016;dos Santos & Gould, 2018;Kleespies & Dierkes, 2020;Knippenberg et al., 2018).

| Cultural identity
Cultural identity underpins RVs. It is formed out of two contested concepts. Culture denotes the 'ways of life' of social groups and their ongoing process, as reflected in the term's etymological link with 'cultivation'. The term retains relevance in the social sciences as a lens through which to understand processes of social mediation and representation (Mitchell, 1995). While culture is a fluid relationally constructed concept, it still constitutes a core identity marker for individuals and communities (Eisenstadt & Gie-sen, 1995). Meanwhile, the notion of identity has been adapted in response to changing discursive interpretations of the human subject (Hall & Du Gay, 1996). Originally founded on humanist concepts depicting essentialised, static entities, increasing attention is now paid to the role of social processes in identity formation (Hall & Du Gay, 1996). In this vein, identity becomes a useful conceptual lens to understand discursive processes which reify new hybrid visions of self and community (Abdelal et al., 2006;Bucholtz & Hall, 2005). The composite term 'cultural identity' is thus taken to refer to a situated way in which people interpret themselves and their position in social groups and local places.

| Place attachment, sense of place and place meanings
The concept of 'place' comprises both an object of study and a source of meaning through which knowledge about the world is created (Cresswell, 2014). The broad concept of 'sense of place' refers to the meanings and attachments that individuals or communities may have towards a location (Tuan, 1977). Understanding values related to place is crucial to promote meaningful place-based humannature interactions (Brown & Raymond, 2007;Lee, 2011;Pred, 1984;Stenseke, 2018). Within the concept of sense of place, 'place attachment' is a term taken from environmental psychology which emphasises the emotional (relational) ties or extent of attachment between people and place (Lewicka, 2011;Scannell & Gifford, 2010), whereas 'place meanings' are the significance that people attribute to a given location (Manzo, 2005).
Sense of place is commonly associated with individual and collective RVs but understanding place attachment can draw from diverse and often divergent methodological and theoretical traditions (Brehm et al., 2013;Cresswell, 2014). Broadly, place studies have been pursued through quantitative methods ('place as a locus of attachment') or qualitative methods ('place as a centre of meaning'; Manzo & Devine-Write, 2013). A distinction has been made between the conservative and progressive meanings of place , with early scholarship depicting a place's singularity as fixed and naturally bounded (Di Masso et al., 2019). Such essentialist ('sedentaristic') views of place seem to predominate among place scholarship (Malkki, 1992), but have also been challenged by the progressive theories of place as 'relational', 'global' (Massey, 2010) and defined by being in a constant state of 'becoming' (Cresswell, 2006;Massey, 1993). Here we consider sense of place from the perspective of 'place as a locus of attachment' (Entrikin, 1976;Manzo & Devine-Wright, 2013).

| Language
Currently, over 7,000 languages are used worldwide (Eberhard et al., 2020). Spoken languages are in constant processes of evolution, and definition of what constitutes a language, rather than a dialect or variant, owes much to socio-political and historical factors which fully recognise some linguistic forms as 'languages' and stigmatise others (relegated to categories like 'dialects' or 'patois'; Edwards, 2009). Beyond their communicative functions, languages also constitute crucial symbolic markers of individual and community identity, and language issues can be sources of conflict (Dwyer, 2005;Lijphart, 1979). The continued loss of linguistic diversity globally implies an irreversible loss of unique ways of knowing and dwelling (Nettle & Romaine, 2000). Language loss can indicate and reinforce socio-economic inequalities, as unilateral power afforded to some linguistic varieties can indicate and intensify the dominance of certain social groups over others (Blanchet, 2017;Phillipson, 2012).
Just as people hold a range of values about nature, we posit that attitudes towards language can also be understood through the lens of instrumental, intrinsic and relational values. The instrumental value of a language can be seen to arise from its utility as a tool of communication and comprehension and even as a vector of economic gain. The intrinsic value of language rises from the perception that it has intangible significance independent of its instrumental utility (Smeets, 2004). One can also identify a host of relational values about language, with one's preferences and attitudes towards language being inextricably linked, for instance, to individual and community identity formation and attachment to place.

