The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

. It is based in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other

Hispanophone Hispanophone and Hispanic refers to anything relating to the Spanish language (the Hispanosphere). In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is th ...

nations through the

Association of Academies of the Spanish Language The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language ( es, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, ASALE) is an entity whose end is to work for the unity, integrity, and growth of the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 a ...

. The RAE's emblem is a fiery crucible, and its

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...

is ("It purifies, it fixes, and it dignifies"). The RAE dedicates itself to

language planning In sociolinguistics, language planning (also known as language engineering) is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure or acquisition of languages or language varieties within a speech community.Kaplan B., Robert, and Richa ...

by applying

linguistic prescription Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...

aimed at promoting linguistic unity within and between various territories, to ensure a common standard. The proposed language guidelines are shown in a number of works.

History

The Royal Spanish Academy was founded in 1713, modeled after the

Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian langu ...

(1582), of Italy, and the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

(1635), of France, with the purpose "to fix the voices and vocabularies of the Spanish language with propriety, elegance, and purity". King Philip V approved its constitution on 3 October 1714, placing it under the Crown's protection. Its aristocratic founder, , Duke of Escalona and Marquess of Villena, 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 (spelled 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 in the Americas. Several reforms were introduced in the (1959, New Norms of Prosody and Orthography). Since the establishment of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language in 1951, the Spanish academy works in close consultation with the other Spanish language academies in its various works and projects. The 1999 Orthography was the first to be edited by the twenty two academies together. The current rules and practical recommendations on spelling are presented in the latest edition of the (2010). The headquarters, opened in 1894, is located at Calle Felipe IV, 4, in the ward of Jerónimos, next to the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from th ...

. The Center for the Studies of the Royal Spanish Academy, opened in 2007, is located at Calle Serrano 187–189.

Fundamentals

According to Salvador Gutiérrez, an academic numerary of the institution, the Academy does not dictate the rules but studies the language, collects information and presents it. The rules of the language are simply the continued use of expressions, some of which are collected by the Academy. Although he also says that it is important to read and write correctly. Article 1 of the statutes of the Royal Spanish Academy, translated from Spanish, says the following:

Composition

Members of the Academy are known as ( en, Academic Numerary), chosen from among prestigious people within the arts and sciences, including several Spanish-language authors, known as The Immortals (Spanish: ), similarly to their French Academy counterparts. The numeraries (Spanish: ''Números)'' are elected for life by the other academicians. Each academician holds a seat labeled with a letter from the

Spanish alphabet Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English, having a relatively consistent mappin ...

, although upper and lower case letters denote separate seats. Países con Academia de la Lengua Española

The Academy has included Latin American members from the time of

Rafael María Baralt Rafael María Baralt y Pérez (3 July 1810 - 4 January 1860) was a Venezuelan diplomat and one of the country's most famed writers, philologists, and historians. He was the first Latin American to occupy a chair at the Real Academia Española. ...

, although some Spanish-speaking countries have their own academies of the language.

Current members

Notable past academicians

* Niceto Alcalá-Zamora * Vicente Aleixandre * Dámaso Alonso * " Azorín" *

Vicente Bacallar y Sanna Vicente Bacallar y Sanna, 1st Marquess of San Felipe, later italianized into ''Vincenzo Bacallar Sanna'' (Cagliari – Sardinia, island now belonging to Italy), 6 February 1669 – The Hague (Netherlands), 11 June 1726). He was a Sardinian nob ...

Pío Baroja Pío Baroja y Nessi (28 December 1872 – 30 October 1956) was a Spanish writer, one of the key novelists of the Generation of '98. He was a member of an illustrious family. His brother Ricardo was a painter, writer and engraver, and his nephe ...

* Jacinto Benavente * Carlos Bousoño * Manuel Bretón de los Herreros *

Camilo José Cela Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Liter ...

* Miguel Delibes *

José Echegaray José Echegaray y Eizaguirre (19 April 183214 September 1916) was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician, statesman, and one of the leading Spanish dramatists of the last quarter of the 19th century. He was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Lit ...

* Wenceslao Fernández Flórez *

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain. Life and influence of ...

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

Salvador de Madariaga Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo (23 July 1886 – 14 December 1978) was a Spanish diplomat, writer, historian, and pacifist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in ...

