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The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy”), the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
. It is based in Madrid
Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one Spanish-speaking nations
Hispanophone

The term Hispanophone denotes Spanish language speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking world. The word originates with the Latin language political name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania, which comprised basically the territory of the modern states of Spain and Portugal....
 through the Association of Spanish Language Academies
Association of Spanish Language Academies

File:Pa?ses con academia de la lengua espa?ola.pngThe Association of Spanish Language Academies was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish language-speaking world....
. The RAE's emblem is a fiery crucible, and its motto
Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used....
 is Limpia, fija y da esplendor (“[It] cleans, sets, and casts splendour”).

The RAE is a major publisher of dictionaries
Dictionary

A dictionary is a book of Alphabetical order listed words in a specific language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of alphabetically listed words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon....
 and grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
s, and has a formal procedure for admitting words to its publications.






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The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy”), the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
. It is based in Madrid
Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one Spanish-speaking nations
Hispanophone

The term Hispanophone denotes Spanish language speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking world. The word originates with the Latin language political name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania, which comprised basically the territory of the modern states of Spain and Portugal....
 through the Association of Spanish Language Academies
Association of Spanish Language Academies

File:Pa?ses con academia de la lengua espa?ola.pngThe Association of Spanish Language Academies was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish language-speaking world....
. The RAE's emblem is a fiery crucible, and its motto
Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used....
 is Limpia, fija y da esplendor (“[It] cleans, sets, and casts splendour”).

The RAE is a major publisher of dictionaries
Dictionary

A dictionary is a book of Alphabetical order listed words in a specific language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of alphabetically listed words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon....
 and grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
s, and has a formal procedure for admitting words to its publications. Its website includes an online dictionary and other resources, all in Spanish, of course. Its most famous publication is the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española
Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española

The Diccionario de la lengua espa?ola de la Real Academia Espa?ola or DRAE is the most authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language. It is produced, edited, and published by the Real Academia Espa?ola ; the first edition was published in 1780....
 (Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy), the "DRAE".

History

The Real Academia Española was founded in 1713, modelled after the Italian Accademia della Crusca
Accademia della Crusca

The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and philology. It was founded in Renaissance Florence in 1582 by Antonio Francesco Grazzini, commonly known as Il Lasca....
 (1582) and the French Académie française
Académie française

L'Acad?mie fran?aise, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent France learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Acad?mie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to Louis XIII of France....
 (1635), with the purpose to fix the voices and vocabularies of the Castilian language with propriety, elegance, and purity. King Phillip V approved its constitution on 3rd October 1714, placing it under the Crown's protection.

Its aristocrat founder, Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco
Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco

Juan Manuel Fern?ndez Pacheco y Zu?iga , 1st Director of the Royal Spanish Academy, 3 October 1713, till his death in 1725. Grandee of Spain, 8th Marquis of Villena, and 8th Duke of Escalona, 12th Count of San Esteban de Gormaz and 8th Count of Xiquena, was viceroy and captain general of the kingdoms of Navarre,, Arag?n,, Catalunya, Sicily...
, Marquis of Villena
Villena

Villena is a city located in the province of Alicante , Spain. Capital city from the region Alt Vinalop?, it has an area of 345.6 km? and, according to the 2006 census, a total population of 34,186 inhabitants....
 and Duke of Escalona
Escalona

Escalona is a municipality located in the north part of the province of Toledo , which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain....
, described its aims as: to assure that Spanish speakers will always be able to read Cervantes — by exercising a progressive up-to-date maintenance of the formal language.

The RAE began establishing rules for the orthography of Spanish beginning in 1741 with the first edition of the Ortographía (spelled Ortografía from the second edition onwards). The proposals of the Academy became the official norm in Spain by royal decree in 1844, and they were also gradually adopted by the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America. Several reforms were introduced in the Nuevas Normas de Prosodia y Ortografía (1959), and since then the rules have undergone continued adjustment, in consultation with the other national language academies. The current rules and practical recommendations are presented in the latest edition of the Ortografía (1999).

In 1994, the RAE ruled that the Spanish consonants CH (ché) and LL (elle) would hence be alphabetized under C and under L, respectively, and not as separate, discrete letters, as in the past. The RAE eliminated monosyllabic accented vowels where the accent did not serve in changing the word's meaning, examples include: dio ("gave"), vio ("saw"), both had an acutely-accented vowel ó; yet the monosyllabic word: sé ("I know", the first person, singular, present of saber, "to know"; and the singular imperative of: ser,"to be") retains its acutely-accented vowel in order to differentiate it from the reflexive pronoun se.