| Linking nature's relational values and language
Language, culture and nature (as social construct) are inextricably interrelated. Cultural and place identity can be intimately connected with the idea of RVs in so far as they are expressions of the significance that people's relations with nature (including the notion of 'place') can have on their own interpretation of 'self', the ensemble of symbols making up collective 'culture' and importantly, on their evaluation and attachment to the local socio-ecological context. In a given place, the local environment sustains people with material conditions to live and a sense of self to live by. In turn, people sustain and shape the local environment through knowledge, values and practices embedded in their cultures and their languages. As a case in point, indigenous languages are immense reserves of traditional ecological knowledge (Maffi & Woodley, 2012), and thus, interesting parallels have been drawn between biological and linguistic diversity (Gorenflo et al., 2012;Maffi, 2001), generally explored under the term 'biocultural diversity' (Merçon et al., 2019). However, interlinks and potential cross-fertilisation between language and nature conservation must guard against non-critical, sweeping and non-consequential analogies (Bastardas-Boada, 2002).
Linguistic specificity is linked to the concept of place. Most languages are spoken in a limited geographical area and tend to leave their mark on place, while conversely places leave their mark on language via constantly reified associations between languages and their 'native territory' (Myhill, 1999). For instance, it has been posited that people's relationships with place names play a significant role in connections with locality and identity construction (Helleland, 2012;MacDonald, 2017). Research in linguistics has recently focused on language and communities through the conceptual lens of place (Montgomery & Moore, 2017) while the sub-discipline of ecolinguistics places great importance on how (minority) languages interact with each other in a socio-political context, and how linguistic varieties, people and nature coevolve with a given place or region (Mühlhäusler, 2003;Stibbe, 2015).
Language is in constant relation with human knowledge and practices associated with the use and experience of local nature.
Moreover, language is a variable existing in co-productive rapport with cultural identity and thereby potentially influences people's attachment to place. Given that cultural identity is largely defined by positive disassociation from the 'other', in contexts where speakers of different languages are in close interaction, language may emerge as a key identity symbol and thus constitute a core component of value systems (Abd-el-Jawad, 2006;Tajfel, 1978).
Strong relations between people's identity, local nature and language can also be reflected through place attachment (Ramkissoon et al., 2012). Similarly, place names in local languages also often carry social histories and consequently, languages-particularly, but not only, those transmitted mainly orally-can constitute a connection between place and memory (Basso, 1996;Berg & Kearns, 1996). It is nonetheless important to note that individualand community-level rapports between place and cultural identity, language and local nature are plural and dynamic and are further complexified by the uneven spatial impacts of changes in language use over time.
We can take the example of local forests. People may see local forests in terms of either (intrinsic) value-in-themselves (independent of the valuer) or in terms of the benefits they derive from them, that is, as a means to an end (instrumental values; links 1 and 2 in Figure 1). Yet, many of the values of local forests also arise through F I G U R E 1 Conceptual framework linking language and relational values about nature. Language here is understood as the local vernacular of a region, whereas nature refers to all biotic and inanimate beings that constitute the environment, here represented by a local forest. The main reasons why people may care about local forests can be understood in terms of forests (i) providing a means to an end (e.g. economic benefits) to people ('instrumental values': link 1), (ii) having 'intrinsic worth' independent of valuers (link 2) and (iii) providing the opportunities for valued relations with people and among people ('relational values: link 3). In a similar vein, any language can also be associated with instrumental values (link 4), intrinsic values (link 5) and relational values (link 6). The vertical (thick) arrow (link 3) suggests that language and relational values co-evolve in rapport with individual and collective human relations. The conceptual framework emphasises how language shapes RVs about nature (downward link between language and relational values) specific, situated human-nature relationships that cannot be reduced to substitutable values (link 3).
Here, we mainly focus on how RVs linked to people's cultural identity (link 3a) and place attachment (link 3b) are shaped and expressed through relationship with language. While human relationships with a given part of nature, such a local forest, can shape one's cultural identity, the importance of language as an identity symbol can also influence values about nature (link 3a). Similarly, people's relations with local nature are fundamentally connected to their emotional ties to place, with strong connections to local language and nature thus invariably linked to place attachment (link 3b). Although not the focus of this study, eudaimonia related to nature may also be articulated through prolonged engagement with language as a critical link to local histories and identities, which can, in turn, foster meaningful ways of living through deepening human-nature connections (link 3c). Another important bundle of RVs, including values of care, stewardship and responsibility for local nature, may be reinforced by long-term protection of language as this may carry specific and embedded meanings of nature and locality (link 3d).
Furthermore, we posit that language itself can also be associated with three types of values (instrumental, intrinsic and relational).
The instrumental value of language lies in its communicative (and by extension its economic) potential (link 4), whereas languages and linguistic diversity can also be seen as possessing intrinsic value, independent of their communicative value (link 5). The RVs framework can also be applied to people's relations with and attitudes towards language. The value of a given linguistic variety can arise through its role as a key symbol of cultural identity (link 6a) and as a core element of local geographies and socio-historical meanings (link 6b).
Languages can also be valued through relations of care and stewardship and sentiments of responsibility for the local vernacular and its significance for a sense of community (link 6c). The self-realisation and purpose found in such lasting relations with and through threatened local languages is a good example of eudaimonia (link 6d).