Julián Marías Julián Marías Aguilera (17 June 1914 – 15 December 2005) was a Spanish philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was a pupil of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and member of the Madrid School.A. Pablo Ia ...

* Francisco Martínez de la Rosa *

Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...

* Armando Palacio Valdés *

José María de Pereda José María de Pereda (born 6 February 1833, Polanco, Cantabria – died 1 March 1906, Polanco) was a modern Spanish novelist, and a Member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Life Pereda was educated at the Institute Cántabro of Santander, whence h ...

Benito Pérez Galdós Benito Pérez Galdós (May 10, 1843 – January 4, 1920) was a Spanish realist novelist. He was the leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Miguel de Cervantes in stature as a Spanish no ...

* Manuel José Quintana *

Gonzalo Torrente Ballester Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (13 June 1910 – 27 January 1999) was a Spanish writer associated with the Generation of '36 movement. Life He was born in Serantes, Ferrol, Galicia, and received his first education there, subsequently atten ...

Juan Valera Juan Valera may refer to: * Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano (1824–1905), Spanish author, diplomat and politician * Juan Valera (footballer) (born 1984), Spanish footballer {{hndis, Valera, Juan ...

José Zorrilla José Zorrilla y Moral () was a Spanish poet and dramatist, who became National Laureate. Biography Zorrilla was born in Valladolid to a magistrate in whom Ferdinand VII placed special confidence. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Real Sem ...

Publications

;Joint publications of the RAE and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language * Diccionario de la lengua española (Spanish Language Dictionary). The 1st edition was published in 1780, the 22nd edition in 2001 and the 23rd edition in 2014, which since 2001 can be consulted online for free as of October 2017 and was published in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries to mark the tricentennial of the founding of the RAE. ** The ''Diccionario esencial de la lengua española'' (Essential Dictionary of the Spanish Language) was published in 2006 as a compendium of the 22nd edition of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language. * Ortografía de la lengua española (Spanish Language Orthography). The 1st edition was published in 1741 and the latest edition in 2010. The edition of 1999 was the first spelling book to cover the whole Hispanic world, replacing the ''Nuevas normas de prosodia y ortografía'' (New Rules for Prosody and Spelling) of 1959. * Nueva gramática de la lengua española (New Spanish Language Grammar, 1st edition: 1771, latest edition: 2009). The latest edition is the first grammar to cover the whole Hispanic world, replacing the prior ''Gramática de la lengua española'' (Grammar of the Spanish Language, 1931) and the ''Esbozo de una Nueva gramática de la lengua española'' (Outline of a New Grammar of the Spanish Language, 1973). The ''Nueva gramática de la lengua española'' is available in 3 different versions: The ''Edición completa'' (Complete Edition) includes 3,800 pages in two volumes to describe morphology and syntax (published December 4, 2009) plus a third volume of phonetics and phonology and a DVD (early 2010). ** The ''Manual'' edition is a single 750-page volume, which was presented at the 5th Congress of the Spanish Language which convened virtually in Valparaíso, Chile, due to the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

, and was released on April 23, 2010. ** The ''Gramática básica'' (Basic Grammar) is a 305-page volume directed to people who received secondary education, and which can be adaptable for school use; it was first published in 2011. ** The RAE has also published two other works by individual editors: ''Gramática de la lengua española'' (Grammar of the Spanish Language, by Emilio Alarcos Llorach, 1994) and ''Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española'' (Descriptive Grammar of the Spanish Language, 3 volumes, directed by Ignacio Bosque and Violeta Demonte, 1999). * Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts, 1st edition: 2005). Resolves doubts related to the use of the Spanish language. Can be consulted online since 2006. * ''Diccionario del estudiante'' (Student's Dictionary, 1st edition: 2005). Directed to students in secondary education between 12 and 18 years-old. ** ''Diccionario práctico del estudiante'' (Student's Practical Dictionary, 1st edition: 2007) is an adapted version for Latin America of the Student's Dictionary. * ''Diccionario de americanismos'' (Dictionary of Americanisms) is a listing of Spanish language terms of the Americas and their meaning. First edition published in 2010.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Academia Espanola 1713 establishments in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Language regulators

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Organizations established in 1713 S Spanish language academies