Criticisms of the Academy

The Royal Spanish Academy has been criticised, especially in the Spanish-speaking Americas, for being excessively conservative
Social conservatism

Social conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes the government has a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent....
 and elitist and slow to change; for excessively concentrating upon linguistic usages of the region of Madrid, while dismissing variant usages from other parts of Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries; and for being slow in revising its authoritative Diccionario de la Lengua Española.

Moreover, the dictionary has been criticised for its partial definitions and somewhat limited coverage. Supporters respond that the RAE's purpose is not registering ephemeral Spanish usages, but to protect a united Castilian language and prevent national variants from becoming incomprehensible to other Spanish speakers.

Critics have acknowledged, however, that recent editions of the Diccionario de la Lengua Española de la Real Academia Española (the 20th, 21st, and current 22nd editions) show distinct improvement. One welcome innovation was its publication of a paperback
Paperback

Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its bookbinding. The book covers of such books are usually made of paper or cardboard, and are usually held together with adhesive rather than stitches or Staple s....
 edition in 1992. Partnerships with companies such as Telefónica
Telefónica

Telef?nica, S.A., is a Spain Telephone company. Operating globally, it is one of the largest fixed-line and mobile telecommunications companies in the world: List of mobile network operators in terms of number of clients only behind China Mobile and Vodafone, and in the top five in market value....
, IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
, and Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
, enabled the RAE to update and adapt to the current information-technology era, offering a free on-line version of its Dictionary, which may be consulted free of charge at .

Moreover, while it is currently collecting historical Spanish texts, the Academia has come under fire for not making its research results available under free licence
Free content

Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, Work of art, or other creative Content having no significant legal restriction relative to people's freedom to use, redistribute, and produce modified versions of and works derived from the content....
s, despite public funding.

Academicians (académicos de número)


Members of the Academy are Académicos de número, "Number Academics", chosen from among prestigious persons in the Arts and Sciences, including several Spanish-language authors
List of Spanish language authors

This is a list of Spanish language authors, organised by country. ...
, known as the Los Inmortales, "The Immortals" (the possible Spanish translation of their Académie française counterparts), they are elected for life by the other academicians. Each academician holds a seat labeled with a letter from the Spanish alphabet; upper- and lower case letters are separate seats.

Current members of the Academy

, sorted by date of induction:
  • (H) Martín de Riquer Morera, Count of Casa Dávalos (1965)
  • (g) Antonio Colino López (1972)
  • (e) Miguel Delibes Setién
    Miguel Delibes

    Miguel Delibes Seti?n is a Spain novelist and member of the Real Academia Espa?ola. Born in Valladolid, Spain, Delibes studied law and economics and from 1945 was a professor of commercial law at the University of Valladolid, also working as a journalist....
     (1975)
  • (M) Carlos Bousoño Prieto
    Carlos Bousoño

    Carlos Bouso?o is a Spanish poet and literary critic. His work is frequently associated with the postwar literary group. Although he was born in Boal, Asturias in 1923, his family moved to Oviedo when he was two....
     (1980)
  • (A) Manuel Seco Reymundo (1980)
  • (Z) Francisco Ayala y García-Duarte
    Francisco Ayala

    Francisco Ayala may refer to:* Francisco Ayala Spanish novelist* Francisco J. Ayala , Spanish-American biologist and philosopher...
     (1984)
  • (n) Valentín García Yebra (1985)
  • (O) Pere Gimferrer Torrens (1985)
  • (q) Gregorio Salvador Caja
    Gregorio Salvador Caja

    Gregorio Salvador Caja is a noted linguistics specialized in structural semantics. Salvador studied in the University of Granada and Complutense University....
     (1987)
  • (p) Francisco Rico Manrique (1987)
  • (r) Antonio Mingote Barrachina (1988)
  • (s) José Luis Pinillos Díaz (1988)
  • (J) Francisco Morales Nieva (1990)
  • (d) Francisco Rodríguez Adrados (1991)
  • (F) José Luis Sampedro Sáez (1991)
  • (c) Víctor García de la Concha (1992)
  • (U) Eduardo García de Enterría y Martínez-Carande
    Eduardo Garcia de Enterria y Martinez-Carande

    Eduardo Garc?a de Enterr?a y Martinez-Carande, born 1923 in Ramales , is a lawyer and member of the Spain Council of State .He is a Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Valladolid and the Complutense University of Madrid ....
     (1994)
  • (l) Emilio Lledó Íñigo (1994)
  • (C) Luis Goytisolo Gay (1995)
  • (L) Mario Vargas Llosa
    Mario Vargas Llosa

    Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation....
     (1996)
  • (b) Eliseo Álvarez-Arenas Pacheco (1996)
  • (u) Antonio Muñoz Molina
    Antonio Muñoz Molina