| C A S E S TUDY BACKG ROUND
The case study was conducted in a region of the Western Pyrenees The Western Pyrenean region has been isolated from France and Spain for much of recorded history and has long been essentialised as a peripheral zone of sparsely populated wilderness, with French geographers, only a few short decades ago, calling it 'the end of the world' (Chadefaud & Dalla-Rosa, 1973, p. 5). Along with pasture and smallscale agriculture, forests cover over half of the region (see Figure 2) and host numerous rare plant and animal species (Sanz, 2008, p. 23).
Historically forming a crucial part of local life, the economic significance of the forest in the community has declined in recent years: while primary sector activities such as transhumance still contribute to local economies in the French valleys, the Spanish valleys in the south are more service based (Sanz, 2008, p. 178). Regional forest management plans mainly emphasise instrumental values as providers of material and non-material contributions to the local people, for instance via tourism revenue (Brocas & Legaz, 2005;GDN, 1998).
While French and Spanish are currently the dominant languages, Basque (Euskara) has been the main language in the region for most of documented history and is still spoken to varying extents by Basque-French and Basque-Spanish bilinguals. In the southern valleys, family transmission of the Basque language was severely repressed during Spain's fascist dictatorship , but the introduction of Basque-medium schools in recent decades has ensured that most people born post-1977 can speak the language (Jurío, 1997). In the northern French region, the situation is different: although Basque was still locals' predominant language of communication into the latter half of the 20th century and most middle-aged and elderly people speak Euskara, the majority of young people are French monolinguals. 2 Although cultural groups are far from homogeneous, we adopted the prevalent local representations used to differentiate cultures (principally Basque/Spanish/French) along historical and ethnolinguistic lines. Within the Basque cultural community, Euskara remains a core identity symbol. This is reflected in the fact that people from the region are called 'Basque' or euskaldun, literally meaning '(s)he who possesses the Basque language'. The language itself has been reinvigorated in the Basque Country thanks to large-scale social mobilisation and the development a standardised form, termed 'unified Basque' (euskara batua), from a divergent set of dialects spoken across the Basque Country (Urla, 2012). The standard has been widely adopted as a means of education and media and is the form of Euskara known and used by younger inhabitants in the southern part of the case study area.
The high variation in dialects of Euskara and varied extents of official status across the valleys presented a challenge during research.
This was particularly the case in the Northern sites, where we find significantly distinct Basque dialects such as Baxenafarrera and Zuberera and less familiarity with the standardised 'unified Basque' (Zuazo, 2019). The linguistic profile of the researchers 3 offered participants the chance to use their local vernacular, thereby generating a richer set of variables through which to explore links between language, identity and relational values.

| Fieldwork
We adapted our guiding research questions to the specific context of the case study and asked (a)  gather information about local people's relations with the local forest and languages through key informants, focus groups and reviews of written documents; and second, to design and apply a tailored Q-method alongside the administration of a semi-structured survey.
All fieldwork participants, including Q-method participants, focus group participants and key informants agreed freely to take part in the research and they all signed an informed consent form whereby anonymity of their views and opinions would be guaranteed and were free to interrupt participation at any stage of the fieldwork. Key informants (18) were identified via contact with local town halls and radio stations, and included historians, Basque teachers, tour guides, village mayors, farmers, local artists, officials for regional agricultural syndicates and dynamic young adults. Key informants assisted in obtaining contacts and providing relevant documents and often had exceptional knowledge of the region's history and communities. They also helped organise focus groups, where on occasions they held comediator roles, and in some cases helped locate participants for the Q-method. Attempts were made to include a representative share of participants in terms of gender, sub-region of study, age and different language profiles (Basque, Spanish and French). The vast majority of those recommended as key informants were men, with some participants attributing this gender imbalance to the belief that men were more knowledgeable about regional nature and history and others to the fact that men spend more time in the forest. In contrast, when looking for a wide variety of participants for the Q-study, women were more likely to be suggested and attend than men. We targeted proportionally similar participation from the northern (N), French, and southern (S), Spanish, sub-regions, with key informants (NW: 6, NE:

| The Q-method
Q-method (herein Q) is becoming increasingly popular in conservation research, where it is used to understand people's perspectives, preferences and values (Nordhagen et al., 2017(Nordhagen et al., , 2021Zabala, 2014;Zabala et al., 2018). Q requires a set of statements (also known as items) from diverse data sources reflecting the multiplicity of perspectives on a given topic, usually obtained from a combination of information from secondary literature, key informants and focus groups (Brown, 1996). The statements are normally printed onto cards which are later ordered by participants onto a grid (Figure 4).
Although sorting processes vary between studies, participants ultimately gradate the statements according to those which most and least reflect their point of view. This process enables an exploration of the value patterns that underpin the participants' attitudes (Ellis et al., 2007). Researcher bias and influence when designing the statements and guiding the test is a risk (Ockwell, 2008) and can be mitigated by aiming for transparency and comprehensiveness in design and clear and concise instructions during the Q-exercise itself (Zabala et al., 2018). The 56 Q-participants were varied in terms of socio-demographic profiles and came from 11 villages (four in Spain and seven in France) whose populations ranged between 126 and 584 inhabitants (see Table A1 for more details).
We selected a set of 33 statements from the concourse and adapted some of them to more clearly fit with the categories of relational, intrinsic or instrumental values associated with the forest (  (Brown et al., 2015;Stedman, 2002).
Participants tended to initially agree with most statements, so consequent sorting of cards into further groups was undertaken through considering their relative degree of importance for the individual. Once participants had broadly graded the degree of importance through forming several piles of cards, they then transferred these onto the grid using a likert-type scale from −4 to +4 (least agree to most agree; Figure 4). Q-sorting usually took participants between 30 and 60 min.
The final distribution of Q-sorts was photographed, transcribed and then grouped using the multivariate data reduction techniques provided by the 'qmethod' package in R software (Zabala, 2014).

| RE SULTS
Q-method revealed three distinct value factors or typologies of people regarding the local mountain forest in the case study. We name them (a) Stewards, (b) Eudaimonians and (c) Euskarians. These three distinct perspectives are represented by the value statements that obtained the highest z-scores. Figure 5 shows the main distinguishing statements used to interpret the three salient perspectives as based on the z-scores (Table A3), thus indicating how the archetypical respondent for each factor (perspective) would sort the statements (Nordhagen et al. 2017;Zabala et al. 2017). Figure 5 takes the form of a beech-tree branch, where the left-hand branch shows convergence statements across the perspectives and each leaf contains distinguishing statements for the indicated perspective.
One can differentiate between statements with relative posi-  (20) perspectives. The relatively high quantity of statements associated  (Table 1). The statements that help define a given perspective appear in each of the three leaves. The statements in the branch on the bottom left show similar scores across the three perspectives and those in the leaves are highly distinguishing ones for each of the perspectives. The starred statements are those positively distinguishing statements for the Euskarian perspective and are all associated with relational values linked to linguistic and cultural identity, and place attachment (see conceptual framework, Figure 1) brings as exemplified by statements #1, #12, #16, #17, #18 and #21. It also reflects the sentiment that the forest is important for the education of local people (#25) and awareness of the interconnectedness between humans, the forest and non-human beings (#13). This perspective was epitomised by comments from