    Antonio Mu?oz Molina is a Spain writer and, since 8 June 1995, a full member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He currently resides in New York City, United States....
     (1996)
  • (V) Juan Luis Cebrián (1997)
  • (t) Ignacio Bosque Muñoz (1997)
  • (K) Ana María Matute
    Ana María Matute

    Ana Maria Matute is an internationally acclaimed author. She is one of the strongest voices from the posguerra, or period immediately following the Spanish Civil War, and is considered a spokesperson for her generation....
     (1998)
  • (ñ) Luis María Anson Oliart (1998)
  • (I) Luis Mateo Díez (2001)
  • (N) Guillermo Rojo (2001)
  • (k) José Antonio Pascual (2002)
  • (E) Carmen Iglesias (2002)
  • (f) Luis Ángel Rojo (2003)
  • (i) Margarita Salas Falgueras (2003)
  • (T) Arturo Pérez-Reverte
    Arturo Pérez-Reverte

    Arturo P?rez-Reverte Guti?rrez is a Spain novelist and journalist. He worked as war reporter for twenty-one years . His first novel, El h?sar, set in the Napoleonic Wars, was released in 1986....
     (2003)
  • (G) José Manuel Sánchez Ron (2003)
  • (Q) Carlos Castilla del Pino (2004)
  • (j) Álvaro Pombo y García de los Ríos
    Álvaro Pombo

    ?lvaro Pombo Garc?a de los R?os is a Spanish poet, novelist, and activist.Born in Santander, Cantabria, he studied at the Complutense University of Madrid and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he lived between 1966 and 1977....
     (2004)
  • (o) Antonio Fernández Alba (2006)
  • (X) Francisco Brines (2006)
  • (h) José Manuel Blecua (2006)
  • (a) Pedro García Barreno (2006)
  • (R) Javier Marias
    Javier Marías

    Javier Mar?as is a Spain novelist. He is also a translator and columnist....
     (2008)
  • (P) Inés Fernández-Ordóñez (2008)
  • (m) José María Merino
    José María Merino

    Jos? Mar?a Merino is a Spanish novelist born in la Coruna, Galicia on March 5, 1941. He is the father of two daughters, Mar?a and Ana, both of them university professors....
     (2008)
  • (D) Darío Villanueva (2008)
  • (B) José Luis Borau
    José Luis Borau

    Jos? Luis Borau Moradell is a Spanish producer, screenwriter, writer, and film director. He has acted in some films.He won Goya Award as Best Director in 2000 for Leo....
     (2008)
  • (S) Salvador Gutiérrez (2008)


Notable past academicians

Not an exhaustive list
  • Dámaso Alonso
    Dámaso Alonso

    D?maso Alonso y Fern?ndez de las Redondas was a Spain poet, Philology and Literary Criticism. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards....
  • Camilo José Cela
    Camilo José Cela

    Don Camilo Jos? Cela Trulock, Marquis of Iria Flavia was an influential Spain writer and member of the Generation of 1950....
  • Leandro Fernández de Moratín
    Leandro Fernández de Moratín

    Leandro Fern?ndez de Morat?n was a Spain dramatist, translator and Spanish Enlightenment literature poet.He was the son of Nicol?s Fern?ndez de Morat?n , who was a major literary reformer in Spain from 1762 until his death in 1780....
  • Fernando Lázaro Carreter
    Fernando Lázaro Carreter

    Fernando L?zaro Carreter was a Spain linguistics, journalist and literary critic who worked to improve the way the Spanish language is spoken and written, who penned the hugely popular 1997 book El Dardo en la Palabra , a collection of articles he wrote on linguistic gaffes in the media....
  • Julián Marías
    Julián Marías

    Juli?n Mar?as Aguilera , was a Spain philosophy. His History of Philosophy is widely accepted as the greatest work written in Spanish language on the subject of the history of philosophy ....
  • Ramón Menéndez Pidal
    Ramón Menéndez Pidal

    Ram?n Men?ndez Pidal was a Spain philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore. His main topic was the legend of El Cid....
  • Benito Pérez Galdós
    Benito Pérez Galdós

    Benito P?rez Gald?s was a Spain Spanish Realist literature novelist. Considered second only to Cervantes in stature, he was the greatest Spanish Literary realism novelist....
  • Elena Quiroga
    Elena Quiroga

    Elena Quiroga de la V?lgoma , was a Spanish writer and winner of the Premio Nadal. She was born in Santander, Cantabria and grew up on her father's estate in O Barco de Valdeorras, Ourense ....
  • Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
    Gonzalo Torrente Ballester

    Gonzalo Torrente Ballester was a Galician writer in Spanish language. He was born in Serantes, Ferrol, Galicia , and received his first education there, subsequently attending the universities of University of Santiago de Compostela and Oviedo....


See also



External links