Q-participants such as 'it is as if I were part of it [the forest]… an
incredible feeling' (participant 47) and 'The forest is my energy…' (participant 53). The lowest factor loadings for statements according to the Eudaimonian typology concern the value of the forest as source of clean air and water (#28) and in relation to sense of community (#24), cultural identity (#11), mythology (#2) and Basque identity (#22, #32).
Perspective 3: The Euskarians. This perspective puts particular emphasis on the importance of relations between the local forests and Basque culture and language (Euskara). Statements with high approval rates for the Euskarians perspective are highlighted in First, the high degree of importance given to cultural identity in the Euskarian perspective could originate from the fact that the Euskarians had a lower average age (45 years) than the average participant (55 years) (see Table A2). Tarrant and Cordell's (2002) study into value systems about forests raises the possibility that this finding can be attributed to the increasing emphasis placed on post-materialist values-such as cultural identity-by younger generations for whom material needs are comfortably provided.
This would fit with the significant intergenerational variation in attitudes towards local place, nature and language in local Basque communities as expressed across focus groups and in recent literature on the region (e.g. Xamar, 2018). However, the likelihood that the role of language and culture remains significant beyond the explanation of increasing post-materialism is indicated by the fact that the Eudaimonian perspective also shows high positive loading on non-material benefits of the forest, and by the finding that the average age of participants who load significantly onto this factor is above the average (59 years). This suggests that there is no simple correlation between youth and post-materialist value systems about local nature and that the age profile of participants that load onto the Euskarian perspective may instead be attributed to the recent revival of expressions of Basque identity and language in the southern region of study (Urla, 2012).
The second challenge to any causal relationship between participants' use and knowledge of Euskara and their high positive loading on the Euskarian perspective is found in the fact that loading onto this factor did not always come with proficiency in Euskara. For instance, the fact that participant #18 is strongly reflective of the Euskarian perspective (see Table A4 Sagarduy, 2014). This is congruent with the RV of eudaimonia or the process of long-term personal flourishing (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Thus, the relationship with Euskara is part of the ongoing cultivation of positive links between language, nature, place and identity which bridges both essentialist and progressive perspectives on sense of place.
Finally, our findings can be discussed in terms of their implications for language preservation movements. Although linguistic diversity is often conferred intrinsic value and celebrated as an important 'intangible cultural heritage' (Maffi, 2005), many languages are otherwise considered expendable from a purely instrumental and economicist (utilitarian) viewpoint. In general, language preservation scholarship has rarely made empirical, causal links between language, identity, place and value systems about nature (Gorenflo et al., 2012;Maffi, 2005). All languages, particularly minority ver-

| CON CLUS ION
This paper has focused on the role that language may play in shaping plural values, and more specifically relational values about nature. Guided by the development of a conceptual framework, an empirical study centred around the Q-method was conducted in a Basque-speaking region of France and Spain. Initial assumptions that any links between values about nature and language were likely to emerge by directly comparing perspectives about local forests with different linguistic profiles were challenged by the complexity and multi-scalar heterogeneity of language knowledge and usage in the region. Results revealed that social local relationships with mountain forests clearly pivoted around the significance of relational values connected to cultural identity and place attachment. More specifically, they indicated that relational values linking identity, place and forest were themselves directly shaped by rapports with the Basque language (Euskara) and participants' self-experience as 'Euskaldun' ('(s)he who possesses Euskara. i.e. Basque speakers').
The findings from this study are of broader significance as they suggest that languages do matter for sustainability. In addition to being instruments of communication, they can shape value systems about local nature. If people experience a language as forming an important part of their identity and sense of place, this engagement can also be channelled to establish and deepen meaningful relationships between local communities and their natural environment. While there is a need to further understand the connection between language and human-nature relations and value systems, this study points to the importance of promoting linguistic diversity to support and encourage more sustainable ways of life around the world. We hope that this study will inspire further research into the links between language and nature's diversity of values.

ACK N OWLED G EM ENTS
We would like to thank Simon West, Maraja Riechers, Antonio Castro and Kai Chan for their comments and suggestions during the review process. We also thank Mollie Chapman, Joe Gerlach,

Rachelle Gould, Christopher Raymond, Aiora Zabala and Imanol
Zabaleta for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

CO N FLI C T S O F I NTE R E S T
U.P. is an Associate Editor for People and Nature, but was not involved in the peer review and decision-making process. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

AUTH O R S ' CO NTR I B UTI O N S
U.P. conceived the idea; D.I. and U.P. contributed equally to the development of the conceptual framework and to the design of the empirical research; D.I. led the field work and analysis of the data; D.I. and U.P. contributed equally to writing and revising the manuscript.

DATA AVA I L A B I L I T Y S TAT E M E N T
All data used in this manuscript are available at the Dryad Digital Repository 10.5061/dryad.tdz08kpzz (Inglis & Pascual, 2021). 'Basque-speaking identity' ('euskal identitatea'). An anecdote illustrates this point. During research, DI caught a taxi from a French-Basque market town across the border. The taxi driver was delighted to hear an English person speaking in Basque, and repeated 'you are Basque, you are Basque' (eskualduna zira). I replied that 'although I may be a "Basque speaker," I could hardly call myself "Basque"'. Yet, the driver strongly maintained that the core meaning of Basque identity was in its language and repeated in French 'tu es Basque!'.